How to keep your choir or singing business alive while it’s shut down

I started my first community choir over 20 years ago. I used to worry that, after the long summer break, the singers would have forgotten me and wouldn’t return to choir when it started up again.

With choirs and singing groups not meeting in person, those worries are magnified. How can you keep your singing groups alive and ensure that your singers are still there when this is all over?

When did you last sing together? You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone

That last time I was in a room with a group of singers was nearly four months ago.

If I had known then that I wouldn’t be singing like that for the foreseeable future, would I have behaved differently?

Singers listen with their eyes as well as their ears

I've been trying to sing against a recording of two other people singing different harmony parts.

I found it almost impossible to pitch accurately because I couldn't see them.

What singing online can and can’t achieve

Last week I looked at What is unique about singing together.

In this post, I’ll consider which aspects of singing together can be duplicated online and which can’t.

What is unique about singing together?

Singing together in a group is something special. It is a very different experience from singing on your own.

But what exactly is it that we get from singing with others?

Singers miss out when there’s no choir, but what about choir leaders?

There are plenty of studies now about the many benefits of singing together. But they only look at the experience of the singers in a choir.

I’d like to consider what choir leaders get out of leading a choir and what they might be missing when choirs aren’t meeting.

How to get the most out of singing online – a guide for singers

Choirs are not meeting at the moment so lots of you have gone online to sing.

Given that it will be just you singing at a screen, what can you do to get the most out of an online singing session?