There is a big difference between succeeding at all costs and not bothering to make an effort. Neither brings true satisfaction.
The secret is to pitch somewhere in between: to take the work seriously, but to not lose sight of how relatively unimportant it is compared with what else is going on in the world.
I regularly come across social media posts promoting events, but it’s not clear where or when they’re taking place. Or sometimes even what the event is!
People think just bunging an image of their poster on Instagram will persuade loads of people to turn up to their event. But it’s not that easy. Here’s why.
Some choirs (believe it or not) are already researching new songs for their
Christmas concert repertoire in August. Some even begin rehearsing their
Christmas concert in the summer!
If you feel like you’re on an endless concert roller coaster and want to get off, here are some thoughts that may help.
Has your choir been asked to perform at an event for free? Or maybe you’ve been asked to run a singing workshop for a big corporation for ‘exposure’.
It’s easy for people to imagine that there are no costs involved in doing a bit of singing, but that’s far from the truth.
I had an interesting query from someone recently. In their choir, the tenor men sang the soprano part (an octave lower) and the soprano women sang the tenor part (an octave higher).
They asked me if there was any rule in choral music about which gender sang which part.
I used to create a choir from scratch over six rehearsals – all strangers, no auditions. We would then present a concert of the songs we’d learnt. I was always amazed at how good we sounded.
One day one of the participants explained: “There’s no way we’re going to be perfect with so few rehearsals, so we let go of that possibility.”
It seems obvious to me, but I’ve known choirs, singing workshops and singing groups who don’t always work in a safe space.
But how else will you get the best out of singers? Here’s why a safe, supported space is important.