How to revive a failing choir (Part 1): spotting the problems

If you’re lucky, your choir goes from strength to strength: numbers grow, standards improve, and the sense of community deepens.

But sometimes things start to slip. Numbers fall, confidence drains away, rehearsals lose their energy, and going to choir begins to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. When that happens, what can you do?

Do shared lunches at singing workshops really build community?

Whenever I ran a one-off singing day, I would always encourage people to bring lunch to share.

The idea was to create a sense of community and get people to socialise with each other. But I no longer do that. Here’s why.

The essential elements of a choir warm up

Most singers know they should warm up before singing — but what exactly should a warm up contain?

I’ve written before about why warm ups matter— see The singers who didn’t like warm ups (and what became of them) — but it’s worth looking more closely at what actually makes a warm up effective.

A simple vocal range check for non-auditioned choirs

When singers join a non-auditioned choir, they are usually expected to choose the voice part that suits them — without any help.

Over time, singers in community choirs can begin to wonder if they’ve chosen the right part. Here’s a simple way of carrying out a vocal range test with the whole choir.

Small changes make better singers and choir leaders

The second Friday in January is known as “Quitters Day” — the point at which most people abandon the goals they set in their New Year’s resolutions.

Apparently, only 9% of people successfully keep their resolutions and 23% quit in the first week. So how can you real, lasting progress as a singer or choir leader?

Choosing change: planning a new choir season

A new year and a new choir season don’t just bring change — they also bring choice.

This is often a moment to pause and reflect: what’s working, what’s not, and what might benefit from being done differently. For choir leaders in particular, it’s a chance to plan rather than simply react.

The shock of the new: how to cope with change in your singing world

It’s the start of a new year, a time when people make new plans and take on new challenges.

For singers and choir leaders, that often means dealing with change: new people, new spaces, new songs, and unfamiliar ways of doing things. Change can be exciting, but it can also feel unsettling.