How to set up a choir if you’re not a choir leader PART 2

Last week, Angela Gracey wrote about the first two key stages of the five involved in setting up a choir: getting organised and having a plan.

photo by Joe Strupek

This week she looks at the remaining key stages: finances, finding someone to lead your choir and your first performance and beyond.

How to set up a choir if you’re not a choir leader PART 1

I’ve written before about how to set up your own community choir, assuming that you want to run it yourself.

But what if you’re not a musical director and you want to set up a choir?

photo by Garry Knight

Here’s a guest post by Angela Gracey outlining five key steps to starting a choir. Warning - this venture is not for the faint hearted!

How long is the ideal choir session?

There’s a gig coming up and you’ve still got work to do. Do you keep bashing out the notes until everyone’s perfect or do you rehearse ‘just enough’ and then go home?

photo by Toni Verdú Carbó

Or maybe your choir doesn’t perform. In which case what’s the best length for a really good singing session? One hour? A whole afternoon? An entire day?

Fresh blood: the pros and cons of letting new singers join your choir

As choir starts back after a break, you might notice a few new faces in the ranks.

photo by Scott A. Thornbloom

Bringing in new recruits maintains the lifeblood of a choir, but what are the pros and cons?

Re-booting your choir: shake things up for a new season

Many choirs will be starting back soon after a long break.

photo by velkr0

This is the perfect time to shake things up a bit if you feel things have gone a bit stale.