One recording is worth a thousand photos – use sound to promote your choir

Singing is all about sound, whether it’s a one-day workshop, a live concert or a CD.



I’m amazed at choir websites, concert promotion and singing workshop publicity which is full of photos, but have no sound clips. If you don’t have sound, you’re missing out.

6 ways to stop the strain of other singers relying on you (or you relying on them)

The rehearsal begins and the Altos looks around in panic: “Where’s Carol?” Carol is a strong, confident singer, but she’s not here this week.

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind (detail)

The trouble is, the Alto section has come to rely on Carol, and now that she’s not here, they’re all a bit lost. How has this situation arisen, and what can be done about it?

10 choir website mistakes to avoid (or how to look professional online)

I was trawling through a bunch of choir websites the other day in order to send out some information about a workshop I’m running.



I was amazed how hard it was to contact many of them and in general how badly designed many of the websites were. I’ve come up with 10 mistakes that you should avoid.

Want to sing with more energy? – pretend to be somebody else

I ran a gospel singing weekend recently. One of the songs was flagging a bit so I suggested people ham it up a bit and be more “American”.


Miranda Sings by Gage Skidmore. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons

Suddenly the song came to life and everyone was energised. Playing some kind of ‘character’ when you’re singing can really enliven your singing. Here’s how ...