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.