Which direction does your choir face?

Do your singers always face the same direction in your rehearsal space? What about outdoor performances?

Maybe it’s something you’ve not thought about, or have just got into a habit without much analysis.

The benefits and drawbacks of working in a circle when singing

I like to outsource elements of my teaching practice when leading singing days.

photo by Global Partnership for Education

I allow the singers to put chairs out (or not), and to decide how they want to stand. Often, it ends up being a circle. But is that the best way to sing as a group?

Rehearsing and singing in a circle: the pros and cons

Many singing groups work in a circle when learning and rehearsing songs.



There are some advantages, but also downsides. Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Why do choirs stand in sections to learn songs? Here’s an alternative that might work better!

Most choirs rehearse and perform with voice parts standing together in blocks: all the sopranos will be together, all the basses together, etc.



But there are other ways to rehearse (and perform) songs which might make learning easier. Here is something you might want to try.

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!

STAB, TABS or ASSBAT – how does your choir line up?

Last week I looked at the pros and cons of traditional choir formation vs. mixing parts up (Flying in choir formation – placing singers effectively).

Photo by sludgegulper

Whichever approach you choose, there are still several choices to be made.

Flying in choir formation – placing singers effectively

Last week I looked at how singers choose where to stand in their section (Don’t stand too close to me! – finding the right place to stand in your choir). But that assumes that your choir is divided up with all singers in any given part standing together.

Photo by laihiu

But it is also possible to have a mixed formation with individual singers from different parts standing next to each other. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these two alternatives?

Don’t stand too close to me! – finding the right place to stand in your choir

In some formal choirs you’re told exactly where to stand when performing. There is often a fixed set-up which varies little from concert to concert.

Photo by nicksarebi

However, in most community choirs, even though the separate parts might have fixed positions, where you stand within your part is up to you. How do you choose the right place to be?