Want to get close to people quickly? Sing together!

We all know the many health benefits of singing together.

But did you know it’s also an excellent way of bonding a group of people together, even if you don’t know them?

Why singing together is magical and unique

There is something special about a group of people singing together.

photo by Jason Paris

And it’s not just about sense of community and the health benefits. It really is a unique activity.

What is ‘community singing’? — an attempted definition by Liz Rog: part 1

A couple of months ago I wrote a post entitled What is a ‘community choir’?

Now it’s the turn of Liz Rog to attempt a definition.

What is a ‘community choir’?

The term ‘community choir’ is used a lot, but what does it actually mean?

There is no single definition, but I thought I’d look at some common characteristics.

We all want to be seen and heard – so join a choir!

One of the most powerful human needs is to be seen and heard.

We all want to feel valued, important and that we matter. Being in a choir does all that and more.

Is a choir a family?

People join choirs for many different reasons. Whatever those reasons might be, a choir ends up being a small community.

Photo by U.S. Embassy London

In fact, some consider a choir as a kind of family. But what might that mean?

Singing in harmony as a metaphor for life

Singing together is known to have many benefits, for both mental and physical well-being.

photo by William Murphy

But if we think about it, singing together is also a wonderful example of how to live a harmonious life. Here’s how singing in harmony can be seen as a metaphor for life.

Should choir leaders socialise with their choir members?

Many choirs hold social events throughout the year. It helps build a choir community and encourages team spirit. That can only be a good thing.

photo by Split the Kipper

But should your choir leader be invited along, or should they maintain a professional distance?

Why you should start the year singing – and then sing some more!

Those of us who sing regularly or who work with singers know how beneficial singing together is. There is now a growing body of research to support our beliefs.

photo by Garry Knight

Why not start singing regularly this year – you might even persuade a friend to join you?! You don’t even have to be able to ‘sing’ – there are plenty of choirs out there which don’t require you to have any experience. Here are some good reasons why it’s time to get singing.

Why singing together is a great healer

The world can be a scary and upsetting place. Here in the UK we’re witnessing political infighting, uncertain futures, austerity measures and a rise in racism.

photo by Dainis Matisons

But singing together can be a great antidote. Here’s why.

If you’re looking for new singers, don’t expect them to come to you

You’ve put your fliers out, spread the word, mentioned it on Facebook, but still you find it hard to recruit new singers.

photo by Indra Hardi Saputro

If you’re asking someone to try something unfamiliar, you need to make the effort to take it to their home territory – don’t expect them to come to you.

Should you have auditions for a workplace or community choir?

Gareth Malone is back on UK television with a second series of The Choir: Sing While You Work. The choirmaster goes into five different organisations to form workplace choirs which then go on to compete against each other.

photo by DianeSunshineCoast

He auditions staff to create the choirs, but is that necessary to form a workplace choir?

How to run a choir without driving everyone nuts: the first seven years

This is a guest post by Betsy Sansby who co-leads the One World Community Choir in Hopkins, Minnesota, USA along with Alan Dworsky.

The One World Community Choir

Read on to find out what Betsy has learnt so far in the seven years since she started her first community choir.

If there’s too much talking in your choir, something must be right

I read once that if there’s a lot of talking during the break in a workshop, then it’s a good sign because it means everyone is happy, enjoying themselves and getting along well.

photo by aavarnum

I think the same applies to a choir: if there is plenty of social chit chat it’s a good sign.

Does a community make a choir, or does a choir create a community?

I’ve written before about how hard it is to get a cross-section of ages and genders in your choir (How to recruit singers to truly reflect your local community).

Photo by Jose Paulo Carvalho Pereira

But maybe that’s because we don’t have strong communities any more – at least not here in the UK.

How singing together creates communities

Singing together creates a real sense of community. Sometimes a choir arises from an existing community, but other times the creation of a choir builds a brand new one.

Photo by niallkennedy

In most cases people come together simply because they love to sing, but in others there is a real need to join a community of like-minded souls.

How to recruit singers to truly reflect your local community

For the first time in over 13 years I will soon be starting a choir from scratch. And I’m asking for your help!

The Illuminated Crowd by Raymond Mason (photo by albany_tim)

I’ve written a whole series in the past about how to start your own community choir, and I will be taking a lot of my own advice on board (time to put my money where my mouth is!).

But the nut I’ve been unable to crack is to recruit a truly representative set of people from my local community: in age, gender, race, culture, background, education, disability, etc. In short, a real community choir.

The sad fact is that most choirs in the UK don’t reflect a true cross section of society.

They majority are made up of white women in their 50s and older and often don’t represent the racial, cultural or gender mix of the community they’re based in. How can we change this?

I’ve written on the subject of choir membership and recruitment before.

Why people don’t join choirs:

• I love to sing, but I’m not leaving the house!
• Avoiding the ‘C’ word: choir

The difficulties of an ageing choir:

• Singing across the age divide
• Choirs: is old age an issue?
• Why do kids stop singing when they grow up?

How to recruit new choir members:

• How to start your own community choir – getting the word out

The lack of men in choirs:

• The problem with men: getting them, handling them, keeping them
• Men and singing 1: 15 myths debunked
• Men and singing 2: your collective wisdom
• Men and singing 3: seven ideas to get more men involved

The experience of joining a choir for the first time:

• Everybody has a place in the choir

I’ve realised that there is no easy answer to recruiting a representative set of people from your local community! So I’m asking for your help.

Do you have any ideas or experience of recruiting successfully from right across your local community? Would you like to share your solutions with us? Please drop by and leave a comment.

It seems to me that we can break down the problem as follows.

describing what your community choir is about

First you need to be clear what your aims are and then find the right words to explain that clearly to prospective choir members. It may be that you have to use different language for the different groups that you’re trying to attract. Each group will use different language and have different shared points of reference.

getting the word out to the right people

Then you have to get this information in front of the relevant people. It’s probably no good putting an advert in the local press to attract 16-year-olds, and it’s no good handing leaflets out after a live pop concert if you’re looking for older singers. You’ll need to take the word to the people you want to attract. That may mean identifying places where groups gather. For example, colleges, adult education classes, churches, cultural clubs.

making the group look right

I’ve pointed out before that when a prospective new choir member walks into their first choir session, they want to see a lot of people like themselves. Otherwise they will feel that they don’t belong and wont’ come back.

If you have a single man or just one 21-year-old, that’s just not going to work. You’ll need to make sure there are large enough sub-groupings within your choir to attract more similar people.

divide and conquer?

It may not be possible to start from scratch with a truly representative group of singers. It may be that your description, publicity sources, venue, etc. may have to be tailored for each particular group. You can then combine them at a later stage.

For instance, you could start a regular choir (which will probably be older women), a men’s choir, a choir at the local Afro-Caribbean centre and a youth choir. Once these are up and running, you could have a joint concert (involving  a couple of joint songs where everyone needs to rehearse together), then gradually amalgamate all the different groups into one choir.

over to you

On the face of it, that seems like a lot of work! It may be that you simply don’t have the time or resources to go the whole hog (I know I don’t!), so please, please write in with your own solutions and let’s see if we can all crack this particular nut together.

 

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

 

A choir is a shining example of the perfect community

Last weekend I ran a singing workshop for 25 strangers. As always everyone worked well together (no prima donnas!) and we produced a wonderful sound at the end of the day.

Working together by lumax

I do workshops like this so often that I take it for granted. But somebody came up to me at the end and reminded me how impressive it is that a group of people can come together for one day and produce such amazing results. That got me thinking about how singing groups and choirs are a model of how communities should work together.

A choir is basically a team of individuals all working towards a common goal. Singing in a choir is a great leveller. What matters is the part you sing, not whether you’re rich or poor, black or white, male or female, young or old. As such, a choir can be seen as a shining example of how a community can work together.

A choir is a microcosm of the real world and choral singing can be seen as a metaphor for life itself.

how it should work

• no room for egos – to participate fully in harmony singing, you can’t be a prima donna
• everyone has their part to play – even the director is a cog in the machine
• everyone is equally important – without every single individual, the thing wouldn’t work
• co-operation is the only way – if people don’t work as a team, there will be no end result
• trust and support your fellow singers – you have responsibility for yourself but at the same time total trust and dependency on others – otherwise no harmonies!
• strength in numbers – but still all individuals
• a single purpose – apparently having a focus or purpose on something outside oneself brings happiness 

things can go wrong

But just as in real life, things can go wrong. Not every choir is perfect

• dictators – the leader might be a bit of a fascist
• selfishness – certain singers can be too selfish and not support others
• judgment – more experienced singers end up looking down on newcomers
• blocking – it only takes a few individuals with strong views to block ideas that might suit the choir better as a whole 

why not aim for the best?

I really don’t understand why some choirs end up being less than perfect. It’s just so much easier to be supportive, encouraging, work together, selfless, trusting, etc. It takes much more energy to be fearful, angry, egotistical, disruptive, obstructive and selfish.

I’ve been very lucky in that pretty much all the singing workshops and choirs I’ve ever run have ended up being excellent examples of how communities should work. My theory is that choral singing attracts the right kind of people. If an ego is too big, then solo singing becomes more attractive. If a person is too disruptive, then they will never get to make beautiful music so end up leaving.

So let’s raise a glass to all those fantastic model choirs out there! I do hope yours is one of them. Do drop by and tell us all about it.

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Chris Rowbury

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