Twenty years ago, Warwick Folk Festival asked me to create a community choir as part of its education outreach programme.
I was reluctant to use the word “choir” because I thought it might put some people off. So I used a thesaurus and came up with “Singing Safari”. This is the story of that project.
Many choirs perform outdoors during the winter, especially in the run-up to Christmas.
Here are some tips to help make the experience as pleasurable as possible.
Silence is not just the absence of sound.
When singing as a group, there are several kinds of silence, each with its own quality.
I mentioned briefly in last week’s post the implicit contract between performers and audience.
I’d like to look at the idea in a little more detail.
Some of us are lucky and sell out our concert, or have to close our choir to new members.
It’s a nice problem to have, but I hate turning people away, so are there alternatives?
There is a big difference between succeeding at all costs and not bothering to make an effort. Neither brings true satisfaction.
The secret is to pitch somewhere in between: to take the work seriously, but to not lose sight of how relatively unimportant it is compared with what else is going on in the world.
I regularly come across social media posts promoting events, but it’s not clear where or when they’re taking place. Or sometimes even what the event is!
People think just bunging an image of their poster on Instagram will persuade loads of people to turn up to their event. But it’s not that easy. Here’s why.
No matter how well-prepared we are, there’s always a chance we’ll forget something.
That’s why it’s important to always remember to bring a spare.
I ran a singing day in London recently. I had booked the venue nearly a year in advance. The day went brilliantly with a full house of singers.
What I hadn’t reckoned on was that West Ham had a home game that day so my journey back to Suffolk was a complete nightmare! What can you do to avoid things like that?
We’ve all been there: a big concert is coming up and we feel under-prepared.
Should we just duck out, or soldier on and busk it? Here’s what I think.
Sometimes a performance is a blinder. There is a standing ovation and cries for more.
And yet … it is possible to come away feeling that it’s all gone wrong. How is this possible?
Many choirs use instruments or backing tracks to accompany their singing.
But I believe that you should always programme at least one a cappella song in every concert. Here’s why.
It’s the day after Christmas Day and, however well or badly it went, there can be a sense of a let-down.
After any big event like Christmas or an important choir concert, there needs to be a transition back to ‘normal’. This is not always easy! Here are some ideas of how to deal with the come down.
Rehearsals can become somewhat fraught when a concert is coming up.
It’s easy to become fixated on the work and to lose sight of the bigger picture. It’s only a concert after all. Here’s how to keep a sense of perspective.
It’s that time of year when choirs get asked to sing at all manner of Christmas events.
Some of those will be outdoors. How best to deal with the challenges?
Many choirs are gearing up for their annual Christmas concert.
Do you repeat the same songs each year or add new ones to your repertoire? Let’s look at the pros and cons.
We’ve all been there: a big concert is coming up, but the singers just aren’t ready.
What can you do?
We all strive for perfection in our singing. At the same time, we realise that being 100% perfect is impossible.
By aiming for perfection we can become blind to our achievements and how good we actually are.
Many choir leaders over-conduct in concerts.
But if you’ve done the work in rehearsal, you should hardly need to conduct at all.
We’ve all been there: we’re feeling a bit rough, but we soldier on any way.
A big concert is coming up so we can’t let people down. But is that the right way to think?
