What I’ve learnt from 20 years of creating scratch choirs

Twenty years ago, Warwick Folk Festival asked me to create a community choir as part of its education outreach programme.

Singing Safari, Warwick 2007

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.

Singing outdoors in the winter: a survival guide

Many choirs perform outdoors during the winter, especially in the run-up to Christmas.

photo by Peter

Here are some tips to help make the experience as pleasurable as possible.

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.

10 tips for singing outdoors in the cold, dark, damp winter

It’s that time of year when choirs get asked to sing at all manner of Christmas events. 

Htm, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Some of those will be outdoors. How best to deal with the challenges?

How to make plans for your choir when the future is uncertain

The socially-distanced reopening of indoor performances in England was due to take place last Saturday, but the government has now postponed it for at least another two weeks.

With circumstances changing so frequently, how do you prepare for future concerts and rehearsals?

How to cope with singing in the heat

There’s been a real heatwave across Europe this summer. Which is great for those on holiday, but can be a bit much when we have to sing in such heat.



Here are a few things that might help you cope with the heat whilst singing.

To mic or not to mic? – that is the outdoor choir question

At this time of year many singing groups are asked to sing outdoors.



Whether it’s on stage at a noisy festival or a pop-up choir at your local village fete, the question of amplification will arise. Let’s look at the pros and cons of using mics for your choir when performing outdoors.

Outdoor gigs: how to cope when audiences aren’t interested

It’s summer, the time when many choirs and singing groups perform outdoors.

summer Singing Safari, Holywells Park, Ipswich, July 2016

It’s hard enough to sing in the open air, and compete with music on the other stages at festivals, but for me the most difficult thing is when audience members wander off. How do you cope with the heart-sink?