Fresh blood: the pros and cons of letting new singers join your choir

As choir starts back after a break, you might notice a few new faces in the ranks.

photo by Scott A. Thornbloom

Bringing in new recruits maintains the lifeblood of a choir, but what are the pros and cons?

Re-booting your choir: shake things up for a new season

Many choirs will be starting back soon after a long break.

photo by velkr0

This is the perfect time to shake things up a bit if you feel things have gone a bit stale.

Buy song arrangements for your choir

Choir leaders often ask me where I source my songs. I’ve written about this in previous posts: Finding songs for your choir and Easy songs for your choir.



One place you can get some tried and tested songs for your choir is from me!

Why can’t we sing more songs in English?

I often get asked this at workshops after people have struggled to get their tongues around a few foreign songs.



I point out that my speciality is “traditional songs from around the world in the original languages”, then I tell them that foreign songs are easier to learn. Really?

What to do if you don’t have a ‘nice’ voice

Many of us don’t like the sound of our singing voice. Some people won’t even sing in front of others because they don’t want to inflict their ‘horrible’ voice on them.

photo by konch

Is there anything we can do if we don’t have a ‘nice’ voice?

Singing the wrong note is not the end of the world

How many times have you been standing next to someone in your choir section and realised that they’re singing something different from you?

photo by Luis Miguel Bugallo Sánchez

Are you wrong, or it it them? Actually, it (usually) doesn’t matter!

Use the long choir break to get better at what you do

Most choirs have a long break at this time of year (whether it’s your summer or your winter).

officially on vacation by Timothy Valentine

Apart from missing the singing and your choir friends, what will you do with yourself? Here are some ways you can use the break to your advantage (whether you’re a singer or choir leader).

How to learn effectively from a recording of a song in parts

Sometimes you might have to learn your song part from a recording rather than with everyone else in a choir session.

photo by Kathy Cassidy

Here are some hints on how to do that in the most effective way.

How to sing religious songs if you’re not religious (or it’s not your religion)

I sing and teach sacred songs from a wide range of religious traditions. But I don’t have a religious bone in my body.

photo by 10x10 - Educate Girls. Change the World

I have no problems singing about ‘spirit’ or ‘God’, but I do hesitate when ‘Jesus’ or ‘Christ’ or ‘Krishna’ or similar specific words come up. Should I be singing such songs? How can I sing religious songs if I’m not religious?

Why does the first wrong note you learn stay with you forever?

Sometimes (yes, I admit it), I make a mistake when I’m teaching a new song. It maybe a wrong note, wrong timing or wrong phrasing.



Yet even though I correct it quickly, this first mistake stays in people’s heads. Why is that?

Raising the bar: singing with people who are more experienced than you

Many of us are wary of attending singing workshops or choirs when we feel that people will be a lot more experienced than us.

This is particularly true when you’re starting out as a singer, but that feeling never goes away!

photo by Stefan Karpiniec

But singing with more experienced singers need not be frightening and can help you raise your game.

How to use your audience to recruit choir members

To maintain a healthy, growing choir, you need new recruits, but often you feel like you’ve exhausted all your usual sources.

photo by Star File Photo (On the home front: Toronto in WWI, Toronto Star)

Here are some ideas for how to use your audience to recruit new choir members.

Ask not what your choir can do for you – ask what you can you do for your choir

Kirsten recently left a comment on my post How to be a good choir member.

photo by Brandon Cripps

She suggested that a good choir member should “go beyond the music”, i.e. get involved with the practicalities of running the choir. Great idea, but it does have its downsides too.

Don’t try to help your fellow singers – it’s not your job!

Many’s the time I see Ann lean over to Gill (not their real names!) to help her get her part right. And every time I see a pained expression on Gill’s face.

photo by m_culnane

She doesn’t want Ann’s help and didn’t ask for it. And it’s not Ann’s job to give it any way.

Two big ideas to create the perfect choir or singing experience

Singing is very simple really: you open your mouth and the sound comes out.

Manchester amateur choral competition 2009 by chaosmunkey

But we often allow our heads (and doubts and expectations and fears and ...) to get in the way. Here are two big ideas that can help singers and choir leaders get the most out of singing.

How can you possibly teach songs without a piano??!!

“You can’t run a singing workshop here, we don’t have a piano.”

photo by Thomas Quine

It’s amazing how many people can’t get their heads around the fact that it’s possible to teach songs without a piano (or sheet music). How is it done?

10 reasons why your next singing workshop should be a residential one

There is something different and special about a residential learning experience.

photo by Martyn Gorman

A whole day of singing is great, but to spend an entire weekend (or even a week) with a bunch of like-minded people, getting away from the rat race, is just magic.

Here are ten reasons why your next singing workshop should be a residential one.

Instant choir – just add people

Most choirs rehearse for months to perfect their songs before they perform.

the Big Night Out Community Choir for BBC Children in Need 2012

But there is an alternative: gather a bunch of strangers together, teach them a set of songs quickly and then perform them before they forget. This approach has many advantages ...

The only thing stopping you from being a better singer is ...

... YOU!

photo by Stephen Mcleod

Your job is to get out of the way and allow your unique voice to shine. Easier said than done.

The joys of outdoor singing

Well, spring seems to have finally arrived here in the UK and our thoughts turn to picnics and summer music festivals.

Lakeland Voices at Tarn Howes on a summer evening singing walk

Whenever I run a workshop on a sunny day people always ask if we can sing outdoors and I always say no because it’s hard to do well (see Performing outdoors – tips and tricks). But David Burbidge has been singing and walking outdoors regularly for many years and writes here about the joys of doing both together.

Stop chasing after songs for your choir – learn to respect, research and relax

There are people out there desperate to find more songs for their choir.

photo by Victor Grigas

They record everything at singing workshops, go to song swap sessions at every opportunity, exchange songs over the internet, and pester workshop leaders for their arrangements.

They can’t ever get enough! It almost becomes an obsession to capture songs in any way they can.

What exactly is the point of your choir?

I often get people writing to me for advice about choirs.

Some of them don’t agree with the direction their choir leader is taking them, some find the repertoire too hard, some have trouble with singers next to them singing out of tune, some worry about getting their part right for the next concert.

photo by Jeff Lutz

But before I can answer I need to know what kind of choir they belong to. What is the point of their choir?

Why being a confident singer is not always a good thing in a choir

I’m all in favour of confident singers (see How to be a confident singer). The problem is there are two kinds and one of them can be disruptive in a choir.

photo by truu

There are confident singers who know what they’re doing; and there are those who don’t. It’s the latter who can cause real difficulties.

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.

How to promote your next choir concert to reach more people and get a bigger audience

Over the last two weeks I've shown how to sell more tickets for your next concert by using your own choir members and also by widening the net.

photo by One_Glass_Eye

But if nobody knows about your concert in the first place, all of that is irrelevant! So how do you let people know your concert is on? And how do you persuade them to come?

How to sell more tickets at your next concert: widening the net

Last week I suggested ways to use your choir members to help sell tickets for your next concert.

photo from FreeFoto.com

But over time, you can’t rely on friends and family and will have to widen the net. Here are some ideas on how to sell tickets in other ways.

How to sell more tickets for your next concert: use your choir members

You’ve put all that hard work into rehearsals, so now you need to sell some tickets to actually get a decent audience.

photo by planetschwa

You might think that promotion comes first (more on this in a future post), but your best resource for selling tickets is right on your doorstep: your own choir members.

Size matters: how to work effectively with large choirs

If I get 30 singers on one of my weekend workshops someone will say “Gosh, what a large group!” whilst another says “Quite low numbers then.”

photo by tsheko

‘Large’ is in the eye of the beholder. But however you define it, working with a large group has its own problems.

Don’t play a recording of a song to your choir before you teach it to them

I’m often asked by choir members to play a recording of a song before I start teaching it so they can get an idea of how it sounds.

Photo by ~~Tone~~

Yet at a recent workshop people said that the easiest song to learn was the one that they’d never heard before. So should I play a recording first?

Can you remember a song while standing on one leg?

I teach a song in the morning and it’s sounding pretty good.

photo by kalavinka

Then after lunch I get the group to stand facing a different direction and it all goes wrong. What’s happening here?

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.

Ask questions – your choir leader (probably) won’t bite!

When I was a student, I’d sit in lectures scribbling down everything that the lecturer wrote on the board. Like most people there, I understood very little.



This one guy would put up his hand and ask the lecturer a naive question and the rest of us would breathe a sigh of relief. That’s what we wanted to ask, but had been too ashamed to!

The lecturer would patiently answer the question with no trace of condescension.

That’s when I realised: there are no stupid questions.

You are the most important singer in your choir

Yes, you! No matter what size your choir is, you are by far the most important singer in it.

photo by ~BillieJoesEntourage

Without you, the choir would simply not function. We couldn’t do it without you!

Read all about it! Fancy a free monthly newsletter?

Many of you read this blog regularly, for which I am eternally grateful!



It would be great to get to know you better and to find out more about your singing lives.

Help someone to start singing this year — maybe even you!

I’m probably preaching to the converted here as I guess most of you reading this already sing regularly.

photo by T Sundup

So how about getting someone else to start singing in the coming year? If we all introduce one new person to the joys of singing in a group, that’s a lot of people singing together!

Achieving your singing goals for the year: 7 fool-proof steps

This is a guest post by Nina Grunfeld the founder of Life Clubs, weekly self-development workshops. She looks at the importance of setting goals and how to set goals that inspire.

 

Nina Grunfeld of Life Clubs
 

You can now read this blog on your Kindle

I reckon quite a lot of you will have got a Kindle for Christmas and maybe don’t have many books on it yet.

photo by C. Frank Starmer

Did you know you can take out a monthly subscription to this blog on your Kindle? And it only costs 99p (UK) or 99c (US) a month. How convenient is that??!!

If you go the blog homepage: blog.chrisrowbury.com you will find an icon in the right hand sidebar across from the title of each post. Just click on the relevant one depending on whether you’re from the UK or the US.

Or just click on these links:

• add to Kindle (UK)
• add to Kindle (US)

If you’re from some other English-speaking country (Australia for example) and would like to subscribe this way, then please let me know and I’ll set it up for you.

Happy reading!

Chris Rowbury's website: chrisrowbury.com

Best posts of 2012: did you miss these?

2012 is drawing to a close so I thought it would be a good time to look back at my most popular posts for the year in case you missed any of them.

photo by CCPiXel.net

Get your family singing this Christmas – turn off the TV!

Fed up with the family slumped in front of the TV every Christmas and not communicating?



Then turn off the TV and start singing!

Singing is for life, not just for Christmas

“Hark the herald angels sing”. A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge. Slade’s “Merry Christmas everybody”. “White Christmas” on TV. Midnight mass at the local church.

photo of Piepowder (A Musical, Victorian Family Christmas) by Richard Croft

For many people Christmas is the only time of year that they sing or go to see a choir perform. But singing is not just for Christmas, it’s for life!

How to keep the old songs in your repertoire from going stale

It’s that time of year again. Out come all the Christmas songs that everyone loves – songs that you’ve sung hundreds of times before.

photo by John Bencina

But how can you stop them from going stale and keep them fresh for performance?

Why choir leaders aren’t millionaires (even though we charge a lot)

Sometimes I get paid over £100 per hour. That makes me a millionaire right?

Photo by Ian Britton from FreeFoto.com

Wrong! I don’t get paid that every hour I work. In fact, I would say I spend over 80% of my time in the office not being paid, and only a few hours each week actually doing any paid singing work.

Polished songs or deeper learning experience – which is better in a singing workshop?

At the end of each workshop I now record the group singing through all the songs I’ve taught. I then make the recording available to the participants.

Photo by Dennis AB

But I’ve been getting comments about the quality of the recordings. People are asking me to record the songs as soon as we’ve learnt them rather than at the end of the day when people are tired.

Do you have to be a good singer to lead a choir?

I read an article in the latest Sounding Board (the journal of community music from SoundSense) about the University of Sunderland’s new BA in Community Music at The Sage Gateshead. Part of the course involves students “performing in an event which showcases them as musicians”.

Photo by Phil Strahl

This lead me to wonder: do I have to be a good performing musician (i.e. singer) in order to be able to lead a singing workshop or to run a choir?

How to build a choir from scratch in under an hour

I was recently asked by BBC Radio Suffolk to create a choir from scratch to perform in a concert in aid of Children in Need: The Big Night Out Community Choir.



60 strangers gathered in a church hall and after just three hours we had a choir with three songs in four-part harmony (plus dance moves!) ready for public performance. How did we achieve that so quickly?

The secret to great singing that teachers don’t tell you

There is one vital ingredient to being a good singer.

Photo by Peter Smile

It’s not innate talent or vocal range or ability to read music or quality of voice. And it’s something that most singing teachers won’t tell you about.

Why do I end up singing the tune when I should be singing a harmony?

You’re learning a song in four-part harmony and you think you’ve nailed your harmony part.

© Copyright Basher Eyre and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

But when all the other parts come in, you end up singing the tune instead. What’s going on?

Energy conservation for singing leaders: how not to get carried away

Last week I wrote about how, as a singer, you can pace yourself in choir rehearsals and singing workshops.



This week I want to consider those of us who lead choirs and singing workshops. How can you avoid using all your energy up too quickly?

How to pace yourself in choir rehearsals and singing workshops

Have you ever been swept along by the enthusiasm of a singing session only to feel drained at the end or with a sore throat and aching legs?

Really, really tired by Evers' Project 365 Blog

Have you tried a full singing day only to duck out at lunch time due to exhaustion?
How can we – as singers or choir leaders – pace ourselves better?

What do words add to music?

I caught a scene from the movie Spartacus the other day. The character played by Tony Curtis was asked to perform a song. He then proceeded to speak a poem. What exactly is a ‘song’ then?



You can have music without words, but can you have a song without music? When music is wedded to lyrics, is it greater than the sum of its parts? What do words add to music (and vice versa)?