Why it’s easier to sing to 1,000 strangers than friends and family

Put me in front of a huge crowd of strangers and I’ll perform loud and proud.

Photo by Anirudh Koul

But in a room full of friends and family I get embarrassed and stumble. Why is this?

Stop me if you’ve sung this before: learning different versions of songs you know already

A while back I taught a song wrongly. Not for the first time!

Original photo by Brian Robert Marshall

Even though I corrected myself quickly, the original version stuck in people’s minds and now they can’t shift it.

Taking a song from source to performance – the many roles of a choir leader

My main skill is as a teacher of songs to those who don’t read music.

Photo by elfsternberg

Other choir leaders have different skills – like polishing songs for performance.

We’ve come to sing, not to learn!

People come to my singing workshops because they love to sing.

Photo by Rex Pe

But first they have to spend time learning songs.

Are singing workshops just a middle-class pastime?

I run singing workshops all over the place (why not book me and try one?!).

Photo by C. Moses

At some places the workshops are full and there is a waiting list. At others it’s a struggle to muster a dozen singers. Why is this?

Breathing for singers: it’s not what you’ve got, it’s how you use it

As they say: size doesn’t matter, it’s what you do with it that counts.

Measuring lung capacity with a spirometer The University of Iowa ca. 1920

The size of your lungs isn’t important in singing, it’s how you use the breath in them.

Sing like you speak – the ‘folk’ voice, or how to sing like a Bulgarian

I’ve always known that I’m more interested in traditional songs, but I’ve only just realised that it’s the vocal quality that I’m most drawn to.

Bulgarian National Women's Choir by Bruce MacRae

There’s something thrilling and primal about the sound of traditional singers’ voices. How do they achieve that and how does it differ from, say, ‘classical’ singing?

Too many cooks – benign dictators rule!

This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers. Just use the contact form if you want to submit a question.

A budding choir director writes:

“I had prepared and arranged four songs, but the other person who leads the choir kept on asking the choir what they would like to do and of course they come up with ‘pop songs’.

“Would you ask a choir what they would like to do? The work I do with the choir is voluntary so I don’t really want to spend hours of time arranging if then we are only going to do pop songs - although I’m happy to do the odd one.”

Starting over – going back to choir after a long break

After the long summer break, I used to arrive really early at the first choir session, sit by the door, and worry that nobody would come back.

Photo by kabun

I worry less now, but there are still many things to consider after your choir has had a long break.

What songs do atheists sing?

I’ve been asked to create a choir specially for an inter-faith event.

Photo by Catholic Church

There will be contributors from Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and more. Plenty of songs to choose from. But what about atheists? Will they be represented, and what songs do they sing?

Name that tune! – earworms, musical memory and other strange phenomena

Sometimes I only have to hear two notes of a song and I know what it is.

Photo by bishib70

Often I join in with someone singing a song only to realise that I’m singing a completely different one. What’s going on here?

Putting the hours in – are singers born or made?

I had a girlfriend who believed that we are all capable of anything if we just put enough effort in.

Photo by _foam

She believed that if you fail at something or are not very good at it, then you just don’t want it that much.

What I did on my summer holiday – why we all need a break sometime

Apparently it’s the summer break. The weather is sunny, choir doesn’t start back until September, kids are off school and ice cream vans are cruising the streets.

Photo by Yiannis Logiotatides

So how come I’m stuck in the office and seem to be working as hard as usual?

Confession: I don’t like to sing much

You know those people who sing all the time — when they’re cooking, hoovering, gardening, whatever? Well, I’m not one of them.

Photo by k e e l y

I love singing. I earn my living by teaching songs, I enjoy singing with others, I adore listening to singing on CDs and the radio, but I don’t sing around the house.

Why ‘singing for fun’ doesn’t mean low standards and poor performances

The other weekend 50 singers performed in public to a large, appreciative audience. We performed eight songs in four part harmony, most in foreign languages and some with dance moves.

Photo by Alberto Ferrante

The standard was high, the performance was tight and the singers clearly had fun. But this group of singers did not use sheet music, had rehearsed for just six two-hour sessions and welcomed all-comers regardless of singing experience.

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?

What’s the worst that can happen? Dealing with performance nerves

The OK Chorale are not a performing choir (yet!), but after two terms of hard (but fun!) work, we’ve invited some friends and family along next week to hear some of the songs we’ve learnt.

Photo by Melissa Segal

I’m trying to keep it very low key as it’s the first time many people will have performed so there will be a lot of nerves about. How can we deal with these anxieties?

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.