I’m always on the lookout for new ideas for singing workshops.
I’ve pretty much covered all the bases so far: gospel, Eastern European, sacred songs, ABBA, Beatles, Beach Boys, Paul Simon, 60s California, World Music, Sing Africa, Rhythm and Voice, Songs from the British Isles, Men’s harmony singing, Classic Pop, Songs from the 60s, and more ...
I’m running out of ideas, so I thought I’d hand it over to you.
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).
But maybe that’s because we don’t have strong communities any more – at least not here in the UK.
It’s the first week of the new choir. Everyone is having fun, songs are being learnt at a cracking pace, the whole room is in tune with each other, things are really cooking!
Then the following week everything goes pear-shaped and things fall apart. It’s as if everyone has lost their way, has forgotten how to sing and can’t remember any of the songs! What’s going on here?
When I’m booked to run a singing workshop for someone, I always make sure that I get there early. I usually arrive to find people milling around, chatting and drinking tea.
The hardest part of the day is to then get them singing!
One place I work at, they call my workshops ‘singers weekends’.
Somebody once told me they couldn’t come on one because they weren’t a ‘singer’.
A concert is looming and there are a couple of songs you don’t know that well.
You’ll need to put in some practice at home, but how do you rehearse on your own?
I was at a business meeting recently and we were asked what we did. I explained as well as I could.
A guy came up to me in the break and asked: “Yes, but what actually happens in one of your sessions? And what is a ‘workshop’ any way?
Planning a singing workshop is a lot like planning a regular choir session.
The main differences are that a workshop is usually a one-off and the participants will usually be strangers.
Singing together or being in a choir is one of the most egalitarian experiences we can have.
It doesn’t matter how much you earn, what your job is, where you went to school or who you know. Just add your voice to the overall sound.
I have a low boredom threshold. There are 100s of gorgeous new songs I want to teach and it’s hard to cram them all in.
But more often than not, singers want to sing the old, familiar songs they already know well. How to strike the right balance?
This post is part of a series of occasional Questions and Answers.
Just contact Chris if you want to submit a question.
Tim wrote in to ask:
“I have been trying to sing for a very long time but I feel I always get tight in the throat when I lose confidence, when I hear myself sound bad, or even if some people are around.
“I was in a chorus for a year and I could hit every note, I just can't exactly ‘sing’, do you know what I mean? I can’t hear myself out of a group.”
Well, Tim, there are quite a few things going on here! And I’m sure there are plenty of other singers out there who can relate to what you’ve written.
First of all, if you’re reading this post on Christmas Day: shame on you! Can’t you leave the computer alone for just one day in the year??!!
But since you’re here, I thought I’d highlight the most popular posts of 2011 in case you missed any of them . . .
Everything in the concert is going brilliantly. The choir is firing on all cylinders. The audience are lapping it up, even your lame banter between songs.
Then you spot the one person frowning in amongst a thousand smiling faces and the doubts set in.
There have been grumblings in my choir of late. Some people are not happy.
But is it possible to keep everyone in a choir happy?
“In our choir we’re not allowed to use words in concerts.”
Great idea. In principle. But how do you achieve it?
This weekend I’m running a ‘voice clinic’ for members of my choir. I’ll be spending time working on basic vocal technique and confidence building.
When I asked people what they want to work on almost everyone said they lack confidence in their singing voice.
Sometimes old choir repertoire becomes stale.
Well-loved songs start to wear out and lose their sparkle. What can you do to overcome this?
