As David Burbidge pointed out in his recent guest post about choir leadership styles, some singers end up putting their choir leaders on pedestals.
And even if you resist that extreme, it’s easy to forget that they have a life outside choir and music. Choir leaders are as vulnerable and human as you are.
Or … “Who’s in charge of your choir?” (answer: it’s not you!)
I often hear from choir leaders about singers who point out to them that they’re not doing their job right. Is this ever justified?
This week, David Burbidge writes a guest post about leadership in choirs.
Is it possible to be in charge without diminishing those you are trying to lead? David believes you can be empowered as a leader whilst also empowering those you lead.
There are times, especially during the pandemic, when there are no choir events or concerts coming up.
But you need to keep your singing business in the public eye or people will forget you. Here are some ideas you might try.
Rounds are often seen as a simple way into harmony singing.
But I would argue that they’re not that simple and aren’t a good way to introduce harmony. Here’s why.
Many choirs have a written constitution and an associated committee.
This is fine when everything is going well, but when something goes wrong, you might find that your constitution is not fit for purpose. Here are some things to think about when you write one for your choir.
Often, as a choir leader, I notice one person who is not quite catching on for some reason.
How do I give that person individual attention when they are just one in a room full of singers? Here are some ideas that might help.
Many of us feel that we have become seriously over-informed about aerosols, droplets and other Covid issues.
But the silver lining is that we are now far more aware of how to help prevent winter colds and flu in our choirs (and Covid of course).
Have you ever wondered why a choir is so like and orange?
Wondering about this is a very useful exercise and can throw up some surprises. Here’s how.
How important is it that the words in songs mean something, or can they be meaningless sounds?
Many choirs sing songs in languages they don’t understand, so does it matter whether lyrics are in a real language?
Not every choir leader suits every singer.
Here are some questions to help you work out what to do if you don’t like your choir leader.
I always, always plan my rehearsals and workshops in great detail, including the warm ups.
But invariably the unexpected happens and my plan goes out the window! Nevertheless, here’s why planning is still vital.
It’s happened to us all: you’re mid-rehearsal and suddenly your mind goes completely blank.
Instead of panicking, here are some things you can do.
Can you trust that your singers will do their best in the concert? Do you trust your choir leader to not harm your voice?
Rather than wait until you feel somebody is ‘trustworthy’, assume that you can trust everyone in your choir and they will rise to the occasion.
One of the most powerful human needs is to be seen and heard.
We all want to feel valued, important and that we matter. Being in a choir does all that and more.
Following on from last week’s post (Can only singers lead choirs, only music readers arrange songs and only musicians be songwriters?), it’s time to consider ‘singers’.
I think most of you know by now that I believe that everyone can sing. I’d like to delve a little deeper into whether you need to be a ‘singer’ in order to sing.
Many choir leaders demonstrate and teach songs by singing them. But can you lead a choir without being able to sing? Similarly, do you need to be able to read music to be a song arranger, or be a musician to write songs?
The simple answer to these questions (I believe) is “No.” Here’s why.
Singing can be daunting at first because there are so many things to remember: posture, breathing, smiling, tuning, balance and so on.
But if you try to focus on all these at once, it will end in disaster (especially in performance). Here’s what you can do instead.
Even though we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, some countries are slowly beginning to lift Covid restrictions to varying degrees.
When your choir is finally able to rehearse indoors once again, how can you stay safe, but ensure that you’re as inclusive as possible?
I’ve written before about the general and well-known benefits of singing in a choir: Why you should start the year singing – and then sing some more!
In this post I’d like to look at how singing together can benefit your mental health and how and why that works.
