02/06/2020 From the front of the choir: Singers miss out when there’s no choir, but what about

e’s no choir, but what about choir leaders?

Home About Chris Contact Singing weekends Chris Rowbury website Archives

M O N D AY, J U N E 0 1 , 2 0 2 0
Follow Chris across the web

Singers miss out when there’s no choir, but what about

choir leaders?

230 3
Sign up to get posts by email

There are plenty of studies now about the many benefits of singing together. But they only
look at the experience of the singers in a choir. Enter your email

Subscribe

SEARCH THIS BLOG

I’d like to consider what choir leaders get out of leading a choir and what they might be This work is licensed under a Creative
missing when choirs aren’t meeting. Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
4.0 International License.
Those of you who sing regularly with others know how beneficial singing together is. There is
now a growing body of research to support this (see Why you should start the year singing –
and then sing some more!). POPULAR POSTS

However, I don’t know of any studies which have looked at how leading groups of singers The six qualities
needed to be a good
affects choir leaders.
choral director
I wrote a while back
I’m not writing this to gain your sympathy as, like the majority of choir leaders, I love my
about how to be a
job. I just want to offer another view of singing together. And if it helps you appreciate your good choir member .
choir leader more, then even better! But what qualities do you need to
be a good choir leader ? Musical
In this era of COVID-19 when choirs cannot meet, many singers are missing the simple act of director b...
gathering together and singing with others. It can even have adverse effects on singers’
How to be a good
mental health. There are online substitutes, but none of them quite hit the spot. choir member
Last week I wrote
I’m sure you all appreciate the hard work your choir leader does, especially in these difficult about whether you
times. Many of us might appear to be swan-like on the surface, but we’re paddling like mad need singing lessons
just to stay afloat much of the time! in order to be able
to sing . I suggested that people
should simply jump in and joi...
To give you an insight (if you need one), you may want to read The job of being a choir
leader which shows what a typical week might look like. The secret to great
singing that teachers
Many choir leaders have been working hard to support their singers. They have created don’t tell you
WhatsApp groups, been sending out weekly emails, have set up regular online singing There is one vital
sessions, and so on. ingredient to being a
good singer. Photo
by Peter Smile It’s not innate talent
Working online is actually a lot harder than running a normal weekly choir. There is an awful
or vocal range or ability to read
lot of technical work and time needed to present even the simplest online singing mu...
experience.
Preparing to sing:
When running a live online session, your choir leader has to try hard to motivate, energise physical and vocal
and involve all the singers, but unlike a regular choir session, they are getting no immediate warm up ideas for
choirs
feedback from the singers. It’s much more tiring to run sessions like this.
Now that we know
warming up for
Speaking for myself, here is what I get out of leading a group of people singing together: singing is a good idea ( Preparing to
sing: why bother? ), and now that

https://blog.chrisrowbury.com/2020/06/singers-miss-out-when-theres-no-choir.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook 1/4
02/06/2020 From the front of the choir: Singers miss out when there’s no choir, but what about choir leaders?
the satisfaction of hearing a bunch of people finally nail a song; we’ve considered what kind of
things...
hearing the amazing sound of a group singing harmony;
watching people who think they can’t ‘sing’ lose themselves in the group sound; Why singing is bad
for you (and 7
the opportunity to socialise with a lovely group of people;
reasons why you
bathing in the feeling of a large group of people all breathing at the same time; shouldn’t stop doing
it)
being able to build a sense of community in a bunch of strangers;
People don’t often
seeing people’s smiling faces as they sing; talk about the downsides of singing.
Yes, we bang on about the health
being able to try out new arrangements of songs;
benefits, social aspects, etc. but
being able to help a group of people create something wonderful together; seldom mention t...
realising that singers singing abilities are improving because of my teaching and
Dress to impress –
warm ups; choosing suitable
seeing familiar faces and feeling happy that people want more of what I have to outfits for your choir
offer; As many regular
readers will know, I
being part of a group all working together towards the same thing; hate a choir in
introducing new songs to people and seeing them discover new styles of music; uniform . However, it is a good idea
to have some kind of unifying dress
watching people relax and unwind as the session goes on; code and ...
… and much, much more!
How to start your
When there is no choir I really miss all of this. Not just during a pandemic, but also over the own community
choir 3 — Finding
long summer break for example. the money
Last week, in Part 2
It’s not just singers’ mental health that may be suffering during lockdown, but many choir of this series, I
leaders are being affected too. We’re social creatures and miss the many interactions with looked at the Forward planning that
our singers. We miss the healing sounds washing over us. We miss seeing the joy on your is necessary before you actually
start your own community choir....
faces as you sing.
Easy songs for your
I’m sure you do already, but I hope you appreciate everything your choir leader does when choir 2: rounds,
choirs aren’t meeting. Not only are they having to work very hard, but they too are feeling chants, call &
the loss of their singing groups. Be kind to them! response
Last week I wrote
  about what makes a
song ‘easy’ . This week I’ll look at
specific types of easy songs: rounds
Get more posts like this delivered straight to your inbox! , chants and call & ...
Click to subscribe by email.
How to start your
  own community
choir 2 — Forward
planning
Chris Rowbury
You’ve decided that
you want to start
Website: chrisrowbury.com your very own community choir , so
what’s the first step? Why, planning
Facebook: Facebook.com/ChrisRowbury of course! Before you rush int...
Twitter: Twitter.com/ChrisRowbury
Learning songs by
Monthly Music Roundup: Tinyletter.com/ChrisRowbury
ear: what should you
YouTube: YouTube.com/ChrisRowbury do while other parts
are being taught?
When a harmony
song is being taught
230 3 by ear, you can find yourself not
singing whilst other parts are being
taught. Rather then zoning o...

Labels: choir, choir leader, choirmaster, harmony singing, mental health, musical director, singers, singing,
LINKS
singing workshops
ChrisRowbury.com
A World in Song (Facebook group)
Natural Voice Network
Woven Chords
World Harmony Folk
All Music Blogs: the blog where
music lovers start
WorldSong
ChoralNet blog
VocalBlog
Vocalist
Helping You Harmonise blog
Gerontius: choirs in the UK
A Cappella News
Podium Speak

https://blog.chrisrowbury.com/2020/06/singers-miss-out-when-theres-no-choir.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook 2/4