I have, within the past year, joined a choir.
This is quite a big thing for me, as I don’t think I sing very well. Indeed, the only time I think my singing is amazing is when I have my earphones in and I’m belting out lyrics along to whatever song is playing on my chosen Spotify playlist at the time. When I take the earphones out, oh dear. Poor neighbours.
It’s not like I am tone deaf – I can read music as I play the piano (and am learning the ukelele, but that’s another story). I just have such a wabbit wee voice that is as far from the strident tones of the singers I am accompanying. Their voices are powerful waterfalls, mine is a tiny rivulet. My husband has such a strident voice and so, as a result, I tend to keep my singing to the times when I am by myself and am certain that my neighbours are out.
However, I joined a choir. This was all down to a nurse at the local vaccination clinic, when I went for one of my COVID boosters. We got talking about why I am deemed high risk, and I mentioned my faulty lung (one of my lungs has a degree of fibrosis/scar tissue as a result from it being a site for one of my lymphoma tumours). I mentioned how, at times, I find it hard to breathe properly; my peak flow measurement is absolutely pathetic! She then suggested I should join a choir, as the breathing techniques required in singing may well help with my breathing issues. I said to her that people would pay not to hear me sing, but took her advice on board, and thought it over.
My husband had joined the Stay At Home Choir during the pandemic lockdown, and had sung some amazing pieces with them. What happens with this is that you download the score for the pieces you are singing, have tutelage and rehearsals online via Zoom, film yourself singing your part, and then send it in via a special portal on the SAHC project page. After a few months, the people behind the scenes compile a Youtube video featuring every single person who participated – and the sound is amazing! So you’re in a choir, but you can rehearse, record, and submit your piece without being in danger of someone picking you out for singing something wrong. What is even nicer is that the members of the choir come from all corners of the globe!
So, I joined the choir last January, and tend to sing Soprano 2. So far I have participated in four projects: one which involved Norwegian ‘yoiking’ with composer Frode Fjellheim: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avCgULB3UIY
I have also sung Handel’s ‘Zadok the Priest’, a recording which was subsequently dedicated to the memory of the late HM Queen Elizabeth II: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wz9oazzWjQ
Can you see me?
My latest project was participating with the choir in singing Thomas Tallis’ ‘If You Loved Me’. This is due for release on Valentine’s Day, and I will post the link here when it is available. It was a beautiful piece to sing, if a little complex!
Next up, we are singing Christopher Tin’s ‘Baba Yetu’ – one of my favourite songs. Rehearsals start next week, and I am so excited for them!
And finally, I have also sung with the choir in two pieces which will be included in Karl Jenkins’ forthcoming album ‘One World’ (released in the summer). Karl Jenkins is my favourite modern day composer (I have all of his Adiemus albums) and so being able to participate in singing two songs for his new album was so thrilling!
All of the pieces that the choir have sung prior to my involvement can be found on the SAHC Youtube page. They are all wonderful pieces of music – two led by Gareth Malone were especially written for the choir to perform.
Now, I am loving singing and I don’t care who hears me rehearse! I think it has even helped my breathing a bit too. I still think I would hesitate joining a real-time choir though…….. I need a bit more confidence for that! If you have been reading this and are interested in signing up for future projects, keep an eye on the SAHC webpage. Then you, like the rest of us, can enjoy the music you have produced whilst searching for your own wee box on the screen when it is released on Youtube!
June's Jottings 