Why would anyone bother to join a choir?
Why would somebody ever want to do that?
Most of us will remember some experience singing at school- be it good or bad- the national anthem, some song for a concert or a play with a song, a teacher strumming a guitar or dare I say it an opportunity to have time away from the classroom and join the Choir!
We'll also remember music with events- such as a game of sport, a funeral, a wedding, a first love. It's a feeling hard to describe but simply put , we have a connection to music, it hits you deep within, to our soul and triggers emotions. Because of that, some of us want to create music using our own voice.
Whatever the reason, there is more to it than that- if you join a choir you get to sing somewhere that isn't in the bathroom or in the car. Joining a choir enables you to experiment with your voice and put the cares of the day or life on hold for a while- to focus on something specific. Choir members get to socialise with others, they get to experience all sorts of types of music, sometimes in different langauges, in different genres (classical to country and rock) and to create sound with other people while having fun, being challenged and performing for family friends and strangers.
Joining a Choir is very much a communal music making thing- it's not necessarily about singing to be the soloist/star it's about collectively making a wonderful sound and most of all enjoying doing that. You don't even have to have a wonderful voice- just an attiitude to enjoying making a sound with your voice and making that sound into something beautiful with others. It's certainly team work!
There's often not even auditions to join community choirs.
Choirs come in all shapes and sizes and that doesn't matter. It's not about what you look like, it's about what you can contribute and enjoy doing. Some choirs are very tiny and others huge but every voice contributes no matter what.
Yes, there are some things to come to grips with when singing in a group- like when to sing, and ....when to be silent! When to let rip and sing at the top of your voice really loudly and conversely when it's meant to be slow and gentle but that's what a Musical Director or Conductor's job is- to unite those individual voices.
You should try it sometime!
KB
