[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]
I love to sing harmony. In fact, that’s pretty much the only time I sing!
But to do that you need other voices. And it’s quite handy if you all know some of the same songs.
Way back when there was far more community singing going on. People knew a whole bunch of songs which they could sing with each other.
Nowadays though somebody might try to start a song and even if other people recognise it and sort of know the tune, it’s almost guaranteed that nobody remembers anything beyond the first verse.
So I started a choir.
I figured that if I taught a load of people the same songs, at least we’d have some repertoire in common.
This is indeed true, but it did take a long time before somebody could start off a song and have all the other parts join in without having to find their words, or stand next to someone in the same part, or check the starting notes.
I remember the very first time it happened.
It was a few years after I'd started my first choir in Coventry. A bunch of us had gone to the pub as usual after our Wednesday session when somebody began the call to a Georgian song that we all knew. Whether by luck or judgement we’ll never know, but it was roughly in the right key and all the other choir members there were able to join in.
A magic moment and one which I will always treasure.
When are you going to start a choir or join an existing one?
Chris Rowbury: chrisrowbury.com
