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blog: Is singing together dying out?

[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Despite an apparent re-awakened interest in singing, we don’t sing together like we used to.     TV programmes like X Factor, The Voice...

blog: Are you tone deaf? Very unlikely!

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Very, very few people are tone deaf. Tone deafness is an abnormality of the brain which can also affect the understanding of language and certain spatial ...

blog: Why the singers in your choir still love you even though they look bored

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Even though I’ve been teaching for almost 30 years, I still get affected by that glum-looking face in the third row.   ... and it's no...

blog: When you don’t feel like singing, that’s the perfect time to do it – sing yourself happy!

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir] Many of us wait until the mood hits us before we do something. But often the doing something is what changes our mood for the better.     Th...

blog: How to sing together in times of isolation

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir] We are living in unprecedented times. People are not allowed to socialise.     How do we keep singing together? I’ll look at some of the ...

blog: Why learning songs with foreign lyrics need not be scary

[A version of this article first appeared as a post on my blog From the Front of the Choir]I teach songs from all over the world, often in foreign languages. But people are always asking me for more songs in English. Why is this? Especially since ...

blog: Singing is about people, not musical notes

[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   There are many choir leaders whose priority is to create as perfect a rendition of a written musical score as they can (see Music lives in flawed humans and...

blog: Ear Training - from the Directors viewpoint

(adapted from a post in The Stairwell Carollers Choir Blog) David Rain, tenor:  How on earth  do you hear everyone, including our mistakes, while singing along at full throttle?   Pierre: I'm not sure, but you're definitely right...

blog: Finding out about songs: don’t believe everything you read!

[this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   I was in the middle of planning a workshop and was checking through a few songs to make sure I had the correct lyrics, source, meaning, backgr...

blog: Does your choir respond to where it's based?

[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   I lived in Coventry in the Midlands of the UK for almost 13 years (gosh, doesn’t time fly!), although I’m originally from South London. In 2010...