As we take small steps towards returning to live music-making, amateur adult singing groups have definitely taken a hit. At the time of going to press, like orchestras, brass bands and other leisure music groups, they have not yet been permitted to return to their usual activities under the much-discussed roadmap, unless this is outdoors in groups of up to six.
So, how have choirs kept their members engaged as the parameters keep evolving, and how has Project Get Singing been helping music leaders return to what they do best? I spoke to Samantha Abrahams, director and founder of La La Choirs in Devon, and Naveen Arles, founder of MD Brunch about their new venture, Project Get Singing, which has aimed to help musical directors and singers through this most recent part of the pandemic.
Creating a collective
Firstly, I want to know from Abrahams exactly how the last 12 months have affected her and her choirs. ‘Initially it was utterly terrifying,’ she says. ‘I'm very lucky, I've retained about 70 to 75 per cent of my choir’ – (her numbers have been as high as 350 singers per week). She thinks the hardest times were not in the initial transition to online, but rather the moments she calls ‘limbo’ – that is, the periods of time transitioning from online back to Covid-secure face-to-face sessions, and then back to Zoom. These often felt like a step backwards because whenever the choir settled into a pattern, this was disrupted by a new wave, new guidance, and different restrictions. ‘You've got to be change-ready but keep it going’, she says.
So how has she kept her choirs motivated through all the change and doubt? Building community is key. ‘I knew there would be a lot of isolated people, so I did an event almost every day in the first lockdown’, she tells me. ‘People loved knowing that there would always be a choir session. There was continuity.’ Through icebreakers, social events where possible – including planned outdoor socials for groups of six in recent weeks – the sense of community within Abrahams’ choirs is the lynchpin that she believes has held it together. ‘I've pitched my choir as a family. It's not just about the singing. It's about treating people as people and not as commodities.’
It's interesting to discuss the potential role of a more hybrid model in future. Abrahams is very open about her own learning during the last 12 months. ‘This has given me a chance to learn stuff about how [my singers] like to learn. Some of them have come out as real leaders. It's also given me a chance to work on vocal technique and skills in sectionals so that I can work more on developing the skills of individuals’.
Certain aspects of her online rehearsals may become part and parcel of future rehearsal schedules, and the idea of hybrid rehearsals, with some singers in the room while others remain online, is certainly something that will become normal for many groups. Abrahams also says that she now publishes a schedule further ahead than before, so that her members have the guarantee of choir. How does she see the longer-term relationship with Zoom and other platforms? ‘It's a way for us to reach people we haven't reached before,’ she says. ‘There may be a backlash against it for a while, but there may also be a place for it long term’.
A collaborative approach
Arles is more direct: ‘Choirs themselves are going to need that hybrid facility because you can support the members who are going to take longer to get back to the table, and also support members of the community who would otherwise never be able to attend choir.’ For Arles, the future is a place where musical directors (MDs) can, and should, thrive, and he sees access to affordable training as the route to that. His organisation, MD Brunch, is a gathering of vocal leaders from all spheres, providing skill sharing, networking, events and support. He hopes that by providing ‘drop-in’ style workshop teaching to all MDs, those who have not previously engaged with the professional development opportunities available to them might feel more comfortable to attend training, not only to build their skills but also to develop resilience in an industry with some unique challenges.
‘Organisations such as the Association of British Choral Directors, Making Music and Sing for Pleasure have had to make serious changes to their training and support models to reach MDs in other areas’, he says. ‘Generally speaking, most organisations have seen a huge increase in engagement with things like training programmes; this is partly about accessibility and also about accepting that their reach needs to be less London-centric’.
Widening opportunity
It's fascinating to hear Abrahams discuss this as well. Based in Devon, she admits that prior to 2020 she ‘did not network with other MDs’. She says: ‘I was ensconced in my world and it was busy and hectic.’ However, during the pandemic this narrative shifted, as it has for so many professionals. ‘I needed to know what other people in my shoes were going through. Is how I'm approaching this the best way? I believe it's made the entire community less precious about sharing; it's made the community more collaborative, and it's made us better MDs because of it.’
It's worth considering, too, why Abrahams in her busy ‘before’ life might not have accessed training. Professional development can cost serious money if you don't have a named organisation behind you. But now the huge amount of time previously spent travelling to courses and conference venues and staying overnight has largely disappeared thanks to most training now being accessible online. Has COVID-19 unintentionally facilitated the democratisation of networking and training? Seemingly, yes. ‘MD Brunch, like other organisations, will definitely retain a hybrid operation, as this will make our reach and impact much larger’, says Arles.
The importance of community is a recurring topic in our conversation. Both Arles and Abrahams feel the weight of providing a service to singers who need to sing; they strongly believe that the narrative in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) guidance to date has unfairly penalised amateur adult music groups due to fears over safety. No-one could argue that the last year hasn't been challenging even for the most experienced MDs, and they hope that Project Get Singing will offer some help.
The stated intention for Project Get Singing is to create an active pathway for the populace to feel positive about singing. Within that, they plan to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ where leaders can find guidance, collated information from different organisations, and support for their work. This, in itself, is not new. However, the further goal is to provide high-quality free resources on an ongoing basis. Their recent video series #12Twelve12 provides 12 free warm-up length sessions for choirs to use, working with big-name leaders like Juliet Russell, Camilo Menjura, Pete Churchill and Tinuke Craig. In reality, Project Get Singing falls somewhere between resource hub, training centre, and campaign to facilitate the return to face-to-face singing – with perhaps some showpiece events thrown in, as and when guidance allows.
La La Choirs in concert, 2019
Offerings from Project Get Singing complement a wide-ranging free resource package already announced by a team of the UK's major vocal music organisations: the Summer Of Singing (see page 18). This is more geared towards school-age choirs than the offerings from Project Get Singing, highlighting the difference in narrative between adult and school age singing participants.
Project Get Singing wants to make sure that leisure music groups for adults are not excluded from the narrative, and that their MDs are supported in their increasingly important work, providing singing opportunities within local communities.
Balancing the need for singing with the need for safety will always be hard, but with research consistently endorsing the wellbeing benefits of singing, Arles and Abrahams hope that eventually the path will be much clearer. Abrahams adds: ‘Let's get everybody singing – and de-demonise singing’.
