In a school hall in an inner London borough, singers from one of the country's best-known choirs lead a warm-up with a group of Year 4 students. Following this, there will be a rehearsal of repertoire, with attention paid to posture, breathing and the meaning of the text. This is the Bach Choir's outreach programme, Vocalise!, which started life in 2010. I ask Nick Cutts, general manager of the Bach Choir, how the programme came into being. ‘It was started by two or three members of the choir.’ he says. ‘They recognised the need to inspire another generation through music, to pass the torch.’
The programme works with schools in inner London boroughs in collaboration with the Tri-borough Music Hub, which covers Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham, and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Schools are assessed for their inclusion in the programme using a variety of criteria, such as the percentage of pupils on free school meals, and those with English as an additional language. Many of the schools selected for the programme have little or no music provision. Volunteers from the Bach Choir lead a series of workshops in each school throughout the season, with children in Year 4 and Year 5, as well as training sessions for their teachers. One of the initial aims of the programme, says Cutts, was ‘to not only let the young people hear the sound of a choir, but really to take part in very interactive sessions.’
According to Aliss Pollock, the Bach Choir's outreach administrator, there are typically around eight singers in the workshop (two per voice part, all of whom are volunteers), a workshop leader and a pianist. They structure the session around pre-planned repertoire, which will form part of a major performance at the end of the year. The group visits the school each half-term and, as the event draws closer, will go in more often for final rehearsals.
Beau photography
A Vocalise! school workshop in action
‘We do fun warm-ups at the start and get brains going’, says Pollock, ‘Then a singing session. We talk about breathing, we discuss the meaning of words and explore the language.’
Teaching teachers
And what of the teachers’ part in this? Pollock explained that the teachers have a vital role in rehearsing their pupils for the end-of-season performance, helping to practise the songs in between visits from the Bach Choir. This sounds excellent, but I wanted to know more about the training sessions. Given the logistical and financial considerations of allowing a teacher time out of class, I asked Pollock whether all the schools sent teachers to the training sessions this year. ‘Yes, they did. It was brilliant. We had representatives from each of our ten schools, and some of them were able to send two,’ she tells me excitedly.
Involving the teachers helps to ensure the programme's sustainability once the Bach Choir has left. Given that the music element in PGCE teacher training can be limited, this support is particularly important for those teachers who consider themselves non-specialists. With new repertoire, techniques to lead singing and, hopefully, some confidence in their abilities, teachers can return to their classes and lead the children in music lessons. The Vocalise! programme runs for the school year and, as Cutts explains, the teachers involved were introduced to the repertoire at the start of the year by David Hill (the Bach Choir's director) so they could familiarize themselves before the workshops began.
A good year
The culmination of this season's programme is a piece specially composed by Will Todd and Michael Rosen with the list-like title of ‘Lights, Stories, Noise, Dreams, Love and Noodles’. It was commissioned by the Bach Choir for its outreach programme in 2016 and is being revisited this year with a performance at Cadogan Hall on 14 June. Composed for children's choir, children's chamber choir, adult choir, and jazz ensemble, the children will sing alongside the members of the Bach Choir, in what should be a truly memorable occasion and a fitting conclusion of their work together.
I asked Cutts about the ideology behind the choir's outreach programme. ‘The ethos really is about introducing people to the joy of singing,’ he says. A recent addition to the programme is working with people with dementia. All the work, Cutts says, is based on the ‘passion’ of the Bach Choir to take part in the outreach programme, and the aim is, ‘to take music to as many different communities as it can’. The programme currently relies on a valiant band of volunteers to deliver its workshops and, acknowledging this, Cutts says: ‘The only limit is the people who give up their time from the choir, who obviously have day jobs.’ There will be those who, because of work commitments, cannot take part, however passionate they feel about the cause. Nevertheless, the choir has harnessed the energy of those who can, and there appears to be a healthy number of Bach Choir members ready and able to donate their time, energy and love of choral singing to inspire the next generation. With music provision being patchy in parts of the country, this dedication is in itself something to be championed. This generosity, in addition to the necessary administration and management behind the scenes, enables pupils to explore their singing voice, and be a part of a big musical project that has been specially selected with children's voices in mind.
The outreach programme has worked with 3,000 children since it began and directed several large-scale collaborative productions involving its own singers and a sizable number of different schools. It has recently expanded to include schools in Tower Hamlets and now works with Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Education Service, in addition to its partnership with the Tri-borough Hub. Cutts explains how the work of the Bach Choir and the Hub fits together: ‘We create the grounding with our sessions. The Tri-borough Hub has a series of young choirs which aims to filter all the way up to people who are just about to leave, encouraging them to become part of the Bach Choir.’ I ask Cutts about his aims and plans for the future of the programme. ‘We constantly review,’ he says. ‘We're trying to grow within the limits of working with volunteers from the choir and funding restrictions. We want to keep going with outreach for as long as possible.’ Pollock adds: ‘It's about inspiring children to have a life-long love of singing. Sparking that love at an early age is really important.’
