What’s not to love about joining a choir ?
The Hurst Singers have been singing four-part pieces together for nearly 50 years and we continue to love singing together every Thursday evening in Mortimer. If you have not heard us at different community events in the Mortimer / Burghfield / Tadley area, pop along to one of our next concerts.
We like to sing a wide range of music from Coldplay to Bach via musicals and folk.
But what is it about singing in a choir that people love? We recently surveyed our members to make sure we understood why they joined, and more importantly keep coming, and there are so many reasons that are not just about standing up and singing!
Liking singing is probably a given (!), but making friends, joining a community and learning a new skill were often major motivations. What did surprise us was how differently people approached singing and learning new pieces – and everyone tends to think other people do it in the same way. Some like to follow the music to the letter (or note!), while others learn by ear. Some stick firmly to their part in their head, while others like to sing against the other parts. Many choirs welcome beginners, but we also have people with a lot more experience, so we are used to offering support if needed. There isn’t a “right” way. If you’ve never been in a choir, you might think it’s not for you, but we’ve got an answer for most excuses.
Must you already be a good singer? You probably need to be able to hear the rhythm in a tune and hear if you’ve hit the right note, but that’s probably it. Everything else gets better with practice.
Do you need to read music ? It helps, but if you can’t sight-read music, join the 75% of our members! Most people can follow the music at some level, while others mainly learn by ear, picking up music-reading tips as they go along. We usually provide rehearsal audio files for the different voice parts, and YouTube can help too!
Is there an audition / when best to join ?
We don’t require anyone to audition. If you are interested and new to a choir, you are welcome anytime but it’s often best the start coming at the beginning of a term when the group starts to learn new pieces, because it can be a bit overwhelming trying to join when everyone else has been singing something for a few weeks.
Why is singing good for you ?
There is lots of research to show it makes people feel better – but why?
- It’s good to work towards a performance, which we do at least twice a year, but most people come for the journey of getting there, rather than the performing itself. If you think you might get nervous, singing in a group takes the pressure off individuals on performance days. And it’s really good when it all finally comes together!
- Learning a now skill is good at any age, especially as we get older, because it keeps all those little cells in the brain working hard to build and reinforce connections and networks. It’s good memory training.
- It’s good for your breathing and posture. A lot of singing is about breath control, and singing can help people with breathing problems such as asthma.
- It can apparently even boost your immune system.
- Singing in a group stimulates happy chemicals the brain
- You have to concentrate on lots of different things at once, breathing, posture, timing, pitch, harmony, tone, following the music – so for a few hours a week there’s no brain space for everyday stresses and worries.
- Real people, doing a real group activity, is a lot better than sitting at home in front of a screen. We REALLY missed the choir during the pandemic! Getting together with other people to make friends, socialise, and laugh at the many hiccups along the way to getting a piece right, makes it fun.