Joshua Neicho’s piece for NME this week looked at the growing number of community choirs in the UK, with over 40,000 participants between them, and how they have been impacted by lockdown.
“Over the past decade, the dowdy image of choirs has been transformed and UK choir membership has boomed. This is inspired, perhaps, by the growing popularity of participatory live events and interest in honing creative skills, the impact of TV talent shows and the rise in slick but open-to-all contemporary choirs.”
Quoting Curtis Stansfield, Musical Director of Some Voices, the article talks about the value of keeping a community together online during lockdown with virtual rehearsals “like a Joe Wicks HIT class – you know there was a pulling together” but also the irony of this approach given that “a lot of people join a choir to get off their computer.”
The current guidance in England limits all amateur choirs and performance groups to 6 people indoors, compared to last autumn when choirs of 30 indoors with social distancing were permitted. A petition has been created to ask the government to rexamine this restriction. With the delay in the lifting of all restrictions from 21st June to 19th July, many choirs like Some Voices have had to postpone resuming rehearsals.
Responding to the current restrictions on choir numbers, the NME quoted Curtis again, who is hoping “the next stage of guidance won’t limit singers to 30 to a room – “in order to have a solid sounding group each week, 50 to 60 people is ideal”, says Curtis Stansfield. The impact of the delay to reopening on their summer classes is “quite exhausting,” he explains, adding that “everyone has laid out money, factored out part of their income” but their strategy is firmly to “delay until it’s safe – we’ve got no interest in putting people at risk.””
A government spokesperson’s response to the objections raised by choirs to these restrictions is quoted:
“We understand this is disappointing to amateur choirs and performance groups but are taking decisions based on the advice of our public health experts. We [will] review measures after two weeks, and as set out in the roadmap, we hope to remove all legal limits on social contact.”
The article interviews many choir leaders around the UK and quotes a research study on the responses of choirs to the pandemic, which also highlights the value of group singing for wellbeing:
“There is now a firmly established and rapidly growing body of research which considers the value of group singing, especially in terms of potential health and wellbeing benefits. Singing together seems to be a highly valuable experience for many individuals.”
You can read the full piece in the NME here:
Some Voices is planning to be back with an in-person Summer Term from 19th July when all the current restrictions are due to end, with a safe and socially-distanced approach to rehearsals continuing. Find out more here.
