Don Valley Festival Champions
A number of things have happened since the visit of the adjudicator. Two stand out:
First, I couldn’t help notice he’s not been back.
Second, we won The Don Valley Festival, that week-long annual music and arts shindig near Barnsley. A large audience, a big cup, a slightly less big cheque and a massive barrel of Eastwood’s bitter. It was just the best way of getting feedback: we sounded great, for one performance at least. A colleague of mine, Gordon Shepherd from Aberdeen, is a member of a barbershop style chorus. They recently came third in the Irish Association of Barbershop held in Dublin and were actually awarded marks.
Where do we go from here? Does the choir have an agreed direction and set of targets? We have a hard-working committee and a charitable mission statement that says something about promoting choral music in the community. We may be lucky to have such willing guys. The days of professional people donating their time, often during office hours, are apparently numbered. Despite the economic climate, some of the top choirs now pay for their administrators.
Because they cannot afford the orchestras they sing with, especially as sponsorship is dwindling, many top choirs are having to do fewer concerts. Our relatively full order book looks healthy in comparison. My Aberdeen colleague is Chorus Master, responsible for getting payed gigs, aiming to earn as much as your average after-dinner speaker. They can do two in one night. The profits go toward funding a Learn to Sing course that they run annually: one way of recruiting new singers.
All choirs are concerned with attracting, assessing and keeping new singers. We are proud of our mixed ability choir. Even if selection were on the agenda, it’s not without its problems. My pal Big Dave, twenty stone bass with Cadenzain Edinburgh, tells me their MD holds strict auditions. She is specifically looking for balance, thus excluding, heaven forbid, the rogue distinctive single voice. Gordon refers to these as soloists. The confident and consistent outfit we have become is very good for new members, but the new guys do change the balance until they are bedded in.
Top choirs have quite a daunting audition; singing a piece of their choice, sight-reading another piece, singing a note from within a chord and singing back notes from the piano. This hurdle may put off a few applicants which are getting less anyway. Apparently the tradition of singing in school and church is waning. Recruitment from university music departments is still strong, albeit cyclical.
Our choir is a strong team headed by a first rate musical director and pianist. Over sixty singers attend a two hour rehearsal once weekly, with extra sectionals once a month. Most are turning out for the annual away weekend. Some might say voice coaching remains a gap. Gordon tells me that he and some of his barbershoppals go to Harmony College, run by the British Barbershop Association at Nottingham University. It’s expensive but excellent value. Learning takes place in formal sessions and during the afterglow that takes place in the bar. Their sections also submit CD recordings to the MD and voice coaches within the choir. Gordon admits the feedback is softly, softly at the moment.
Can each individual help himself? Yes! But resources are needed and not everyone wants to devote valuable spare time to singing. A few guys are fortunate to have a piano at home on which they can pick out a note. Voice coaches are available, along with feedback a plenty: good and bad. Lessons might be more cost-effective as a group, but they might also take up valuable rehearsal time. Otherwise it’s paying for personal voice coaching. To keep a check on individual standards the top choirs have voice tests every two to three years. These are not something the singers look forward to.
My personal view is we have reached a consistent good standard, but I’m not qualified to judge in any more detail. Our professionals are terrific. We have a core of great singers who help the rest. Recruitment is strong. The repertoire is getting more varied and audience-orientated. My colleagues up an down the country suggest that whilst voice-coaching is valuable, the quality of the choir professionals and the sectional rehearsals give the best return on investment.
Resources permitting, voice-coaching can be purchased and I understand the committee have entered this arena. Maybe we should send our best singers. Then they could bring their new found skills back so we can all benefit.
Note two easily obtained personal resources:‘Singing for Dummies’, Pamelia S. Phillips (2003) http://www.vocalist.org.uk/voicetraining.html
