A couple of things recently reminded me just how important mistakes are when learning something new.
One was performer, song leader and composer Brendan Taaffe’s substack The most important thing you can do is fail, and the other was a voice, body and rhythm workshop I attended.
When someone doesn’t like what you do, it can make you wobble and start to doubt whether you’re any good.
But not everyone is going to like what you have to offer. Once you accept that, it’s easier to move on.
Recently, there’s been a spate of ‘tricky’ choir warm-up videos on Instagram.
They’re clever and challenging, but I can’t help wondering: do they actually lead to better choir performances?
Here in the northern hemisphere it’s cold, wet, dark and miserable. it’s the ‘slump’ end of the year before spring truly arrives.
Going to choir each week can help. But what happens if you lose the joy of singing?
In Part 1, I looked at some of the more obvious reasons why choirs begin to falter: the impact of Covid, ageing membership, toxic behaviour, over-ambitious projects, and too many concerts.
In this second part, I want to explore some of the longer-term and less visible causes — the ones that creep in gradually or hide behind apparent success.
If you’re lucky, your choir goes from strength to strength: numbers grow, standards improve, and the sense of community deepens.
But sometimes things start to slip. Numbers fall, confidence drains away, rehearsals lose their energy, and going to choir begins to feel like a chore rather than a pleasure. When that happens, what can you do?
Whenever I ran a one-off singing day, I would always encourage people to bring lunch to share.
The idea was to create a sense of community and get people to socialise with each other. But I no longer do that. Here’s why.