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Chris Rowbury's Blog Entries

  • The job of being a choir leader

    Added August 23, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 1840 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   As a singing workshop and choir leader I have an incredibly easy life. I can get up when I want to and have no work commitments for five days of the week. So why do I feel so tired?     I’m my own boss and can choose... read more

  • What am I going to do with no singing over the summer break??!!

    Added August 16, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 1171 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   For those of us who work to school terms, it is now the summer holidays. Unlike us poor folk here in the UK, the summer break is months long in the US ! Whilst we only have six weeks or so, the summer there lasts from early June until la... read more

  • Singing in harmony 2 – small group skills

    Added August 7, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 1884 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Last week I wrote about some of the skills needed to be able to sing in harmony. Most of them were focused on singing in a large choir. This week I want to consider those skills that are needed to sing harmony in a much smaller group, pe... read more

  • Singing in harmony 1 – how do they do that?

    Added July 25, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 1490 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Last week I wrote about 10 ways to be a better choir member. This was prompted by an earlier post on whether you need singing lessons or not in order to sing. I pointed out that there are several skills that can’t be learnt in a on... read more

  • 10 ways to be a better choir member

    Added July 23, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 17928 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Last week I wrote about whether you need singing lessons in order to be able to sing. I suggested that people should simply jump in and join a choir before they ever consider individual singing lessons. I pointed out that there are impor... read more

  • Do you need singing lessons in order to sing?

    Added July 19, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 3276 views - 0 comments
    [this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   I often get enquiries from people looking for one-to-one singing lessons. I tell them that unfortunately I don’t offer them.     I recommend that they join a choir instead. But some people feel they can’t even do that w... read more

  • Finding out about songs: two real-world examples

    Added July 12, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 1564 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Last week I wrote that you shouldn’t believe everything you read when it comes to researching songs.     Photo by Ashley Dace   This week I’d like to give you two concrete examples of song research. &nb... read more

  • Finding out about songs: don’t believe everything you read!

    Added July 5, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 1258 views - 0 comments
    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   I was in the middle of planning a workshop and was checking through a few songs to make sure I had the correct lyrics, source, meaning, background, etc.     I came across a few that I couldn’t figure out so I went se... read more

  • The problem with men: getting them, handling them, keeping them

    Added June 28, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 2758 views - 1 comments
    [this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   What is it with blokes and singing? In most open-access adult workshops that I run, only 10% of the participants are men (and it seems to be getting less all the time). Many male voice choirs have an aging membership. Most mixed community choirs ... read more
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  • S, A, T or B – which is the part for me?

    Added June 21, 2012 by Chris Rowbury - 3935 views - 0 comments
    [this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   I blame it on the Italians.     Photo by cbmd   The founder of the modern musical stave was an Italian; many well-known musical forms — sonata, cantata, aria — were invented in Italy; also, Italian musicians and ... read more