Mistango Choir Festival

Chris Rowbury's Blog Entries

  • What the job of choir leader involves

    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   The other week I wrote about who your choir actually ‘belongs’ to (Whose choir is it any way?). Does it belong to the singers, the committee, the arts centre, or the musical  director?     Of course, there... read more
  • Two models for running your choir

    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Last week I raised the question of Whose choir is it any way?     © Copyright John Darch and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.   I looked at the different roles involved in running a choir... read more
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  • Whose choir is it any way?

    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Your church or community centre sets up the concerts. Your committee deals with the finances and the social events. Your musical director teaches and conducts the songs. Your singers turn up every week to create the music.   &nb... read more
  • How to tell if your choir leader is rubbish

    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   A while back I attended a singing workshop and hated the way it was run. Was it just me, or was the workshop leader no good?     We all have different learning styles, so perhaps the leader’s teaching style just didn... read more
  • Is your audience just friends and family?

    [this is an updated version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]   Does your choir actually have a public following, or are you just kidding yourself?     When a choir first starts performing in public, most of the audience will be made up of friends and family. We hope that they will the... read more
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  • The job of being a choir leader

    [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??!!

    [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

    [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?

    [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

    [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