[this is a version of a post which first appeared on my blog From the Front of the Choir]
“Being able to make 40 people who do not know each other sing so well together was amazing”
“An excellent day proving that 50 strangers can blend very well indeed in close harmony”
These are two typical comments from singing workshops that I’ve run. It seems that people are really surprised when a bunch of strangers can make music together in such a relatively short time. However, for me, that is the joy of harmony singing.
Some years ago I took two community choirs to London to perform together. I lead one of these (Woven Chords), and founded the other (WorldSong), so we had a few common songs in our repertoire.
It makes life a little easier that it was me who taught the songs to both choirs and they both use the same structure, key and arrangements. Even so, it was wonderful when they came together for the first time in a year for a brief rehearsal and seamlessly blended into a single choir. They knew their parts, they knew how the songs and harmonies fitted together, but they didn’t necessarily know the person standing next to them!
I have witnessed this effect at work on an even larger scale. In 2002 Sing for Water, a mass concert performed at the Thames Festival in London, was first launched by Helen Chadwick. Each year since then, up to 800 singers from across the UK have come together to sing and raise money for WaterAid.
Each person learns their part independently, or with the choir that they belong to. Then on the day of the performance, there is a relatively brief rehearsal where the massed choir comes together for the first time to run through the songs. It always amazes me how relatively trouble-free this rehearsal is and how quickly the songs come together.
For me, this is the beauty of harmony singing, especially when it doesn’t require instrumental accompaniment. Any group of people – friends or strangers – can get together anywhere and make music.
This also touches on a couple of previous posts I made about whether you need to know your fellow singers to be able to make music (Do you know the name of everyone in your choir? and The singers shall remain nameless).
For me the answer is a resounding NO!
Chris Rowbury: chrisrowbury.com
