One of the most valuable things you can do as a singer is to join a choir. Why, you ask? Why should you give up another evening a week and a few weekends? Well, here are my top five reasons;
1. Meet other singers
Singing can be a very solitary business. We take one-to-one lessons and we practice alone. If we don’t go out there and meet others, we can end up becoming lonely and discouraged. Joining a choir is a fast-track way to meet other people who share your passion for singing.
2. Learn to sing in harmony
Solo singing teaches loads of useful skills, especially the confidence to get up and sing by yourself, but it’s not easy to teach harmony. By singing in a choir, there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll be singing a harmony part most of the time if you’re a woman, and a 100% chance you will be as a man. Even if you’re a soprano, sometimes, you’ll have to sing a high harmony while the altos or tenors take the melody line. Learning to perform in harmony boosts your aural skills massively.
3. Pick up the pace
Choirs ususally require you to learn things fairly quickly. The pace varies from choir to choir, so you might need to ask questions about this when you join. No matter what, you’ll be thrown new music to work on quite frequently.
Another way singing in a choir helps with pace is your ability to keep going dispite mistakes. In solo singing we can stop and start again, but a choir of a hundred, or even thirty, won’t stop if one member gets something wrong, or gets lost. You’ll need learn to be adept at carrying on regardless and finding your place if you get lost.
4. Develop performance skills
Singing in a choir develops all kinds of performance skills, whether it’s carrying on despite mistakes or being able to follow a conductor. You’ll also get used to dressing properly, coming on and off stage, and looking enthusiastic. Depending on the choir, you may also learn to clap, move or dance while you’re singing.
5. Improve ear and sight-reading
Choirs usually fall into two categories – teaching by ear, and teaching using sheet music. If you choose a choir which uses sheet music, it will improve your ability to sight-read no end as you will have to do loads of it! Choirs which teach by ear will hone aural skills like musical memory and the ability to hear and repeat complex music. Whichever kind of choir you join will be able to improve your ability to find notes which harmonise, sing in syncopation and a myriad of other things.
So what are you waiting for? Head on over to your favourite search engine and get involved in your local choir!
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