The resurgence of local choirs in Britain, is almost entirely due to the work of choirmaster Gareth Malone, whose television programmes have garnered much praise and high viewing figures over the past two or three years. Malone has a real gift for persuading all kinds of unlikely people that singing is fun, and that almost anybody can learn to sing well.
Much of his work has been with groups of disadvantaged or disaffected people, from whom he has produced some quite extraordinary results. The first of these, I seem to remember, was a class of comprehensive schoolboys from Northolt, who, after strong initial resistance, went on to sing, triumphantly, at a festival in China.
Malone’s more recent work has been with wives of some of the soldiers serving in Afghanistan, and their recordings became a hit, after the choir made an appearance in the Albert Hall.
As a result of these programmes, local choirs are forming across the island from the tip of Cornwall to, I imagine, John o’ Groats. Singing is a healthy activity, and an inexpensive and pleasurable way to meet one’s neighbours and make new friends. At its best, a choir is a fine example of a democratic organisation in action, requiring no star personalities, and discouraging displays of temperament, while involving minimal financial outlay, and providing the opportunity for one to spend a pleasurable evening with friends each week.
It was for this reason that I was persuaded to join our local choir, which, (fortunately for me) does not ask participants to audition. All my life, like many others, I have felt that I was not ‘entitled’ to sing, but now, under the safe protection of many strong voices, for the first time in my life I am able to experience the very real joy of ‘giving voice’ within a group.
The Fleet Singers have commissioned a Jubilee piece from the young composer Benjamin Till, who has asked each member of the choir to write a short lyric based on some memory they have of events, local or national, that took place over the six decades of the Queen’s reign.
Unsurprisingly, many of the pieces make mention of our climate, and these have been arranged and set to music, to form a ‘collage’ of reminiscences. The Fleet Singers will perform Songs About The Weather at Hampstead Town Hall in June for one performance only!
Cicely Herbert is one of the trio who founded and continue to run Poems on the Underground (now spread from London to many other cities worldwide). In Hospital, her poetry collection (with the Victorian poet W. E. Henley), was published by Katabasis in 1992.
The Joys of Singing Cicely Herbert joins her local choir.