Soprano Rachel Bacon explores how belonging to a community that sings together can be transformative… If you sing in any sort of a choir, you know it’s a big commitment and comes with expectations: travel time for weekly rehearsals, learning the music, drumming up an audience for concerts, performing in concerts, and many other activities.Continue reading “The health benefits of singing in a choir”
Category Archives: Choir
Inside out or outside in?
Bass Jonathan Lupton reflects on being in the audience rather than the choir for one of our performances. Do you ever wonder what you sound like? We all hear our own voices as we sing or speak, but not in the same way that other people hear us (mainly because the sound gets to ourContinue reading “Inside out or outside in?”
Might you be a tenor?
Postcard from the tenor section – by another of our Rachels, Rachel Emmett. About 20 years ago I returned to choral singing after a few years away and found my teenage second alto voice struggling at the top end. A wonderful female tenor (thanks, Jen) persuaded me to join her in the tenor section, andContinue reading “Might you be a tenor?”
Five facts you might not know about Nottingham Chamber Singers – aka NCS!
Soprano Rachel (we’ll leave you to guess which one) opens the New Year with some fun facts about the choir. We’re a diverse group with diverse experiences! Some of us have been around for ages in a ‘part of the furniture’ sort of a way, others are much newer. But did you know…. Why haveContinue reading “Five facts you might not know about Nottingham Chamber Singers – aka NCS!”
Carols we love
Our NCS ‘choiradmin’ asked members to name their favourite congregational / audience Christmas carol. A lively discussion ensued. Two postcards were planned from the contributions but as there won’t be an #MfEMondays on 22 December we’ve gone for something resembling a concertina of postcards. THE MUSIC Demi: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (minor key carolsContinue reading “Carols we love”
The most beautiful sound
If you were at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall on Monday 1 December for Tenebrae’s concert, you might have bumped into many present and past members of Nottingham Chamber Singers. The evening’s performance inspired soprano Annie to pen this week’s Postcard from the Choir. It can be very intimidating joining a new choir where everyone seemsContinue reading “The most beautiful sound”
Jumbo – the truth exposed
Alto Sue meets conductor Ang in an unusual place… Why, you may ask, am I writing a Postcard from the Choir about the nickname of an elephant? ‘Jumbo’, is the self-storage company where items belonging to MfE, including music sung by Nottingham Chamber Singers, are kept in three units. Wednesday afternoons are when Ang (Angela Kay MBE!)Continue reading “Jumbo – the truth exposed”
Are we there yet?
Nearly! We bet you’ve said or heard that on many car journeys, often when going on holiday! Our autumn concert seemed far off in September, now suddenly it’s but a few days away! Saturday 29 November, 7.30pm, St John’s Church, Mansfield Road, Carrington, NG5 2DP. While we enjoy singing for ourselves, nothing compares with theContinue reading “Are we there yet?”
Sharing the love of music making
Jules, one of the altos of the Nottingham Chamber Singers, writes this week’s postcard: When I tell my two-year-old daughter that I’m heading out for rehearsal, she always says, ‘Mummy, you going singing with your friends?’ And she’s absolutely right. After more than ten years with this choir, these voices have become more than just fellow singers – they’reContinue reading “Sharing the love of music making”
Performing at the Last Night of the Proms!
One of our sopranos went to a choral workshop led by Bob Chilcott and sat next to Eloise Toone. Eloise shares our enthusiasm for choral singing and sings with the National Youth Choir of Great Britain (18-25 age group). She has kindly penned a postcard about an amazing experience she had in September…. On SaturdayContinue reading “Performing at the Last Night of the Proms!”