Before you get excited (or worried) - we’re not doing Bohemian Rhapsody this year. Not because choosing it as a choir song flies in the face of what I said in the last blog about positive messaging…but because it’s really really hard. I’ve done an a cappella (unaccompanied) version with a choir - some of you might even have sung in it. It took us about 3 years to learn it and even then there were bits that we glossed over and trusted the audience’s memory of the original to fill in the gaps. Don’t get me wrong - we did a pretty good job of it and it was (mostly) fun. And maybe we’ll do it again sometime.

But along with making sure that for the most part the songs we sing have positive (or at least neutral) messages, there are other things we look for when we’re putting together the repertoire for the year. It’s actually quite a complex process to do with working out how to make each choir sound great, learn the most and have the most fun, all at once. Given that each choir is a mixture of abilities and musical backgrounds, this is pretty tricky, but I work with each Choir Leader to see if we can pinpoint a range of things from really quick and easy to learn through to songs that might take all year and require real teamwork from the choir. This is a continuous process, really, as each choir develops and changes, but it’s more intense at the beginning of each year. It’s important that every choir feels a sense of accomplishment but also an appropriate sense of challenge and stretch.

And on top of that we have the list of songs which we want all the choirs to learn, so that everyone can sing together if we have a joint concert, or for Jamborees, or any other time when we have more than one of the choirs in the room. These also cover a range of difficulty, because we know that it’s easier to sing even the hard songs if there are lots of people in the section - and there’s a good chance that there’ll be enough confident singers to support those who are still getting there. So suddenly those basses who bravely persevere in 2s and 3s in their own choirs are in a big group of guys singing the same notes, and it’s so much easier!

So the whole thing always circles back to teamwork: for the least experienced singers who are may still be trying to work out how to stand and how to breathe, being in a team means that you can tackle some of the harder songs at whatever level you can manage, knowing that you’re not expected to do it by yourself. And for those who find some songs “too” easy, you have a chance to show leadership and encourage other singers. Maybe that’s a role some of you never imagined yourself taking with group singing. But I’m sure that even our most confident singers will find something to challenge them in the repertoire itself.

And there’s always the task of singing with more tone, vibrancy, accuracy, musicality…we’re all always working on these skills. That’s why we keep on singing some songs even when you think you know them well. Maybe it’s a song which helps everyone listen to each other, and “tunes” the choir before tackling something that needs more advanced technique. You know that moment when something just clicks in the sound and everyone knows it’s beautiful? There’s a kind of rightness, even if you don’t exactly know what it is. Sometimes we use rounds this way. Or maybe it’s something which gives us an opportunity to practise certain technical points - beautiful vowels, or singing through the passaggio (the bumpy change-of-gear place most of us can feel in the middle of our voices), or blending as a group…there are so many skills in singing, and also in singing together.

In a former life, I was a Suzuki piano teacher, and one of the foundations of Suzuki instrumental teaching is that students never stop playing the first pieces they learned. We call it “review”, and it makes up part of every practice session, every lesson, and every Suzuki student concert. The reason for this endless repetition of known repertoire is that it’s just too hard to learn new notes and new skills at the same time.

I’m going to write that again: it’s just too hard to learn new notes and new skills at the same time. If you think about the times we’re doing something new in choir and you’re struggling with remembering whether the notes go up or down, what the rhythms are, and how to pronounce the words, you probably realise that you haven’t got much attention left over for making sure you’re singing in the middle of the note, that your support is fully switched on and you’re producing a vibrant, connected tone. And you’re probably not listening to other singers in your own section, let alone the other sections! Yes, those things become more automatic the longer you sing, but the best way to hone singing and choral skills is to work on songs we don’t have to think too hard about remembering. And then we can hear the difference when we really sing in tune with each other, and when the whole choir achieves a vibrant tone, and when we produce dynamic contrasts (louds and softs)…and maybe we can even think about delivering whatever the song is communicating.

So that’s why we still include some quick-to-learn songs, and also why some songs crop up again just when you thought you’d nailed them. And maybe even when you’ve performed them. I know there are lots of choirs who sing a concert then move straight on to new repertoire. We don’t do that, and now you know why! Of course we need to keep things fresh and we need to keep everyone challenged, but we also need to keep singing familiar songs so we can improve the choir’s skills. In Suzuki piano, we talk about playing a Book 1 piece in a Book 5 or 6 way, and that is partly why we have the different levels of students playing together - so that the newer students can be inspired and invited into greater musicality and beauty of tone and expression by playing along with the more advanced students. To some extent, we’re doing the same with our choir music. There are plenty of new songs this year but if you’ve been in the choir for a few years, see if you can identify the skills in your level of singing when we work on songs for those who are just beginning. (By the way, in September we chalked up 10 years of singing with some of you!).

Anyway, before I dug so deeply into the issue of new/repeat and easy/hard music, I intended to talk a little bit about musical taste as well. Some of you might be feeling very glad we’re not going to do Bohemian Rhapsody - it’s been done to death, and usually badly, right? And it doesn’t mean anything and is a bit musically incoherent. And anyway Queen is over-rated. And out of date. But also….it’s such a great song and it’s so much fun and everyone knows it and wants to sing it on karaoke night. And if we work hard at it we can really wow the audience because they all know it too and will be wishing they could sing along. And Freddie Mercury was a genius and his work never gets old. So some of you might be feeling sorry it’s not on the list for this year. My point is that some things - like BR - are definitely more polarising than others, but musical taste in even our smaller choirs is extremely diverse. How do we navigate that? Next time…