Singing into Summer!

Wonderful news courtesy of Show Choir: as of a couple of weeks ago, we are BACK! And even better the groups are back together singing in the flesh! Zoom rehearsals were all well and good and we loved having that contact when we couldn’t physically be together, but in all honesty: show tunes sound much more wonderful with our choir casts reunited! 

Throughout the COVID pandemic, we have done our absolute best to ensure rehearsals have been able to continue in line with government guidance and as such, we are now singing outside, rehearsing at Victoria Park on Tuesdays and on Thursdays on the Downs!

It does take a little getting used to: singing socially distanced out in the elements (remember to wrap up warm, folks!) but thankfully, the weather has been on our side and the joy we all felt at being back together was really palpable: rehearsals were full of laughter and we were delighted to welcome some new members to our growing Show Choir family!

In time honoured Show Choir tradition, we’ve kicked off our latest term by learning a new song; one which pleased the Disney fans amongst our ranks: When Will My Life Begin from Tangled! With music from Alan Menken & lyrics from Glenn Slater, the tune is this particular Disney heroine’s “I want” song, as she wants to escape her usual routine of reading, painting, ballet & chess (to name a few) and have the adventure in life start. It’s sweet and catchy and struck us as a fun one to sing – we wondered if the lockdown situation brought out Rapunzel’s busy, creative routine in any of us – the answer was a firm: “it depended on the day!” 

We were also delighted to revive the beloved Rodgers & Hammerstein classic You’ll Never Walk Alone, from Carousel (Football fans will know it from a different context, of course!). Premiering in 1945 and the second from the team responsible for some of the most beloved musicals of all time, Carousel tells the story of a carousel barker named Billy Bigelow and his romance with sweet young mill worker Julie Jordan. Adapted originally from a play called Lilliom by Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar, Rogers & Hammerstein altered the setting to Maine, and changed the ending to something more hopeful. 

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” captures this sentiment perfectly: it comes at a rather tragic point in proceedings, and yet its lyrics speak of hope and comfort. We learned this last term on zoom, but hadn’t had the opportunity of singing it together in the same space until this point – the music is gorgeous and the harmonies are beautiful and we’re so excited to hear it all come together in person!

I'm dreaming of a White....

Christmas is coming and zoom room rehearsals continue apace for us here at Bristol Show Choir. These past few weeks, we’ve spent time singing and refining some Show Choir classics from our repertoire: “Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat” from Guys and Dolls, “When You Believe” from the new musical adaptation of The Prince Of Egypt and “Sunrise Sunset” from Fiddler on the Roof. It’s always important to us at Show Choir that we regularly return to our older numbers, both to ensure we continue to keep them in the best shape possible ready for such time when we are able to come back together and sing for audiences, and simply for the nostalgia!

Our festive offering for the year: White Christmas from the musical of the same name by Irving Berlin has also been taking shape nicely. Originally playing in London’s West End in 2014 and returning last year, the musical is in turn based on the 1954 film from the same composer, starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney & Vera-Ellen. It follows producers and ex army comrades Bob Wallace and Phil Davis, after an invite from performing sisters Betty & Judy Haynes, find themselves spending Christmas in Vermont, where the sisters are booked to perform. Upon arriving though, they find no tourists and unseasonably warm weather, and a venue on brink of bankruptcy! The gents, though, have a plan up their sleeves…

The song White Christmas has become a staple, with numerous artists recording their own renditions, but the version sung by Crosby has the distinction of being the world’s best selling single of all time, selling in excess of 50 million copies!

That reputation presented us at Show Choir with a challenge: how do we make a song that is so familiar and well beloved fresh and exciting to sing? Our arrangement has risen to the challenge admirably: there’s some beautiful harmonies and even the return of the original opening verse that’s largely forgotten. We’ve spent a lot of time in rehearsals going over dynamics and how they serve the feel of the song; where to grow in volume, and when needs a softer sound. It’s also been a great song to practise one’s breath control as there are some tricky longer notes. It’s been a lovely kickstart to the festive season and has helped us get in the mood… one of our members was even inspired to put up her Christmas tree after one of our run throughs!

One More Angel & Festive Cheer!

It’s been a busy couple of weeks for all of us at Show Choir – and that calls for an update! 

You might remember in our last post we gave a clue about one of our newest arrangements: dusting off our coat of many colours with a Lord Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice favourite… yes that’s right, we’ve added Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat to our repertoire! Now, you’d be forgiven for guessing we’d be singing arguably the most well known tune from the score: Any Dream Will Do, but we like to mix it up here and instead, chose to learn a different number, One More Angel in Heaven.

Rueben and the rest of Joseph’s jealous brothers have just sold the latter into slavery, and return to their father Jacob with a tragic but inspiring tale of Joseph’s untimely demise after…wrestling with a goat! It’s definitely cheeky and a lot of fun of fun to sing. Our cast members have said repeatedly that singing Joseph songs makes them happy, and judging by some of the reactions we’ve had to this one in our “Zoom room” rehearsals, it’s hard to disagree. It also brings back fond childhood memories for many of our members of the filmed production from the 90’s starring Donny Osmond (or is your one true Joseph Jason Donovan?!).

Elsewhere in our term so far, we’ve been fine tuning our rendition of (Underneath the) Lovely London Skies from the film musical Mary Poppins Returns, and Come On In From The Outside from the musical Taboo. The latter is going to have an immensely special debut performance in the coming weeks, more on that to follow…

Festive cheer abounds with the return of a Show Choir favourite It Feels Like Christmas from The Muppet Christmas Carol, but now we’ve a new song to add to the ranks: Irving Berlin’s White Christmas! We are hugely excited to give this beloved classic the Show Choir spin!

A term of two halves...

Adjusting to these strange times has been difficult for everyone. We at Bristol Show Choir moved rehearsals exclusively online for most of our Summer term so as to keep the spirit and sense of community surrounding Show Choir strong. That can be difficult when everyone’s in their own home in front of a screen, but it’s so important to us and we’re so impressed and heartened by everyone’s efforts and dedication to a new way of working.

You’ll remember that our previous term ended with an aptly named Social DistanSing, where members of our Bristol Show choir crew along with our sister choir Bath Show Choir met (appropriately socially distanced of course!) on Clifton Downs for a sing through of our repertoire for the term – the ones new to us that we’d never actually sung before as a group and some familiar favourites from previous terms. That was a real tonic for all of us and we looked forward to our Winter Term with a spring in our step.

Thus, at the beginning October after careful consideration and monitoring of government guidelines and advice from the Musicians Union, Show Choir returned to “The Room Where It Happens” for in-person rehearsals! Much smaller groups, masks, hand sanitising and social distancing to ensure we remained compliant were the way we made this possible, and it was just brilliant to have people singing together again. Zoom rehearsals also continued online (we wanted to carry on with the blended method of working so we could accommodate as many of our talented cast as possible whatever their circumstances) but as of the latest restrictions announced on 31st October, we moved back to exclusively online sessions - thank goodness for the internet!

So, what has the Winter Term brought so far? Well, to start off with, cracking new tunes!

First up, we’ve been learning Come On In From The Outside from Taboo which has lyrics by Boy George. We love this number as it has a really soulful vibe and are inspired by its message of acceptance. We’re super excited to be recording this number as a lockdown-style video for The Bristol Young Heroes Awards ceremony in mid-December…watch this space!

Another new number sees us channel our inner Lin Manuel Miranda as Jack the lamplighter as we learn (Underneath The) Lovely London Skies from the film musical Mary Poppins Returns. This is such a sweet tune and the harmonies are delicious. 

We’ve also been dusting off our coat of many colours with a Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice favourite, and the return of some festive cheer courtesy of Muppets Christmas Carol. These songs are really helping to lift the spirits and bring a bit of theatre sparkle into our lives!

SHOW CHOIR COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS

We have been following the government guidelines and advice from the Musicians Union very closely and are very excited that, after careful consideration, we have decided that we will be returning to socially-distanced rehearsals from 6th October! 

We will also be live-streaming and continuing to run zoom sessions so that a combination of in-person and online sessions means there is an option for everyone to be involved.

We have been working closely with all of our venues to make sure we are as COVID-compliant as possible and and risk assessments are available to all of our singers in the members area. We will be continuing to monitor the situation and guidance on local lockdowns as the term goes on, to ensure we are compliant at all times. 

WHAT WE ARE DOING

Shorter sessions and Smaller Groups

Our sessions will now be a maximum of one hour long and groups will be smaller, dependent on venue’s capacity to allow for 2m social distancing

Improved Ventilation 

Windows and doors remaining open and air conditioning systems on, venue dependent.

Improved Cleaning and Hand Washing 

Hand washing and sanitiser is available on entry and exit and all venues are implementing stricter and deeper cleaning regimes. 

Not sharing 

Whilst we are a friendly bunch, this term we are asking you all to bring your own water/refreshments as kitchen facilities will no longer be available and we ask you not to share your music or folders. 

Track and Trace

We will be keeping close track of everyone who takes part in our rehearsals

Finally we ask you to not attend in-person rehearsals if you feel unwell, have any symptoms of COVID-19 (new continuous cough, loss of taste of smell, high temperature), have had a recent positive COVID-19 test, if you have been abroad and need to isolate or if you don't want to! 

For any further information or if you are a new member who would like to join, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us. 

Bristol Show Choir x

Social DistanSING!

This pandemic has been a massive adjustment for everyone, and we at Bristol Show Choir have been getting used to a new way of working so we can still get our fix of singing and musical theatre. Rehearsals for last term moved exclusively to Zoom, wherein each vocal part had their own rehearsal throughout the week, and we all came together on Thursdays. Online choir took some getting used to, not least because you can’t hear your fellow singers, but we soon found ourselves settling into the new rhythm, developing our listening skills and focus, making online choir just as enjoyable as the real thing!

And like many people around the country, we’ve really missed the social connection that singing in a choir brings! It’s the friendships being a member of Bristol Show Choir has given us, which we’ve missed the most, although that being said, the virtual sessions have been incredibly important to us as a way of keeping the Show Choir spirit and camaraderie we have alive!

The Show Choir team have been longing to find a way for us to move forward amid these strange new times, and it’s been a LONG six months. That’s why last Sunday, we were delighted to have met on the Bristol Downs for a “Social DistanSING”! Members of Bristol Show Choir along with our sister choir, Bath Show Choir met up (at an appropriate distance, of course!) for ninety minutes to sing in the sunshine… and it was glorious.

We sang through all of our repertoire that we’ve learned this year so far along with familiar favourites which featured songs from: Guys & Dolls, The Rocky Horror Show, Oklahoma, Billy Elliot The Musical, Prince of Egypt, Come From Away, Half a Sixpence, Songs For A New World, and Fiddler on The Roof. 

The numbers from Prince of Egypt (“there can be miracles, when you believe!) certainly felt very poignant to sing as they are about faith and community which really struck a chord in light of these troubled times!

Considering we had never sung through a lot of this set as a whole unit, we were overjoyed at the result and we were so uplifted by everyone’s energy and enthusiasm, and look forward to our Winter term with renewed excitement!

“Choral Singing: An investigation into well-being”

Entry 5 - Conclusions 

It’s time for the final entry of my study, “Choral Singing: An investigation into well-being” for Bristol Show Choir and I’m delighted to say that the overall conclusion to my study was that choral singing positively affects well-being. However, this will now be explored in more detail. 

The main aspects of being in a choir which aid towards an increase in individual’s well-being includes; a lifted mood and feeling happier after a rehearsal, as well as a decrease in stress levels, formation of new friendships which has also helped some members social lives and an improvement in self-confidence. 

When asked about negative aspects of choir, a majority of participants couldn’t think of any, some even stated a negative aspect was not having rehearsals during summer as they missed it so much!

As mentioned previously, there were minimal differences found between male and female participants. Although this may be something to look into further, as female participants outnumbered male participants with 87% compared to 13% within my study. This was definitely one of the limitations to the study as it made comparing answers of male and female participants quite difficult. Another limitation was the use of questionnaires. Although questionnaires work well for gathering a lot of participants, data can still be quite limited. For example, you would gain more in-depth data through use of interviews. However, the pros of the questionnaires are that they are 100% anonymous and therefore participants may be more likely to open up and share more specific details of their experiences. 

Future research

A similar study with a larger sample would be of interest to me; possibly branching outside of the UK and studying choral singing worldwide. I would also target male-voice choirs in order to increase the number of male participants. Due to technology, this would be attainable through use of an online questionnaire. 

Furthermore, and something that I may look into studying, are the physical brain changes that a person has whilst singing in a choir. However, a lot more research needs to go into this before attempting any sort of study! 

A study that I’m currently undertaking is looking at the differences between regular choir rehearsals and virtual choir rehearsals again, in regard to well-being. Virtual choir is something which some choirs have introduced over the past few months due to the Covid-19 lockdown. This study is currently ongoing and I’m sure I’ll be able to share the results once it’s complete and written up! (to access the questionnaire please go to: https://forms.gle/5kC9XXSszcBfzA5w6)

I would like to thank everyone who has read these past few blog entries. It’s something that I have recently found a great interest in, and hope to continue to study in the future. 

“Choral Singing: An investigation into well-being”

Entry 4 - The Qualitative Results

Hi everyone,

It’s the penultimate entry for my Bristol Show Choir blog series on an investigation into wellbeing and today we’re going to be looking at the qualitative results of my research.

The qualitative results looked at the open-ended questions whereby participants were able to write longer, more in-depth answers. From all 200 responses, each of the 5 questions were analysed and any reoccurring themes were made note of. Here I will take some extracts from my dissertation to explain what I found out from each of the questions asked.

4.2.1 How does choir practice affect your mood? 

Overall, the general consensus was that participants felt better after having attended a choir rehearsal. Both male and female participants stated that after choir practice they felt a lot happier, or that their mood is lifted. This was found to be evident despite the amount of time that participants had been a member of a choir, and the age of participants.

In addition to this and in accordance with the findings of the first part of the study, participants stated that singing in a choir helps to reduce their stress levels. This was found predominantly within female participants, with just one male participant specifically mentioning stress levels. However, 88.5% of male participants disagreed when asked if they felt more stressed after attending a choir rehearsal. It is argued that specific male responses regarding stress levels were limited due to an overall lack of male participants within the study. 

4.2.2 How has joining a choir impacted your life? 

It was found that a large percentage of participants had made new friends since starting choir, which has made a positive impact on their lives. This was particularly the case for female participants, even though a higher percentage of male participants claimed they had made new friends compared to female participants. However, male participants spoke more about the social side of choir which is argued to be of a similar stance. An increase in confidence was another key theme in terms of how joining a choir has impacted one’s life.

4.2.3 Can you think of any negative aspects of being in a choir? 

A large proportion of participants stated that they could not think of any negative aspects of being a choir member. 

4.2.4 What are the main benefits you have felt from joining a choir? 

Similar to the previous questions, both male and female participants produced comparable answers to this question. The most common answers being; having made new friends, being a part of a group or community, an increase in confidence and improved social life. Female participants also stated that one of the main benefits has been an improvement of their mood and that they are generally a lot happier.

During analysis, it was made apparent that many individuals did not see one main benefit that choir has made to their lives, but a number of differing benefits. 

4.2.5 What is your favourite aspect about being in a choir? 

This question yielded the most differing and interesting of answers; from all choirs. A majority of participants stated that their favourite aspect of being in a choir was singing as a group and creating harmonies. This was apparent within both male and female participants, all ages and durations of being a choir member. 

Another aspect in which appeared amongst both genders, but seemed more common in male participants, was the social side to choir and the camaraderie that it brings.

In addition to this point, the performances attended by choir members has also been a common favourite aspect of choral singing amongst both male and female participants. 

So, as we can see, this study has yielded some interesting results. The next blog entry will give a summary and conclusion to the study, so keep an eye out for the final part in the next couple of weeks!

Sarah x

“Choral Singing: An investigation into well-being”

Entry 3 - The Quantitative Results

It’s time for part 3 of my blog series for Bristol Show Choir! Now we’re on to the most interesting part of the study…the results!

The questionnaire took a mixed-methods approach which meant that I gathered both quantitative data and qualitative data. Quantitative data is more numerical and statistical, whereas qualitative data is more in-depth and detailed. Hopefully this will become clearer once I explain the results. 

Quantitative results 

These results were collected from a number of statements where participants were asked to rate their feelings about specific statements on a scale of ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’. The results were as follows;

Out of 200 participants:

78% strongly agreed and 20% agreed (total 98%) that they felt happier after attending a choir rehearsal.

64.5% strongly agrees and 19.5% agreed (total 84%) that they had made new friends through choir, with 14% selecting neither agree nor disagree. 

53.5% strongly agreed and 27.5% agreed (total 81%) that they enjoyed socialising with choir members, with 17.5% selecting neither agree nor disagree.

80.5% strongly disagreed and 9.5% disagreed (total 90%) with the statement ‘I leave choir rehearsal feeling more stressed than when I arrive’. 

35.5% strongly agreed and 31% agreed (total 66.5%) that their confidence had improved since joining choir, with 30% of participants selecting neither agree nor disagree.

64.5% strongly disagreed and 15% disagreed (total 79.5%) that they had had a negative experience at choir, with 12% selecting neither agree nor disagree.

So as we can see, overall, participants generally feel better after a rehearsal and since having joined a choir. A pretty big result here is that 98% of participants felt happier after having attended a choir rehearsal, which shows just how important singing in a choir is to individual’s well-being. I also looked at gender differences, mainly because past studies had not focused on it at all so I thought it would be of interest. However, those in choirs probably know that female members greatly outweigh the male, which was therefore also the case in my study. From the male members that answered my questionnaire, however, results were very similar to that of female participants. The main difference reported was whether they had made new friends through choir where 92.3% of males agreed or strongly agreed, compared to 82.8% of females. This is not a huge difference, but the only one in which a higher percentage came from male participants.

The qualitative part of the results is much longer, so this will be explained in the next blog entry. 

Until next time…

Sarah x

“Choral Singing: An investigation into well-being”

Entry 2 - My study

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the second of my mini blog series for Bristol Show Choir. Thanks so much to everyone who read the first blog (as well as liking a sharing it on Bristol Show Choir Facebook Page!) and I hope you enjoy part 2…

When reading about previous studies that had been undertaken relating to choral singing and well-being, I came up with the following research questions and hypotheses for my own study:

• What are the main aspects of being in a choir in which aid towards individual’s increased well-being? 

• What type of negative experiences, if any, do choir members encounter? 

• Are there any gender differences regarding choral singing and well-being?
  
  The research hypotheses are; 

• Null hypothesis: Choral singing has no effect on well-being 

• Alternative hypothesis: Choral singing positively affects well-being

From the data I had read about and analysed, none of the papers talked about potential negative aspects of being in a choir. Although the main purpose of my study was to see whether singing in a choir had a positive impact on individuals, it seemed relevant to ask about negative aspects too. Furthermore, many of the studies had a larger number of female participants however, this was only seen as a generalisability issue and the authors did not comment or compare the gender’s responses. This is why I decided to include these two questions within my own study.

Here is an extract from chapter 3.3 of my dissertation; data collection, which explains my approach as to how I collected my data.

3.3 Data collection 

In order to collect the appropriate data for the project, a questionnaire was created using Google Forms. Google Forms was decided upon because it provided a clear way of presenting the variety of questions for the participants to answer. The questionnaire was also online making it easily accessible for participants. One worry was that online accessibility may be more challenging for older participants and therefore choir members were given the option to speak to the researcher if they had any questions regarding any aspect of the study. Finally, Google Forms presented the responses in a coherent way for analysis. 

Through using a questionnaire, a mixed methods approach was attainable through the use of 5-point Likert scale questions and open-ended questions. A 5-point Likert scale was used with 1 representing ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 representing ‘strongly agree’. Appendix A shows the Likert scale questions included in the questionnaire which focus on aspects of well-being such as happiness and stress levels, social life, and confidence. Following this, participants were asked five open-ended questions focusing on mood, how choir has impacted their life, the main benefits and favourite parts of choral singing, and any negative aspects (Appendix B). 

Rather than include the Appendix mentioned, I will list the question here. The Likert scale statements included;

’I feel happier after attending a choir rehearsal’
‘I have made new friends through choir’
‘I enjoy socialising with choir members’
‘I leave choir feeling more stressed than when I arrive’
‘My confidence has improved since joining choir’
‘I have had a negative experience at choir’

In order to make it a fair study, I had to include both positive and negative statements.

The open-ended questions I asked were;

‘How does choir practice affect your mood?’
‘How has joining a choir impacted your life?’
‘Can you think of any negative aspects of being in a choir?’
‘What are the main benefits you have felt from joining a choir?’
‘What is your favourite aspect about being in a choir?’

As explained, data was collected through use of Google Forms, which is a great tool as it meant I was able to make all participants completely anonymous. As stated in my dissertation; “Keeping anonymity allows for participants to feel safe regarding their answers, and it is likely for them to state more honest and open opinions (Burkell, 2006) in their responses.”

The next part of this blog will look at how I analysed my data and, most importantly, what I found out.

Watch out for part 3 next week!

Sarah x

References 

Burkell, J. (2006). Anonymity in behavioural research: Not being unnamed, but being unknown. U. Ottawa L. & Tech. J., 3, 189. 

Choral Singing: An investigation into well-being.

Entry 1 - An introduction 

Hello, and welcome to my mini blog series for Bristol Show Choir. I’m really excited to be guest-blogging for the next few weeks, as the topic area has become quite a passion of mine. I joined Show Choir a little over two years ago, and I have to say that it was one of the best decisions I have ever made! 

Last year I decided to go back to university to study a Masters degree in Psychology of Education. As the final part of my degree, I had undertake my own research and write a 15,000 word dissertation on it. I thought long and hard about what to base my research on; I wanted it to be something of personal interest, but also something in which I could spend over six months reading, researching and writing about. I had a few ideas regarding mental health, and mental health in schools but the ideas just weren’t really resonating with me. I was running out of time and it was quite stressful. As mentioned above, joining BSC was one of the best things I have ever done. However due to my studying, one evening I was particularly worried about things and was having one of ‘those days’ where I didn’t feel motivated to do much. It happened to be the evening of my usual choir rehearsal. So, I managed to push myself and made it to the rehearsal. As soon as we started, my mind was distracted. As someone who isn’t naturally musical, nor someone who can read music, I really have to concentrate and focus when learning new songs. After the session had finished I started to walk home. It was then that I realised how much better I felt. I was so happy that I went to the rehearsal, which is when I had my lightbulb moment. I wondered whether it was just me that was affected by singing in this way or if others had also experienced it. So why not find out? This was the start of my dissertation journey and unbeknown to me, my new interest and passion. 

Once figuring out the general idea for my dissertation; whether singing in a choir affect individuals well-being, the next step was to see if there had been any previous research done in the same, or similar, areas of study.

Here is an extract from Chapter 2 of my dissertation, the literature review. 

2.2 The effects of choral singing on well-being 

Choral singing is where individuals join together to sing in a group. Research has been carried out investigating whether the participation in choral singing can positively impact one’s life. Clift and colleagues are well-known within this area of research and have carried out a number of studies, which will now be acknowledged in detail. Firstly in 2001, Clift & Hancox conducted a study whereby 84 individuals completed a questionnaire regarding their personal and health benefits since joining a choir. Quantitative results showed that 84% of participants felt that they had benefitted socially, 75% had benefitted emotionally, 58% had benefitted physically and 49% benefitted spiritually. The questionnaire also asked open-ended questions where the researchers found the following key themes regarding positive aspects of choral singing; meeting new people, and feeling more positive, alert and spiritually uplifted; although interestingly, members were not from a specified church choir, rather a university college choral society. Furthermore, they also found that 84% of participants felt that they had benefitted in terms of their health; specifically, regarding improved lung function and improved mood and stress levels. Following the results of this study, Clift & Hancox continued their research on 91 members of a different choir, which was reported within the same paper. The new participants completed a structured questionnaire with 32 statements about singing. The statements used information gathered from the first part of the study whereby it was found that choral members rated the following themes to have improved since joining a choir; emotions, physicality, sociality and spirituality. Such key themes were made into statements. When focusing on the statements that participants agreed with, 93% of participants agreed that singing improves their mood. Furthermore, 89% stated they felt happier and 71% believed singing improved their well-being. Additionally, 79% of participants considered singing to have helped reduce their stress levels. However, as stated by the authors, their sample was moderately sized and consisted of members of one choir, who were mostly female and their age was late-teens to early-twenties, making their findings difficult to generalise. Interestingly, this study only reports the positive effects that choral singing has on well-being, prompting further research into whether there are any negative aspects. 

Further research supported the above findings and included benefits such as; increased energy, improved mood, less anxiety and a sense of belonging. Research also showed physical changes to the body after singing. For example, a decrease in cortisol levels, which is the hormone that manages stress. It was also found that singing in a choir helped individuals who had been diagnosed with dementia and aphasia (impaired speech and language; commonly linked to the after effects of suffering from a stroke). These findings definitely gave me hope for my own study. Whilst undertaking such research, I was also creating my own questionnaire to start distributing and collecting my own data. This will be the main focus in the next blog post. 

Sarah x

References

Clift, S. M., & Hancox, G. (2001). The perceived benefits of singing: findings from preliminary surveys of a university college choral society. The journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, 121(4), 248-256.

You Are Not Alone 🌈

Like all the world right now, we at Bristol Show Choir are adjusting to a new normality and way of working so we can keep our community together despite being physically apart. It’s been a bit of a change as we are all very social guys and dolls and value the time we have together at rehearsals each week, as well as the physical contact they might bring; some of us like a hug and a high five if the need arises.

But, we’re adjusting and we know how important the measures are to keep ourselves and others safe and look forward to the day when we’re able to bring the magic of theatre back to our respective rehearsal spaces from everyone’s homes, and sharing our hard work and passion for musical theatre with live audiences once more.

As a musical theatre choir, we firmly believe in the power of music to bring people together and we’re very proud of the money our performances, be they official concerts or our more informal busks around various parts of Bristol have raised for charity. In that same spirit of passion and generosity, we have got something special we’d like to share with you: our rendition of “You Will Be Found”, from the musical Dear Evan Hansen. With music and lyrics from Benji Pasek and Justin Paul, the number closes Act I of the show, where Evan has delivered an inspiring speech about friendship and the importance of staying connected. We at Bristol Show Choir are fans of the musical and love this songs message of hope, and we even recorded a rendition of our arrangement for our debut album: Bristol Show Choir: Volume One!

In the wake of the pandemic, domestic abuse cases have spiked worldwide, and so with our rendition we’re supporting SafeLives, a charity working to support those experiencing domestic abuse. Their work goes on before, during and will indeed go on after this pandemic ends – we wanted to show them our support by doing what we do best: singing! We’re humbled by everyone’s generosity thus far and if anyone would like to donate to this incredibly worthwhile cause, we would appreciate any amount you can give.

We hope it brings some comfort, hope and a smile to everyone during these challenging times and from all of us at Bristol Show Choir to you – we send our love and you are not alone x

Show Choir Goes Virtual!

Wilkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome back, Show Choir fans! Sorry, I had to start with a little lyric pun there (any guesses on the show?!)

We hope you are keeping safe, well and happy as you can during these uncertain times. The pandemic left our Spring Term at Show Choir hitting a little bit of a sour note as we had to cancel our end of term concert, which was the right decision for our health and safety as well as our audiences, we were very sad not to have performed for you and share our hard work on the brilliant songs we learned that term. We are hoping to reschedule this later, or even have a “Social DistanSING” when it is safe to do so… watch this space for more details.

With social distancing affecting everyone’s lives, we’ve put our heads together to try and come up with a plan to keep the spark of Show Choir magic alive while we are all at home.

And like Alexander Hamilton, we are not throwing away our shot as we are proud to announce: Show Choir has gone virtual!

Yes, through the wonders of modern technology (our programme of choice is Zoom), we’re able to bring a bit of theatrical magic to your homes… the idea is that we can see each other and sing together though we can’t get together for a rehearsal in the usual way right now. Our last two rehearsals prior to the Easter Break were done in this way, and we firmly believe it has given us a massive positive boost to our mental health, helps keep the sense of community we have in the choir going, and simply yet importantly provides a little bit of normality and routine for us in a time that is anything but for everyone. Not to mention, as choir members our voice is our instrument, and having the time to sing each week helps us keep it in the best shape possible.

Our new term begins THIS WEEK! We can’t wait to crack on with learning some new songs and working out how we can adapt our content to this new normality we’re all experiencing. We’d love to welcome some new members to our various Show Choir casts as well, so please get in touch for more details and if you’d like to join! We look forward to seeing you

Bath & New Year Plans!

A Happy New Year from all of us at Bristol Show Choir! We hope you had a wonderful festive period full of eating, drinking and being merry. We ended last term on a lovely high, performing at St George’s Hall for the annual Lord Mayor’s Children’s Appeal with some fantastic choirs and brass band in a bid to spread festive cheer whilst doing our bit for a good cause.

Of course, while it’s lovely to reflect, a new year means it’s time to look ahead, and we’re ready for a new year of excitement as Bristol’s Number One musical theatre choir. That in mind then: we have to start with an announcement: Show Choir is launching in Bath in March!

When Bristol Show Choir began in 2017, our biggest aim was purely to spread our love for musical theatre and the joy we find in singing. We set up roots in Southville, Clifton and more recently in Easton and with these groups continuing to go from strength to strength we’re delighted to welcome Bath to our family.

Bath Show Choir will meet on Thursdays, with the first session on the 12th of March. It’s based at Widcombe Social Club  and will run from 7:30 – 9:30pm, standard Show Choir time. If, like your Show Choir blogger here you are in a wheelchair, worry not: the venue is all accessible.

In our time honoured Show Choir tradition, the Bath choir will have no auditions – all we really want and need is your enthusiasm and passion for musical theatre! We learn by ear and teach from scores so fear not if you don’t read music. We also like to throw in the odd move here and there if it suits the mood of the song. Aside from rehearsals, we love to socialise before and after  and will perform regularly across the south west and further afield, there’s even potential for theatre trips. We’re incredibly proud of our achievements so far, and love seeing our members grow in confidence and friendships being made – we know singing is good for our mind and self esteem, but it also brings people together.

We at Bristol Show Choir are so thrilled about this new venture and can’t wait to spread a little theatre magic to Bath’s week – if you or anyone else you know would like to join - please contact us and spread the word, we can’t wait to welcome you!

Elsewhere in Show Choir land, we are so excited to be returning to the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition later this year, taking the West End by storm as we visit Waitress, and our wonderful local concerts, as well as a whole host of other things. Term begins the week of 14th January – bring it on!

Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

The Winter term for us here at Bristol Show Choir usually means a couple of different things: dusting off our familiar festive favourites from our repertoire while adding a new song or two to the ranks, special choreography (with permission to don Christmas attire in some form – your blogger here likes to raid my Christmas decoration box to find my antlers) and we like to get together before or after rehearsals to eat, drink and generally be merry...

We also love to embrace the spirit of giving back and helping others, and with that in mind we marked the end of our year with two very special events. On the 30th of November, we were part of the 39th annual Christmas Market for St Peter’s Hospice, a local charity supporting adults with life limiting illnesses and their families. Running from 10 – 3pm in the historic and beautiful grounds of Ashton Court Estate, the event included 50 stalls with everything from food and drink, crafts, fashion and gift ideas. Bristol Show Choir sang at 1pm, and it was a pleasure to serenade everyone into the start of the festive season, albeit incredibly chilly! Trying to get to our meeting point, we were overwhelmed by the number of visitors and it was incredible to see so many come out to support the charity and hear us sing.

The second event happened last week, where we performed at the annual Lord Mayor’s Children’s Appeal Carol Concert at the beautiful St. George’s Hall. The event, which aims to support disadvantaged children and young people across Bristol is a celebration of traditional and new carols, songs and festive readings. Along with Bristol Show Choir, also performing were Tan Teddy, a choir celebrating Jamaican culture, and the Blackbird Children’s Choir, also led by our founder Douglas, and the amazing Bold Brass, a staple of this particular concert.

Our set was made up of some new numbers we’ve learned this term, including Let It Go from Frozen and It Feels Like Christmas from the Muppet Christmas Carol... a firm contender for Show Choir’s favourite Christmas film! We also sang our Christmas favourites You’re A Mean One, Mr Grinch and Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas from Meet Me In St Louis.

In a Bristol Show Choir first, we joined forces with Bold Brass who accompanied us as we sang some Christmas carols; and as we were informed was a tradition of the event, the audience joined in too.

The atmosphere was wonderful and we certainly agreed with the Bristol Post, who called it a ‘fantastic evening’. Bristol is full of talented people and we loved being a part of that tradition here and supporting such a worthwhile cause... our combined efforts raised just over £1600!

Merry Christmas from all of us here at Bristol Show Choir, and we look forward to seeing you all in the new year!

ChoirLab19

Here at Bristol Show Choir, we always enjoy sharing our love of musicals and the joy of singing and we’re always on the lookout for new opportunities to do just that.

One such came this weekend, as on Sunday 17th November, we were delighted to attend and perform at ChoirLab19 at Bath University.

ChoirLab allows a brilliant opportunity to experiment with 4 very distinct styles of singing in four, one hour workshops. The range on offer included everything from gospel, pop, Bach, TV themes and more, and were led by some of the best and brightest choir leaders from across our region, including our very own Jess who ran a musical theatre choir session, leading participants through a classic of the Show Choir repertoire!

As well as all the diverse types of singing styles, there was also a vocal health workshop where we learned how to keep our voices in tip top shape.

It was such a fantastic day and always so brilliant to see other choirs in the action. It was also a chance to start talking about the fantastic new addition to the Show Choir family… BATH SHOW CHOIR! We’re beyond excited to be launching this in the new year and more details will be coming very, very soon!

Watch this space…

Bristol Show Choir is growing!

When we formed in 2017, our biggest wish was to share our love of musical theatre and singing with Bristol and beyond. Our Clifton and Southville groups have done (and continue to do!) us incredibly proud with their boundless enthusiasm, hard work and commitment to that cause. As we’ve gained experience, our sound and performance quality gets better and better. We’re immensely proud of a recent run of sell out concerts, not to mention our album recording, as word of mouth gets around…

As experience and reputation grow, so to do our groups. That in mind: we’re thrilled to announce that for the beginning of our summer term a new group of Bristol Show Choir will begin on Wednesday 24th of April in Easton! This new group will be based at Easton Community Centre, running from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.

As with all our groups, there are no auditions and a basic understanding of music theory can be helpful, but all we really want to see is your love of show tunes shining through! We are also excited to welcome our newest conductor, Jack Hamilton to the team who will lead the Easton cast.

Our summer term is already shaping up to be massively exciting one with us working towards our big summer concert at St. George’s on Sunday 21st July, where all 3 groups will come together to create one fantastic sound!

There’s still time to sign up for our new Easton group, so if you’d like to bring some West End magic to your week, join Bristol Show Choir now!

We look forward to hearing from you

As yet untitled...

We here at Bristol Show Choir have some news to share: this April we’re recording an album! It’s as yet untitled, and we’re still finalising track listings and such, but one thing’s for sure it’s going to be a celebration of some of our best loved arrangements.

We turned two years old in February, and given our mission to share our love of musical theatre with Bristol and beyond, recording an album is a really special thing for us. All of our groups work so hard and are always growing and improving as performers, so to capture our voices on an album is a prospect we find incredibly exciting! Not to mention a little scary, but we believe some of the best things happen when you venture out of your comfort zone!

We’re heading to the fantastic Factory Studios in t-minus 6 weeks. Watch this space…

Happy New Year!

Is it still acceptable to wish everyone a Happy New Year? We at Bristol Show Choir think so, as we’re delighted to be kicking off our Spring Term very soon. Our winter concert at the beautiful Redland Park URC was another sell out, full to the brim with festive cheer and songs from some brilliant musicals and we left ready to celebrate “the most wonderful time of the year” on a high!

Now with the festive season over and a New Year upon us, it’s usually the time of year where most people start thinking about resolutions, big and small. That in mind, we’re probably being a tad biased, but have you considered making your new year’s resolution to join a fantastic choir?!

As Bristol’s number one musical theatre choir, we pride ourselves on the fact that singing makes us happy (especially show tunes!) and has helped us bond as a group, and we firmly believe that if we feel good, we sound good. What if we were to tell you there’s some science behind our belief as well? Plenty of scientific studies have explored the value of exercise on improving mental health, as it releases chemicals in the brain known as endocannabinoids that provide a natural high. It follows then, that doing other activities you enjoy, just might do the same…

The BBC series Trust Me I’m a Doctor wanted to test this theory, teaming up with a leading physiologist from Nottingham University and nine volunteers from a choir to conduct an experiment. Over four days, they tried four different activities at the same time each day, having their blood tested before and after to check endocannabinoid levels. Singing produced a massive 42% increase in levels and showed a link to mood improvement!

All the volunteers already liked to sing, but we think that’s pretty special. So, if you’re looking to try something new this year, why not join Bristol Show Choir? You’ll be sure of a warm welcome, whether you’ve sung before or are a complete novice, all we ask is that you bring your passion for theatre! Term begins next week and runs till April, on a Tuesday in Southville and Thursday in Clifton... we hope to see you there!

Company, France and Getting Festive!

As Bristol’s musical theatre choir, we love the commitment of our members to the theatre and seeing shows. Even better, is when they see a musical that features one of the songs we’ve chosen to sing as a part of our set for the term! 

This was the case last month, when one of our tenors went to see the new production of Company at the Gielgud Theatre in London. Now, for those that don’t know: Company was originally staged in 1970, and follows a bachelor named Robert as he navigates life and love in New York City. Robert, “Bobby” to his friends, is celebrating his 35th birthday with some ”good and crazy people”: all his married friends! Wrestling with his phobia of commitment, a series of encounters with his friends and three love interests forces Bobby to question what he wants out of life. 

The team behind this new production have turned the musical on its head, mainly through gender swapping the roles! Our leading lady is now Bobbie, her romantic interests Andy, PJ, and Theo and bride to be Amy is now Jamie. Director Marianne Elliot worked closely and with the blessing of Stephen Sondheim, the musical’s composer to make the changes, which also included some subtle tweaks to lyrics, and the book. We’re reliably informed that the changes, as well as an immensely talented cast bring the musical crashing into the 21st century, and feels more relevant and important as it ever was! 

We’ve added our own special Show Choir brand of magic to “Being Alive” – the moment where Bobbie comes to terms with her anxieties about relationships and feels hopeful about wanting that for herself. Kerrie, having seen the show said having Bobbie as a woman works so well and she saw much of her own feelings around relationships and the pressure society places on women being played out on stage. It’s changed the way she looks and feels about the song and was so excited to tell us all about it. Desperate to plan an outing to the show as a choir, too! 

Check out Bristol Show Choir’s version HERE.

Elsewhere this term, we’ve been learning songs from A Chorus Line, The Greatest Showman, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Dear Evan Hansen, as well as revisiting Spring Awakening and Les Miserables. 

And of course, we’re getting in the festive spirit with a fantastic performance for the launch of the We The Curious Ice rink, as well as a charity busk at Wapping Wharf on December 8th and our all important Christmas concert on Tuesday 18th. For tickets and all other information, head on over to our events page.