Many of our members have not sung or been a member of a choir for many years.  In either case the first visit to a rehearsal can be daunting so please don’t let that put you off trying.  

We do try to start singing by 7:30pm so please arrive by 7:15pm at the latest.  Doors are open from 7:00pm. We have also had to put a number of precautions in place to keep everyone safe so please do read the Safe Rehearsal Page.

If you would like to try us out then please fill out the contact form so we can expect you and have your music ready.

When you arrive at the door you will see people queuing to pay their £3 weekly fee (NB: Hurray, it’s free for the Autumn Term 2021!) . If you have not come with anyone then this is the best place to start (in fact, if you have come with someone who is already a member then this is where they will start too!). Once we have taken some basic details (name is useful, as is email address for our records) – we don’t take any payment on the first week – then we will find a member of the committee to have a chat and ask some very basic questions e.g. “Do you know whether you have a high or low voice?” and “Do you read music?”. Doesn’t matter if you don’t know the answers but we just like to know so we can place you into an appropriate part of the choir.We will always endeavour to sit you with someone who is reasonably musically proficient – this is to help you fit in; it’s certainly not an audition.

The evening roughly follows this outline:
7:00pm

Doors Open

Time to sign in, pay subs, have a chat with friends and get ready to sing.

Warm Up

A variety of physical and singing exercises to relax and warm up the body and voice before we start

7:30pm
7:40pm

Session 1

We usually start with a few songs we are confident with and then we move on to the pieces we are learning. Jane, the MD, will normally break songs into small parts and teach each part of the choir their parts before we then try singing it all together. Reading music helps but we learn our parts by repetition.

Time for a break!

Time for a pause and to chat with other members

8:20pm
8:30pm

Announcements and Birthdays

Choir announcements and messages from members.

Session 2

Our music is generally accompanied by backing tracks, or an accompanist.  We learn short phrases at a reasonable pace – always checking with the members whether the phrase is largely learned before moving on.  The repetition of short phrases is the easiest way to learn music in a large group (don’t forget that over 90 people come to sing each week).  Everyone is actively encouraged to speak up if they don’t “get” a part, because with those numbers there is often someone else who doesn’t too

8:40pm
9:15pm

Rehearsal End

Piece of Cake
Piece of Cake

In the past, we organised a number of social nights through the year where we spend much more time eating cake and spending time with our fellow singers making new friends. We hope to get back to doing this in the near future.

So hopefully you can see that we like to sing and to bring people together.  If you don’t like us then we don’t mind.  Music and singing are very personal things.  Any activity you do in your spare time must be enjoyable and singing isn’t for everyone.  We promise that you will be welcomed and we hope that you will stay: nearly everybody does!

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Members of S!BH
Singing at a Rehearsal