What's a Show Choir?

When I’m asked what I do and I respond, “I run Show Choirs”, there usually follows a brief period of silence. 

“What’s a... Show Choir?” 

This happens all the time. 

I can’t just say choir because when I say the word choir, you automatically think of a line of serious people sat in chairs singing from behind hymn sheets. You can’t help it. Choirs sing religious music or large scale, traditional choral works, don’t they? Choirs only sing pop music if they’re joking:

Of course, a choir of grannies singing Eminem is hilarious, as The Worst Choir Ever's millions of views proves

Perhaps the use of the adjective ‘Show’ is confusing? Other things prefixed by ‘Show’ lead us in the wrong direction: perhaps you imagine a Show Home, false and temporary. Maybe you think of a Show Dog entered into Crufts, (complete with matching owner). Even worse is your projected image of a Show Girl - hairsprayed, sequined and feathered.

Show Dogs. A misleading title.

All of these ‘Show’ things smack of appearance over substance and I’d hate for that to be your understanding of a Show Choir. Our own Starling Arts Choirs don't enter competitions, but sing for good, old fashioned, wholesome fun. 

“Have you seen Glee?” 

That works sometimes too. 

You see, Glee Clubs are really, really old and British. The first named Glee Club was founded in London’s Harrow School, in 1787. A ‘glee’ is an English category of song, which was usually written for small groups and often intended to be sung unaccompanied. Let's consult an expert: our good friend Wikipedia describes a modern Show Choir as “a group of people who combine choral singing with dance, sometimes within the context of a specific idea or story.”

If you’ve seen the American hit series Glee, you’ll know that there’s a song for every emotion faced by a pubescent teen. What better way to process your first unrequited love than by singing an acoustic arrangement of a One Direction song?

Like the cast of Glee, we take a song and make it lively. Sing it without music, add a dance move or two to communicate storytelling meaning, and most of all, we sing it like we mean it. 

Something active happens in a Show Choir that is hard to match else where. I'm going to put it out there that Show Choirs are cool. Sociable yet self indulgent, relaxing yet invigorating.

If you've read any of our previous blogs, or ever seen us in action, you'll know that our very favourite thing is singing in a fun way with groups of people. We have three weekly Show Choirs, but we replicate Show Choir techniques with all sorts of groups - businesses, schools, arts organisations and community groups. The main thing, after all of that, is that we all have fun.

But I can't use that as a reply... can I?

What's a show choir? A place where we have lots of fun.  

- Emily

Click to find out more about Starling Arts' choirs, or get in touch at info@starlingarts.com

Singing Together - Theatre, Music, Action

Starling Arts’ Co-director Emily Cook reflects on a weekend running singing workshops in Toulouse, France.  

My absolute favourite thing about running Starling Arts has to be the fusion of singing and community, which is rooted in the soul of every note we sing. When Anna and I thought up our first motto back in 2010 - Unite, Create, Soar - weekends like this one just passed were exactly what we had in mind. Getting people together, creating something special using music, and flying high as a result. To my mind there are very few things that unify and bond people as quickly as singing - proof of which has to be the university production of the musical Follies in which I met my now fiancé! 

This Saturday morning we woke up in Toulouse in Southern France, ready to run a weekend of singing workshops with over 40 people, across a range of ages, levels of experience and first languages! We were working with a community association very much akin to our own ethos at Starling Arts; TMA (Theatre, Music, Action) also uses the arts to bring people together, providing arts opportunities in English for anyone in the local community, with regular music and theatre activities taking place during the year. The 'action' part of their title, to me, really enforces the idea that something special happens when people get together through the arts.  

We were really excited to have been asked to run a special weekend-long 'show choir' workshop for TMA, extending the work we already do with our three London-based choirs, as well as our youth, community, education and corporate singing projects. As we boarded a flight from London Gatwick, Anna and I took stock of how lucky we have been to pursue a career we love so much, and for our work to have taken us international, meeting like-minded people and sharing our passion for music and theatre, now, across the channel too!  

We had hoped to get the group, many of whom had not met before, to feel at home together, before exploring vocal, physical and performance techniques. Our chosen repertoire included songs from Rent, the charts and a favourite Elvis-era mash-up arrangement, complete with dance moves! We were excited to see that the group were so passionate about singing, so thirsty to learn new skills, improve their harmony singing and try out some new dance moves too. 

The fantastic workshop participants show off their jazz hands

The results were electric, with many of the group finding themselves surprised by their achievements: “I never thought anyone would get me dancing!”, ‘I didn’t think I could sing in harmony”, “I’ve always been too shy to sing in public!”... 

Of course we were very proud but not at all surprised by what the group achieved in such a short amount of time - it’s incredible what an investment in the concept of ‘community’ (and a bit of fun) can do. Before we could catch our breath, we were back on a plane to London, that motto Unite, Create, Soar more pertinent than ever as we looked down over France, soaring though the sky, still humming the tunes and tapping our toes.

- Emily

If you would like Starling Arts to work with your community group, business, school or choir, contact Anna and Emily at info@starlingarts.com