For the last 13 months my choirs have been at home! Stopped from meeting face to face to sing and to interact in rehearsals and concerts. We have adapted and learned new skills, we have connected with our members, many of them vulnerable and shielding. We have telephoned, emailed, written, met socially distanced when allowed and we have connected online. It hasn’t been the same and none of us will ever say it has but we have done our best to keep our community positive.

Perhaps most importantly we have kept our communities safe. We have had our freedom limited and our leisure activity taken from us, but we have not been angry or decided to protest our situation. We have understood, been patient and are now planning to return with rigorous risk assessments in place to continue to keep us safe until such time as we have data to prove that we are safe to sing and to be as we were before.

All we want to do is make music again and believe me there are a lot of us. The Big Choral Census undertaken by Voices Now established that in March 2019 there were 40,000 choirs in the UK which included over 2 million singers. Just imagine if we took to the streets!

The report said:

‘Study after study by leading research institutions has shown that singing in choirs creates coherent community groups, strengthens working relationships, promotes happiness, mental well-being, and general and therapeutic physical health. It takes place in welcoming environments at an economic cost well below many other leisure and cultural activities, does not discriminate by age or ability, and is close to being within the reach of even the most geographically-isolated communities.

‘Choirs are already popular and are still growing, they bring innumerable benefits to communities and individuals, they are open to and cater for all. But they have the potential to do much, much more. Voices Now believes that the time is long overdue to grasp the incredible, untapped potential that choirs offer to the whole of society, both for those already in the fold and for those who have not yet sung their first notes.’

The message is clear from this that we are important! Add to this number the many bands and orchestras that make up the amateur music world and we would fill the streets of every major city.

But we choose to be dignified and considered in our silence, knowing that soon we will be able to sing and play again and our members will be safe, and we will all be able to benefit from our music making.

The power and importance of music was certainly heightened this weekend, but it has been ever present throughout the last year. We have witnessed virtual recordings from many groups unable to meet face to face. We have had performances streamed live into our homes and the musical world has remained innovative and a lifeline to many. The knowledge that so many professional musicians have not been able to perform has been heart breaking, let alone earn money. Whilst some of these restrictions have eased, this is not the case for amateur music makers, and we wait patiently for 17th May. Choirs throughout the country have spent a considerable amount of time looking at risk reduction and risk assessments and how to respond effectively to the guidance. What I think is sometimes forgotten is that whilst a choir or orchestra may hold amateur status, it is made up of professional people in their own right. These skills have been vital in ensuring that a safe return is possible.

My own choirs have those qualified in medicine, science, human resources, workplace risk assessment and that is just a start! We are well placed to guide and support and protect our members and to ensure that they comply with all guidelines and that they understand their individual responsibility.

We are ready to sing again, and we want to sing again, and we will, but we will do it safely because we will have planned and prepared fully and with rigour.

Until then we shall have music in our hearts and our minds. I am reminded of the words from Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s Ode.

“We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

This week a woman lost her husband and life-partner of 73 years, they first met in 1939 when he was 19, she just 13, later marrying in 1947. The feeling of emptiness when someone passes is immense and after so many years, I can only imagine how this must feel. In our lifetime we will all lose someone close to us and sadly this last year has hastened that day for so many. I have no time for anyone who is not understanding of loss and in particular I have no time for anyone who is unkind. It is simply unacceptable whatever the circumstance and whoever the person. But we don’t live in a world where everyone is kind and whilst the benefits of the internet and social media are vast, it is all too easy to criticise and be unkind and uncaring through this medium. Thankfully, the tributes and messages of support have outweighed any negativity.

Tomorrow sees the next step along the road to recovery and the slow lifting of restrictions. There is still caution and nerves and rightly so! The numbers of recorded deaths are the lowest in seven months and the cases are still reducing. I won’t be rushing out to do anything wild this week or indeed in the next few weeks, but I will welcome the opportunity to sit outside a coffee shop and read.

My choirs ceased rehearsals in March 2020 and by the end of April they will all have been online for 52 weeks. We will return eventually, but slowly and safely and we will wallow in the glorious sounds of other voices. That is what we have missed, and it will be so welcome when we can experience it again. Perhaps more than ever on the road back to singing we will need each other, but the combined strength that choirs throughout the nation and indeed the world will give to each other will be unparalleled. Every singer will know just how the other is feeling, from the youngest to the oldest, it will all be the same. Singing together, in one voice and this will sustain us through our journey back to being able to make music once more. Let’s be positive and kind on our way back!

I can’t ignore how I feel, and I am sure that my feelings echo those of many others. I am testing twice weekly, and I have had my first vaccine and I have acted, I believe with safety and concern for my own health, as well as others. I have followed the rules, done what I should and must do and now wait. There are those who believe differently and that is their choice.

What I know is that the musical communities in which I have worked for over 25 years have not met or sung together in over twelve months and we need it now more than ever. The very thought that this ‘irreversible’ roadmap may fail is unconscionable.

I contain my feelings and remain positive, but I see it all around me. The glimmer of hope in a socially distanced walk in the park for friends or family who are clearly happy to be together is palpable.

The temptation to laugh and find joy in the simple act of a dog chasing a ball or a young child being allowed to run around in the sunshine, all of which felt normal. But dare we wish for it to continue? Dare we drop our guard in case it is taken away again!

We must, more than ever believe that the restrictions in place have been successful, the tremendous advances in medicine and science will have a positive impact. The unprecedented success of the rollout of the vaccine, and everyone’s awareness of what has been necessary surely has to pay off?

A significant milestone has been reached this week, in that Honley MVC will have been online for 52 weeks, my choirs Altrincham and Chesterfield are not far behind and we truly have achieved so much this past year. But what we long for now is to be together, to sing together, to hear each other’s voices and to let the harmony of our musical reunion wash over us.

Is that too much to ask? I hope not!