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.