Harrow Choral Society launches new ‘Singing for Improvers’ course

Harrow Choral Society (HCS), which recently held its Christmas Concert in Harrow School’s Speech Room, wants to attract those with some singing experience who wish to develop their musicianship.

Through its ‘Singing for Improvers’ course, it will deliver an eight-week programme run by music teacher and voice coach Christina Birchall-Sampson.

The aim is to give people a chance to improve their skills in voice projection, interval pitching, reading music, and concert etiquette with an emphasis on practical performance technique.

“As a choir we aim for the highest standards in our concerts and we’re always looking for ways to improve our performance,” says HSC chairman Peter Miller.

He explains how the society has always been keen to promote the benefits of choral singing, which led to the development of such courses.

Around 20 years ago, HCS music director Simon Williams set up the training choir ‘Singing for Starters’.

The scheme, which has won multiple awards, enabled participants to acquire the necessary skills to audition for the main choir after two or three terms of carefully-structured tuition. ‘Singing for Improvers’ adopts a similar approach.

“The idea was to bridge the gap for people who were new to singing or whose skills were rusty,” says Peter.

“We want to build on the success of ‘Singing for Starters’ with our new ‘Improvers’ course to encourage our members to develop their performance skills to the full.”

The course will run on Thursday evenings from January 18 at the choir’s usual rehearsal venue in St Albans Church, The Ridgeway, North Harrow.

For more information on Harrow Choral Society or the ‘Singing for Improvers’ course, contact membership secretary Jill Mans at membership@harrowchoral.org.uk or on 020 8248 7625.

The main choir, and the training choir ‘Singing for Starters’, both rehearse on Monday evenings at St Alban’s Church. For more information, contact Jill.