Our singers have a wide range of musical experience. One or two have degrees in music, some others are experienced choral singers. Most, however, have never sung with a choir before and a significant proportion cannot read music. So don’t be put off if you feel you are lacking in musical experience and knowledge or if you can’t read music. Come along and give us a try. Full details of where and when we sing can be found here and here
There are two separate parts of learning to read music for choral singing.
- The first part is to be able to decode the series of dots and lines which are the way musicians show what note is needed, how long the note is, how it relates to the other notes in the music and how loud it is to be played. There are plenty of online tools to help you learn how to do this (see below).
- The second part is learning to reproduce what you see on the page into music which you can sing. You do not need to be able to do this to sing in our choir as you will have a chance to learn your parts in rehearsals. If you miss a rehearsal or want to practice by yourself, there are many online tools (look out for Cyberbass in particular, but there are other good ones too). With practice and experience, you will learn what different intervals sound like and where notes fit with your voice and you will find yourself learning how to sight sing.
Useful links
If you want to find some tools to help you learn to read music and how to produce a good sound, here are some suggestions. Just be aware that US sites use slightly different terminology for the length of notes (for instance, a quarter note in the US is known as a crotchet in the UK).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/subjects/music.shtml Links to a range of music related sites and tools
http://www.musictheoryvideos.com/grade-1/ Clearly explained videos of a wide range of music theory topics
You might also find it useful to get hold of a beginner piano book – and don’t be put off if you don’t have access to a piano as there are piano apps for both desktop and tablet computers.