What Is A Choir?

I was recently browsing YouTube and noticed that a playlist of ‘Christian Music’ had been created for me by an algorithm. Given the playlist’s title, I was surprised to see that the first video on the list was our choirs singing You Will Be Found from the musical Dear Evan Hansen, a show that has nothing to do with Christianity. I clicked to see what other videos made the cut only to discover a range of choral videos (peppered with the odd show tune), none of which had anything to do with ‘Christian Music’. It got me thinking; does the algorithm think that choirs are synonymous with religion? 

Emily and I often discuss how the word ‘choir’ is a loaded term, stuffed full of years worth of connotations that might do disservice to the work we, and many other choir leaders, do. 

Google the words “choir definition” and you’re greeted with the following; “an organised group of singers, especially one that takes part in church services or performs in public.” So the very definition of the word mentions church. Indeed the physical place a group of singers resides within a church building is known as ‘the choir’, so it’s no surprise that choirs go hand in hand with religion. 

It all makes me wonder: are there people who don’t join a choir or stay clear of group singing because they think it might be a religious activity or ‘not for them’? Whether that thought is unconscious or not, it could be standing in the way of thousands if not millions of people singing in choirs and reaping the benefits that group singing could have on their health and wellbeing.

I grew up singing in a church choir and have magical memories of singing great choral works in abbeys and cathedrals alongside intimate chants and plainsong during quiet times of prayer and reflection in my village church, but alongside that I sang show tunes and the occasional pop song in my school choir. I always knew that choirs didn’t only sing church music.

When we first set up Starling Arts in 2010, we wanted our groups to sing repertoire that not only challenged what people thought a choir should sing, but arrangements of well known songs that had harmonies which made you feel like you were watching the finale of a musical, full of a sound so juicy you get your money’s worth singing or hearing just one chord. We also wanted to banish chairs from the rehearsal space, perform without sheet music in hand, add movement to really tell the stories we sang about, and make weekly choir rehearsals as fun as a performance, with the communal act of singing together always being the focus, not the performance being the one and only end goal. In creating such a fun space and challenging the choir norm we’d grown up with, wonderful singing naturally followed. 

Fortuitously for us, Glee hit TV screens at the same time and the term ‘show choir’ became common parlance. Glee did a lot to separate the idea of choir from religion. It was great for business, too, with loads of people watching the TV show, googling “show choir London” and coming up with Starling Arts. But ‘show choir’ didn’t really sum up what we were about either. Our choirs - and indeed all choirs - are about people; a collective of voices. The ‘show’ element puts an emphasis on the performance, but 99% of choir life is in the rehearsal room. For us, it’s about process and community.

Over the last ten years, much has been done to change the image of choirs. Films like the Pitch Perfect franchise and documentary series like Gareth Malone’s The Choir have helped to challenge some of the stereotypes about the repertoire and makeup of choirs, but for me they haven’t really shed light on that complex (and often unseen) process, or on the fact that everyone can sing together. 

A lot of our work sees us getting groups singing in a range of settings, the mental health and wellbeing benefits are many and the community it fosters second to none, whether we sing with them once or on a regular basis. From sports fans singing together in a stadium to a group of professional singers accompanying something like a Royal Wedding, the singer’s body and brain experiences the same sense of ‘awesome’, regardless of what or where you are singing together.  Within our own community of choirs it’s the friendships made, memories shared and souls healed (through singing together) that I’m most proud of. The beautiful music we make is just the tip of the iceberg; the real heart of a choir is under the water. 

I guess what all choirs have in common with religion is community, a sense of coming together with a common purpose. While we can take YouTube’s algorithms with a pinch of salt, it did make me think that it’s time for a new definition for ‘choir’, a definition that would encourage anyone who thinks a choir can only be religious to challenge that perception and realise that a choir is for everyone, anywhere. So here goes.

Choir (noun): Anyone who sings together.

What do you think? Leave your definitions or thoughts in the comments below. 

Find out more about our choirs, the Starling Voices.