Thank you for the Music

The latest suggested guidance issued by our government says:

"From 11 July, outside only, small groups of professional singers will be able to sing in front of worshippers. Singing in groups should be limited to professional singers only and should be limited to a small set group of people. Both the singers and the worshippers should be outdoors."

The new guidance still prevents the singing of hymns in church during worship due to the dangers of the airborne transmission of coronavirus.

The government website states that "there can be no group singing inside places of worship when worshippers are present".

With this in mind, many of our choirs are working hard in the virtual world to make sure congregations can still enjoy hearing hymns, even if they can't sing along.

Choir members have been getting together via social media to sing and record their efforts so that congregations can enjoy listening to hymns, even if they can't sing them.

Paul Cheater, Director of Music at St Mary's Litton Cheney explains how his choir, like many others across our Diocese has now gone "virtual":

"On Wednesday evenings, when we would normally meet for choir practice, we meet together on Zoom for a few minutes instead. We then move on to an audio-only system and sing 2 takes of 4 hymns, collectively, down the line to a professional studio just outside London from our individual homes around the village.

"The organ part is played from the studio of our sound engineer, who recorded me playing about 230 hymns 10 years ago. This means that our choir is able to sing the hymns to my playing, which they hear in their headsets. Of course, everyone’s broadband speed is different, so the choir, who are assigned a channel each, are all turned down, so that, individually, they can hear only the organ.

"The recorded result on Wednesday evening is therefore best described as a cacophonic mess (nothing to do with the excellent singing!), with everyone sounding ahead or behind one another! Our sound engineer then synchronises all the voices together and emails the hymns back down the line to our church secretary, who transfers them to a CD and plays them as required in the service.

"We are extremely fortunate to have the services of such a consummate professional (and 2-time BAFTA winning) sound engineer, as well as an excellent sound system, because the hymns, sung by our choir, to our organ, sounded tremendous and completely as if they were being sung 'live'! I always thought the idea would work, but it has far exceeded my expectations."

The latest government guidance can be found here.