Look Back In Wonder

Every season with the Pinkies is memorable, just as every season is different. There are always new Pinkies coming, old Pinkies leaving, new places to visit, old friends to catch up with, and the baseline level of flux keeps things interesting. This season, and this year in fact, has been significantly more exciting than before though, because there has been a considerable amount of change happening. Lynne, our former chair, left the Pinkies on a very even keel, and I know I felt a little trepidation at the prospect of someone else taking over. But Mark and the new committee have put their own successful stamp on the Pinkies, and I thought I'd like to jot some of my thoughts down on what it has meant for me.

1. A much busier season
The biggest change has got to have been that we have performed a whole lot more this season than in any season before. Even before the summer session properly kicked off we were in the Southbank Centre, and this was followed by loads of small gigs, trips to Paris, Edinburgh and Malta, Various Voices London and our usual summer concert. There has been nothing quite like it, and it has been challenging to the choir to learn all the music and choreography to the level we want.

I must confess to not being entirely comfortable with this level of activity, in the main because choral singing really is a team effort. Because we are amateurs, it is hard for all of us to commit the time required to fully polishing up our performance. Most seasons I learn all my music by week 6 or 7, and then I just cruise until the concert. This time round though, the music was chopped and changed from concert to concert, and we had new joint songs to learn as well. I barely got all my music down pat, and must confess that I probably had 95% of the repertoire at performance level, not the 99% I am used to, but even that required a lot of hard work. I am not sure that others want to or can put in the hours needed, nor, arguably, should they be expected to.

On the plus side - there's nothing like common adversity (this word is a bit strong, but you get the idea) and a shared challenge to draw people closer together, and I know the Pinkies who stuck through all the gigs from the start of the year came away feeling exhausted, yes, but with a sense of satisfaction at having worked hard to create something which was worthwhile. I was rather teary at the end of our gig in Malta, partly because we performed really well, but also because it was the end of a great season, packed to the brim with fantastic moments and lasting memories.

I hear that in the coming season we are going to take things just a little bit easier, with fewer events. After the summer I think we need it! But at the same time we do need more performance opportunities to progress us musically, and also to create those experiences which make me glad to be in the Pink Singers. That line is a fine one, and I think the Pinkies are still trying to find the right balance. We know now how far we can go if pushed though!

2. A cap on numbers
When I joined the choir those years ago there were just over thirty members. In the intervening years our choir has grown steadily, and each time we moved our rehearsal venue, from the Drill hall to the Royal Academy of Music, and then to the Place, it became possible to increase the size of the choir. Thankfully, the choir has never had a shortage of would-be Pinkies, but the number of place in the choir always seemed to grow in tandem with the them. At present, however, we have a cap of 80 members, that's 20 per section or 10 per voice. Yet our retention rate is now very high as well, and if you couple that with more and more people writing in their interest to Liang, our new-members' rep, something has got to give.

The first thing was that former Pink Singers are now no longer guaranteed a place in the choir if they have spent more than 2 seasons out. Retired Pinkies still get first dibs on places if they are under that threshold, because people have to take time out for a multitude of reasons. But I certainly think this makes it much fairer for newbies. At the back of my mind, I realise that circumstances may mean I am unable to sing for a year, which would in turn mean that I may not be able to come back. But at the same time I would not want to deny others the wonderful experience of being a Pink Singer.

The second thing, is that the entry process is now not just a simple "voice check" as it used to be. In fact, for a while it has been an audition of sorts. But while Mladen and Michael De can keep an ear out for vocal quality, the Pinkies are not just about singing, it is a real community of people. Sadly, you can't tell how much people will embrace being in the choir by a single trial session: some of the quietest people in their first rehearsal have blossomed the most in the past year, just as some of the noisiest contribute the least. How this is going to be addressed is another issue. I know this is an area that Liang is putting a lot of thought into. We'll see what happens in the coming year!

3. Dividing the load
Although a larger choir means a lot more organisation, this is balanced by having more people who are willing to volunteer a little bit more in running the choir. For the first time in a while all the committee positions were filled, and we even had two positions which were contested at the elections. This is a marvellous place to be in. Part of this was due to the reorganisation of the roles within the committee, to make them more consistent with what they were actually doing, but part of it is due to people now getting more involved in how the choir is run. The open meetings certainly give people a say, and many Pinkies now participate in the running and promotion of our concerts. I agree with Emelda, as she told me on the night of the concert, that it has felt a whole lot more of a team effort this season.

What is probably most reassuring for the committee members is that there are many Pink Singers who would be willing to take on individual projects, even if they do not want to go for a committee role. For instance, Gary did a superb job in handling our new T-shirts with Mark's guidance. Our twitter, Facebook and MySpace pages have been handled by people other than the webmaster (already a full-time job!). It was wonderful that the committee this year recognised the help so many general members provide by giving them a token of appreciation - the limited edition Pink Singers mug. Looks like I have to keep doing stuff for the next few years if I want to get my set of 6!

4. Taking care of new Pinkies, remembering old ones.
One downside of the manic summer season was that because we had so many concerts early on, it was really only possible for existing members to perform, using older repertoire. The new Pinkies were started on the new repertoire of course, but they didn't really get a chance to be part of a performance until later on, and I think they felt a little left out as the rest of us went of and did gigs everywhere else. Some people, like Joanna and Frances for instance, seized the day, but some others found it really hard going and eventually left the choir. My philosophy is that we can't please everyone all the time, but what we can do is offer as much support to struggling members as we can. I know the section leaders do keep an eye out to make sure people are not being left behind, but if they do, and they decide that being a Pink Singers is not for them, then we need to find out whether there is anything that can be done to remedy the situation. Often there is not, and being in a choir does need a degree of commitment which they were perhaps unwilling to make.

Conversely, this season we have also had to deal with two of our longest serving members leaving the choir for personal reasons. Bill has been a Pinkie for 11 years and Andy M has been one for a decade. Both have contributed in so many different ways to the choir, by singing and taking part in events, and in Andy's case also arranging music for us. They will be sorely missed, and it was wonderful that we could recognise their labours. Thank you both once again!

5. A sense of Pride
Although we can hardly be described as activists, I don't think it is going too far to say that for an LGBT choir we weren't very LGBT about it. This does not, of course, mean wearing spandex or platform shoes - we can be gay or lesbian without any of the stereotypes thank you very much - it meant that, apart from Pride, LGBT History Month and World AIDS Day, we weren't really doing very much in or for the community. Part of the hesitation was that people were, for personal reasons, worried about being out. However, the fact that the Pink Singers identifies as a lesbian and gay choir, and have many public performances, makes this point somewhat moot, as well as being incongruous. Indeed, just because you are in the choir doesn't mean that you are necessarily lesbian or gay, just that you share a sense of social justice for all members of society, especially lesbian and gay people. The good news is that where we were once hamstrung by issues of privacy, we are now much prouder. Our role in Malta has galvanised me, and now that we have a community director by way of Jules, expect a lot more Pinkies community involvement in the future.

There are so many other people to thank this season: the entire committee of course, with special shout outs to Ben P, Andrew F and of course Mark. And there are so many things to look forward to in Winter 2009. It is a very exciting and challenging time to be in the Pink Singers, and we are still all trying to find our way. But it is oh so rewarding as well!