Thoughts On Choral Competitions

Now here's an interesting subject: choir competitions. The reason it has even come up is that the Pinkies are, for the first time in my travels with them, entering such an event. On the face of it there is quite a lot of interest from many Pink Singers, particularly in light of the recent successes with Various Voices London. But the difference is that Various Voices was a festival and not a competition, a small but very significant difference.

Prior to joining the Pink Singers I was in several church and university choirs, some of which were semi-professional, and at least two of which regularly entered competitions. I have some idea of the amount of blood, sweat and tears it takes to put up a competition-level performance. It involved an awful amount of work and committment, much more, dare I say it, than many Pinkies realise.

We are a community choir, and many members join because they love singing. I know I adore being in the Pink Singers because I like the relaxed environment. Not everyone has the same vocal or choreographic ability, innate or acquired, by the time the season ends, but that's okay because it is about getting together and enjoying both the concert we put on and each others' company.

Add a little competition to the mix and the emphasis changes somewhat. If you've been to one of our concerts you will know that the Pink Singers already perform to a very high standard, but to take it to the next level requires far more attention to things like blending, dipthongs, breathing, consonants, dynamics, posture, choreography etc. Then you go to the competition itself and have to deal with the added stress of performing in front of critical eyes. I must admit to being a bit apprehensive about turning a hobby which I enjoy into something I just know I will fret about.

Thankfully, the competition we are getting our feet wet in is the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition, organized by our counterparts in that city, the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus. Despite my concerns I am reassured by their statement that:

The competition is not solely focused on the winning choir and there are no great financial rewards at stake - simply the satisfaction of having sung to a high standard and had an opportunity to experience and enjoy the diversity of performance from other amateur choirs.

Perhaps more importantly, it looks like all the choirs which took part in last year's inaugural contest had a really good time, so it was, in spirit, more like a festival with the competition component thrown in for added frisson. Despite my reservations I've been won around and not only am I going to go, I'm actually quite looking forward to it. In fact, I think a bit of concentrated preparation will improve our choirs general performance as well. And of course a trip anywhere with the Pinkies is bound to be fun!

I'll leave you with some videos of the kind of competition we are up against. These are all from last year's inaugural MACC.