Guest blog: by Amy Bebbington, Founder and Director of Corra Sound

How wonderful it was to sing together again at Christmas! Our Corra Sound concert, alongside virtuoso clarinettist Emma Johnson, left us all on such a high.

The past eighteen months have not been easy. The performing arts and singing in particular have been relentlessly subjected to divisive demonisation by government restrictions that have left us floundering.

Now, slowly but surely, choir leaders are beginning to re-emerge from the shadows of unemployment and inactivity (the depressing attempts of Zoom rehearsals aside), to finally stand with their choirs again.

Harmony is never more powerful than in a choir, where the most you will need is perhaps a score or a word sheet. The focus is on you; the person, the sound as unique as a fingerprint, but as flexibly diverse as humanity. Multiply that many times and the result can literally be life-changing. That’s precisely why singing is socially prescribed; it’s a free high, and you are the instrument of its success.

Having directed several choral concerts in the last few weeks, I have felt genuine amazement and relief that they have all gone ahead even though the very real threat of Omicron has seen acceleration in the news and fear in the masses.

Here’s what I’ve noticed from these live choral events: people have bought tickets (the events were almost all a sell-out), audiences have turned up, their reactions have been immediate, positively audible and expressive, they have stood, clapped, cried and gasped at the pure joy and wonder of what they’ve heard. They’ve been exhilarated by sound, sound made simply by the human voice, expressive sound that shares a message of sorrow or reverence or elation or praise. They have been moved. By real life performance. Moved by carols they haven’t heard in two years and songs they’ve never heard before.

This sharing means so much to people, and we only fully realise its impact when we revisit it, after an imposed artistic starvation. We must not underestimate the profound impact of what happens to us when we deliver (artists) or receive (audience) a performance: pure joy.

Joy is available to us all, seeking it out is not selfish; neither is it reserved for those who are skilled or feel entitled to what some may think is purely frivolous pleasure. The arts are here for us all. And the joy we receive from it is richly rewarding. It is part and parcel of what makes us human.

Don’t be embarrassed to embrace that joy; you deserve it.

Corra Sound is a newly established professional upper voice ensemble, who celebrate the works of talented, often little-known female composers. Visit: https://www.corrasound.co.uk/

Amy is the director of training for the Association of British Choral Directors. She is a published composer, and in great demand as a choral clinician, teacher trainer, adjudicator and mentor. Visit: https://www.amybebbington.co.uk/ or follow her on Twitter.