By -

Bury Bach Choir singers – Tim the tenor

Whether you’re working, studying or enjoying the freedom of retirement, and whatever you sing – soprano, alto, tenor or bass – come and join us as our new term starts on 4 September.

This post features the second of three interviews with current members of the choir, to give you a bit of encouragement!

Tim is a tenor and has been in the choir for 7 years.  He works full time as a financial advisor.

‘When I first joined a choir I hadn’t sung for a long time, I could barely read music and had no idea if I was doing the right thing.  I’m not musically trained, I used to be in the church choir when I was a lad until my voice broke, and spent a large part of my adult life thinking I couldn’t sing because in my head I was still trying to reach the treble notes.  Then I joined a choir and discovered I was a tenor!’

What would you say to someone who was thinking of joining us but didn’t quite feel confident?  ‘I joined another choir first to see if I could actually do it, but looking back, I should have just jumped in with both feet and joined the Bury Bach Choir, because it doesn’t take much to get your ear in!’

‘The great thing about being in a choir is if you’re not quite sure what to do from looking at the music, if you watch the conductor and listen to the people around you, you can pick it up fairly quickly.  There’s lots of info on the net about the complexities of music, and there’s a lot you can do by ear too’.

You have a very busy job, do you ever think -  ah, I don’t really want to go to rehearsal tonight?

‘Yes, especially when it’s cold, but I never regret it afterwards because singing is good for the soul!  My job is quite pressurised, I’m having to make lots of decisions, and it’s curiously relaxing going for two hours’ rehearsal because you’re not making any decisions, you’re being told what to do in minute detail, and you can’t think about anything else!  So when I come away my mind is cleared of whatever troubles I’ve brought into the session’.

‘The greatest sense of achievement is when we’ve got to the end of a performance and I think ‘Crikey, I didn’t muck that up too badly!’

If you’re interested in joining us, find out more from our website here, or contact our New Members’ Secretary, Linda Cleveley, on 01284 703348 or 07757 316553, or newmember@burybachchoir.co.uk. 

We’ve already had several enquiries for this year, so you won’t be alone, and you will be very welcome!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

By -
Image
Christopher Moore – Piano four hands secondo Christopher started his musical career when he was very young: ‘my grandmother played piano, organ and violin and sat me on her knee at the piano as a baby to get me interested!’ He started piano lessons when he was eight, oboe at eleven and organ at thirteen. He worked for a firm of organ builders for a year after school and then read music at Durham University, where he played the organ a lot.    Christopher taught in schools and churches in Dorset, London and Sussex before moving to Cambridge in 1986 to take up the post of Director of Music at Great St Mary’s. This was a great challenge, he says, ‘but I enjoyed it, I built up the choirs, had a new organ, very supportive vicars, a lot of autonomy and a lot of fun! It became quite a centre for music and still is’. In 1998 Christopher moved to Sudbury while he was working as an examiner for the ABRSM, ‘because I fell in love with a beautiful old house which I had gre...
Read more
By -
Image
Bury Bach Choir raise a record sum for the Samaritans The Bury Bach Choir raised £4,500 for the Samaritans at their successful fundraising concert on 21 October at St Mary’s Church. An audience of over 500 enjoyed Fauré’s beautiful Requiem and a selection of short pieces including John Tavener’s The Lamb and Song for Athene, Mozart’s Ave Verum and three ethereal Bruckner motets. 2017 is the year of ‘Sing for Samaritans’ as a flagship fundraising campaign. Presenting the cheque, Choir Chair Tess Wright said ‘We enjoyed singing for the Samaritans, who do such great work in the Bury area, and we’re delighted that we raised so much money from ticket sales’. Samaritans Deputy Directors Vivian Bewley (2nd from left) and Claire Couch é  (right) accepting the cheque from Tess Wright (left) and Pam Reed (2nd from right) of Bury Bach Choir Vivian Bewley, the Samaritans’ Regional Fundraiser, said ‘It was a wonderful evening, a lovely way to raise money, and we are so grateful...
Read more
By -
Image
Sarah Fox sings Mozart on 3 March We’re delighted that Sara h Fox will be singing one of the  solo soprano roles in our all-Mozart  concert at St  Edmundsbury  Cathedral on Saturday 3 March, including the ravishing  Laudate  Dominum  and , from the C Minor Mass,   Et  incarnatus   est , which Mozart’s wife Constanze reputedly  sang at its first performance in 1783. ​ Looking forward to the concert, Sarah s aid  ‘ I don't know how you can be  a singer and not love Mozart -  he loved the human voice and wrote such wonderful music for us ’ . Born in Yorkshire, Sarah  is one of the leading English  sopranos of her generation.  A former winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the John Christie Award,  she was educated at  London Universit y and the Royal College of Music, and  is also an Honorary Fellow of Royal Holloway College, London University. She is  equally at home ...
Read more