I absolutely love singing workshops! More than practising with my beloved choir, more than performing. I love the way a group of strangers can come together and form a community over the course of a day, or a weekend, or a week. I love the way that harmony singing is such an equaliser; the way singers lift each other to sing things we wouldn’t necessarily manage on our own.
And I love the way you can leave the weight of daily life at the door and know that no matter how low or out of sorts you’re feeling, singing will lift you into a better place.
Workshops are the fun sociable thing that acts as a balance to my introverted writing life. I feel so lucky to have a community of singers to write for and most of the songs I write are crafted for workshop singing: not too many words, easily learnt by ear, lush harmonies, adaptable for a wide variety of groups and most importantly with a relevant social context.
For a few years I had been thinking it would be great to have someone to co-teach with so there’d be two of us to support singers and keep the pace ticking over nicely.
And then I met Jennie Fisk! She’s an absolutely fantastic leader – very clear, encouraging and supportive, and from the moment we began working together it was like we’d been doing it all our lives. It just works absolutely intuitively and seamlessly. These days we do most big workshops together and everything is easier and more fun shared between two!
