Belonging to a choir and singing together is an activity at the heart of village life, with many residents valuing the camaraderie of belonging or attending regular concerts. Eddy Moore reports on the impact of the pandemic on this vital source of pleasure for so many.
Covid 19 has brought to a standstill the usual activities of Histon & Impington’s local choirs, which have been unable to meet and rehearse normally since March 2020. As Lynne Purchase, of Choir 2000 told HI HUB: “The last time that the Choir ‘met’ in person was a rather melancholy evening returning scores to librarians at Histon Baptist Church.”
The Zoom year
Nevertheless, choir members were determined to keep things ticking over during the interminable weeks of lockdown and turned to Zoom. Sue Lee, Chair of the Impingtones, explained how they started to explore the use of technology: “We had our first Zoom choir session on 1st April 2020 and tentatively explored how this might work for us. Just seeing each other on screen and the infectious enthusiasm of our choir leader, Bridget Hardy, was uplifting and our weekly Zoom choir quickly became part of our ‘new normal’.”
Unlike online meetings the use of Zoom for a large choir is not at all straightforward. Lynne Purchase explained: “We knew at the outset that Zoom wouldn’t allow us to ‘sing together’ in real-time; we had to have everyone with microphone ‘off’ to avoid a complete cacophany. When singing in a choir it is not just your voice; you hear others around you in your section singing one part, you watch the conductor for tempo and direction; you hear other sections in the choir and the soloists and accompanist/orchestra.
“In the absence of that support, it’s a bit daunting to sing on your own from a sheet of music with no-one else around you, even in the privacy of your own home!”
The Impingtones had to overcome the same obstacles: “Taking part in a choir over Zoom isn’t without it’s challenges, not least because you are singing on your own; but most importantly, it enabled us to keep on singing. We knew how important our singing community is to our members and we desperately felt a need to be there for them and to stay connected. We’ve had loyal support from our members and this has meant that we’re still here and looking forward to the next chapter.”
Ten Sing Cambridge, a youth group offers a variety of creative and performing arts activities from singing and music, to dance and drama. They too moved to online meetings enabling their members to keep in touch.
One Impingtones member, Sarah Strickland, summed up the value of online connections: “I’ve been part of this lovely, local choir for over five years. For me, continuing via Zoom has maintained that sense of connection, so that we’re ready to pick up where we left off 18 months ago”.
Moving outdoors
In a resourceful move, some choirs moved outside when the Covid restrictions permitted only outdoor singing.
The last live performance by Choir 2000 was a programme of festive music performed socially distanced on the Green in December. They were also able to sing together in the gardens of Histon Manor and were grateful for the support of Mrs Katherine Mann for allowing the choir to meet there.
The Impingtones met up at the Histon & Impington Community Orchard in July: “What a joy it was to be able to sing together!”, said Sue Lee. “We must admit, the singing wasn’t great at first but we quickly got used to socially distanced singing and over a few weeks regained our confidence in the beautifully calm and inspiring space among the apple trees.”
Return to ‘normal’
As the months went by and parts of lockdown eased, hopes of returning to normal for choirs were dashed by guidance issued by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It was only after Step 4 on July 19th that restrictions were fully lifted.
Both Choir 2000 and The Impingtones will be restarting in the autumn. Sue is delighted The Impingtones will be moving to a new venue from September, singing in the hall at the new Park Primary School on Wednesday evenings. “The school has agreed to us hiring this lovely space and the plan is to return to in-person singing, with much work going on in the background by a committed and enthusiastic committee to ensure we can be as Covid safe as possible. We are determined to make it happen.”
Choir 2000 are also proceeding cautiously and will restart rehearsals at Histon Baptist Church in October. Lynne Purchase explained: “These will probably be somewhat different to how rehearsals were previously; we now, for instance, have to factor in new processes such as ‘ventilation breaks’ into our schedule for each evening.
“Until October, we continue to work on our repertoire with rehearsals held outside, taking advantage of the good weather and long summer evenings. It’s so good to see familiar faces and be able to raise our voices together again, at last. We hope that we will be able to organise a December concert performance of Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria’ together with some of our lockdown repertoire and some carols. A cheerful programme after so many months away.”
