Birmingham music charity launches a new strand of community vocal activity.
B:Music has for many years provided opportunities where everybody is invited to make music with the organisation. It offers a range of performance opportunities, workshops, and creative projects throughout the year for everyone from amateur enthusiasts through to established touring artists.
The organisation is now thrilled to announce an exciting new choir, B:Music Workplace Voices, offering the chance for workers from across the city to enjoy the benefits and joy of group singing. B:Music Workplace Voices is an un-auditioned choir based at Symphony Hall in Birmingham, and offers the opportunity for employees across the city to meet weekly and experience the rejuvenating effects of group singing on Tuesday evenings.
Originally established in 2013 by choir master Gareth Malone for the second series of the BBC television show The Choir: Sing While you Work, Birmingham City Council Choir became one of the country’s best workplace choirs and enjoyed ten successful years, growing its membership and performing to audiences nationwide including for Heads of State and Royalty.
In order to better secure its future and enable further development, the choir is now embarking on a new chapter by joining forces with B:Music. In this exciting new phase, the successful choir has become a part of B:Music’s broad engagement programme and transitioned into the new B:Music Workplace Voices, which is open to anyone who works in Birmingham.
The choir will be an important part of B:Music’s extensive community and participation programme, with the charity excited to grow the membership and take on even more ambitious performances and projects. B:Music wants to share the fantastic benefits of group singing with as many members as possible and the choir will connect and perform with other workplace choirs and employees from across the city’s business community.
As coordinators of the city’s workplace voices network, B:Music will support and unite choirs from other organisations including HSBC, PWC, DLA Piper, Aston University, Birmingham Newman University, and Wolverhampton City Council Staff Choir. Many of these choirs recently performed in a summer concert at Symphony Hall in July.
Rachel Cranny, Head of Development and Impact at B:Music said, “As a charity, our mission is to inspire a love of live music through performance, participation, and learning. We passionately believe in the power of music and especially singing to boost wellbeing and bring people together. In addition to growing the membership of our B:Music Workplace Voices and delivering fantastic performances, our wider project aims to showcase and celebrate choirs in companies across the city and inspire more people to sing while they work.”
Choir membership is open to anyone who works in Birmingham or the surrounding areas. The regular weekly rehearsals for the choir are on Tuesdays from 5.45pm–7.30pm during term time at Symphony Hall in Birmingham city centre. Throughout the year the choir will work on a broad range of repertoire, musical styles, and genres.
The repertoire is carefully selected by Musical Director Ben Hamilton to reflect the choir’s musical strengths and abilities, while at the same time helping the singers to develop their capabilities through more challenging pieces. Recently the choir has covered everything from classical and traditional choral music to folk, rock, contemporary choral, musical theatre, and more– there really is something for everyone.
Ben Hamilton, Musical Director of B:Music Workplace Voices commented, “I’m thrilled to bring working people from across Birmingham to the iconic Symphony Hall. This is a remarkable and inspiring venue to rehearse and perform in. Not only does singing together significantly enhance our wellbeing by releasing ‘happy hormones’ which reduce stress and boost mental health, but it also fosters a strong sense of community, belonging, and inter-connectedness. Come and join our singing family, whatever your experience, to feel the joy and benefits first-hand!”
B:Music Workplace Voices undertake a range of different performances throughout the year. Some are short ad hoc appearances at other organisations’ events, some are longer concerts with other choirs, and once or twice a year the choir will present full length concerts. There is no formal audition process to be a member of the choir. However, at the first rehearsal the Musical Director will listen to each person sing – either on their own or part of the wider group- and decide which section of the choir each member should join (i.e. soprano, tenor etc.) Members pay a small monthly fee towards rehearsal and performance costs.
B:Music would love to invite anyone who is interested to go along to a session where they will receive a warm welcome and experience what a rehearsal entails. To find out more, contact workplacevoices@bmusic.co.uk
Further details about Workplace Voices can be found here..