Pitch Perfect: the perils of singing a cappella

The blended, beautiful singing of the choir floats through the auditorium, delighting the audience. They wait in anticipation as the orchestra creeps in... a tone and a half higher than the choir. It's happened to the best of us. However much 'smiling' or 'thinking high' you've been doing the bloomin' piece has gone as flat …

Can singing reconnect us?

CBSO Chorus Director Simon Halsey gave me some food for thought as he warmed up the 900-strong crowd who turned up to sing Handel's Messiah together at Symphony Hall last Sunday. He asked different age groups to stand up. There were teenagers to octogenarians in the room, all willing to give up half a day to …