TOTAL CHOIR RESOURCES SUPPORT FORUM

Hi  @Christine Mulgrew and  @Victoria Hopkins . I've been meaning to write this since I saw your original announcement come through my inbox about closing up shop here. I sincerely want to thank you for all the resources you have provided and expertise shared throughout the years. I would not be as much of a confident choir leader without you ladies.

I haven't been to many live masterclass sessions for a while but have enjoyed watching them back. I was more of a background member here dipping in and out and pulling out the resources I needed when I went looking for them. The past year and a bit was a bit of a crazy one for me; my daughter being diagnosed with ADHD lead me on my own journey of self discovery to getting a ADHD diagnosis for myself. I had to learn a lot about myself that journey but my work with my own community choir was never affected because I always knew I had the back up here to find resources to work with for my choir and was able to keep that ship sailing. With what you created here, I was able to keep my feet on the ground with running my choir whilst my head was in a whirlwind. Happy to report all good here now, self compassion and understanding was key. But yes thank you for providing the consistency I needed throughout it all. You will be missed big time, yet I'm very happy for you ladies to be moving in to your own new life chapter , very exciting time! I'm glad I found you and this very useful website all those years ago!

Side note, I was feeling a bit brave during the Summer and got my one and only tattoo on my (conducting) arm to honour my own journey but also think it would be apt to say here too as a nod to yer new chapter. It's a lyric from a song I played on a non stop loop in my late teens "the rest is still unwritten". Here's to yer new chapter also!

Hi - we have a choir WhatsApp group for members where we can share information as well as other bits of news from within our group - sometimes funny anecdotes or videos etc . If a member decides not to sing and pay membership for one term (quite a few stop coming in summer term) they are removed from the WhatsApp group.  Just wondered if anyone else does this and whether it’s ok from a data protection perspective? Mostly the folk who’ve been removed don’t mind (they are added again when they rejoin) but sometimes a singer will not be happy at being removed.

Hello all - I am hoping you might be able to clarify this for me. I am aware that some choirs are registered as a charity and I was wondering what implications/benefits/draw-backs this might have.

I started a little online singing group during the lockdown in 2020 and it has turned into a fully-fledged choir since then, with 50 members and a live band. It's genuinely the best thing I've done - I love it! I run it as an extension of my own vocal coaching practice (I am completely self-employed); I am solely responsible for everything, which is challenging, but not impossible....

My question is, if I was to register the choir as a charity, would it still be *my* choir? I understand that a charity has to have a board of trustees etc. and I wonder what that means in practise. Could someone shed some light?

Thank you so much!