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Choir leaders are music lovers. When it comes to selecting repertoire, it can be very easy to get carried away. There's nothing wrong with making ambitious choices, but the music you choose should suit your choir. Here are some questions to keep in mind.

What sort of choir do you lead?

Singers join a choir because they want to sing and enjoy themselves. If you run a community choir open to all abilities, then choosing a technically complicated piece could soon have people running for the hills!

S…

When you're in the flow of your rehearsal plan and everything is moving along nicely, questions can feel like your worst enemy! They can interupt your pattern of thought and throw you off course.

It's always worth remembering that questions from your singers show engagement in what you're doing and indicate that people care.

However, without an effective method to deal with them, some can risk disrupting the rehearsal. Here are five top tips for dealing with questions that arise:

Take a deep breat…

Whatever your experience of leading singers, you've undoubtedly encountered times when the atmosphere in the room just isn't what you'd like; there's no energy and the singers just don't seem to gel.

Perhaps you're working with a new group that doesn't know you or each other. Perhaps a longstanding group has been rehearsing some particular repertoire for a long time and is getting a bit jaded.

Whatever the reason, you, as their choir leader, need to take steps revive the atmosphere or risk pre…

We get lots of emails and comments from choir leaders asking us questions about all sorts of issues. One theme that seems to run through these messages is that many choir leaders feel that they just aren't qualified to lead a choir. They feel inadequate, unprepared and lacking expertise. I'm going to take a leap here and hazard a guess that you've experienced exactly the same feelings. I know I have.

So the question I want to consider in this article is whether it's possible, and even desirable, …

One of the great joys of running Total Choir Resources is helping our subscribers and followers when they ask us questions about leading their choirs. More often than not, when I help out another choir leader, I learn something new or remember something I'd forgotten.

Recently, a choir leader asked me about breathing and consonant placement. I realised in answering her question that, to a large extent, I sort these issues out intuitively, rather than consciously. It was a good exercise to get my …

Coming up with ideas for choir warm-ups week after week can be something of a challenge. You want your choir to develop their singing skills, and repetition is a necessary part of that, but if you find your singers doing warm-ups before you've even instructed them too, maybe things are getting a little predictable!

So how can you ensure your warm-up sessions are varied and interesting for your choir without spending hours each week coming up with new ideas? Here are some top tips for a little war…

Have you ever asked yourself that question? Have you ever thought to yourself that surely there are people better suited to being a choir leader than you: better musicians; more qualified, more experienced, more likeable? What business have you to lead this choir, with all your faults and inadequacies?

If you've ever struggled to find the confidence you need to lead a choir effectively, you're most definitely not alone. A lot of the emails we get from new and inexperienced choir leaders are about…

Having a successful community choir business, active and thriving, is highly rewarding. As a choir leader, you work at the heart of your community. You get to be creative, offer opportunities to your singers and see how much they and their audiences enjoy it all.

So how can you ensure that you sustain and grow your business into the future? How will you stay inspired and create new experiences for you and your singers?

We think it's all down to CONNECTION. As choir leaders, over time, we need conn…

Ever feel like you're stuck in a never-ending cycle of choir admin? You're not alone! When you've built a successful choir with lots of drive and performance opportunities, it's fantastic, but things can get pretty busy!

Before you know it you're consumed by just keeping on top of the day to day running of the business and there's no time for new projects, or just some time to yourself.

The danger here is that things can start to become repetitive to the point that you start to feel uninspired and…

So maybe you've been running your choir for a little while now. Things are going well and you're starting to feel a warm sense of familiarity and success. You're getting to know your singers and you feel the team bonding, perhaps you've even performed locally to a positive response.

When you start a choir, it's important to actually start the process before you can fully understand your path of development. Sure, you can learn conducting skills and business management skills in advance, but there…