A melodic remedy- how choirs help people through difficult times
“None of us had ever lived through a pandemic before, it was a scary experience and a tragic experience, people lost friends and relatives, so it was something else to concentrate on.”
Judith Crosier, a 57-year-old teacher from Bedfordshire, credits Gareth Malone’s Great British Home Chorus for helping her through the pandemic’s toughest times. Gareth created the virtual choir in March 2020 to bring the nation together during lockdown, and Judith joined at the beginning, when she herself had caught coronavirus.
“I was extremely stressed about the pandemic, and I didn’t see my mum for about two months, which was hard, so I ploughed myself into the choir, so that I didn’t have to think about what’s going on in the world.”
Before experiencing it herself, Judith had seen how choirs help people through difficult times when she ran an extra-curricular choir at her old school.
“It was amazing how many children came week after week, but most of them found school really tricky, and the choir was their comfort, their sanctuary, and that’s what choirs are, there somewhere safe to go to be with likeminded people, create amazing sounds, and get away from everyday life.”
Alongside Gareth’s choir, a Facebook group was founded called Great British Home Chorus Friends, which Judith was an admin of, and when Gareth’s involvement ended, this became a choir in its own right.
Judith, who is project manager and co-producer for many of the choir’s songs and videos, says within this smaller group, she sees how the community of a choir has helped others through the isolating times of the pandemic.
She said: “So many people who joined said they’d not seen anyone for weeks. There’s loads of older people too who are widowed, or single, or felt lonely because they couldn’t see their family, so joining a choir in particular, where you don’t have to explain why you’re there because everyone’s there for a shared cause, really helped, and the singing is a massive part of it.”
Someone who found the choir helped him feel less isolated was Derek Wilcox, who lives alone in Ely and was the man originally behind the Facebook group.
Derek, 49, a former teacher and district councillor, said: “I joined the Great British Home Chorus because I’ve always sung, I love people, and I love singing with people because it’s so special, you’re sharing a part of your soul really.”
The communal nature of choirs became extra important to Derek during the lockdown, he explains: “We were confined to our homes basically, and I found it difficult living on my own, so this was a chance to see people and interact with then.”
However, Derek has been thankful for choirs even before the pandemic. In 2000, he had a car accident which fractured his right leg in 10 places and caused two brain aneurysms, leaving him disabled with impaired speech and memory.
Derek says that the first choirs he joined afterwards, a Georgian choir called Chela, and a community choir, Good Vibrations, helped him through this initial tough time as he adjusted to his new life.
“The community feeling of singing with these two choirs helped me so much in giving me people to talk to, and because I’ve been singing for ages, so I know a lot about music, I was able to help conduct Good Vibrations and write out scores for Chela’s songs. That’s why I’ve recovered so well from my brain injury, because I had to communicate, and help them get to know music better.”
Derek has since been involved in countless choirs, which have all offered him a form of physical therapy, as Derek explains that singing in choirs helped his enunciation, whilst his memory has improved by having to learn songs and teach them to others.
Derek added: “Choirs have enabled me to recover to this standard that I’m able to talk perfectly normally now. When I first came around in the hospital, the nurses couldn’t understand me at all, so my brain has improved through singing and through interaction with people.”
Whilst Derek and Judith’s spin-off choir helped many through the pandemic, this was not the only new choir inspired by Gareth’s Great British Home Chorus to do so.
Various singers from the Great British Home Chorus also took part in Gareth’s TV show ‘The Choir: Singing for Britain’, which aired in June 2020 and involved the creation of a song to capture the mood of the pandemic.
One of these singers was Liam Meyer, a 27-year-old videographer for the NHS from Newton Abbot, who had sadly lost his father from Covid at the start of the pandemic.
On the eve of his Father’s funeral, Liam set up the Alone Together support group for people who had lost loved ones, but after finding Gareth’s choir helped him with his grief, Liam decided to start an Alone Together choir as well.
“Singing with the other people in Gareth Malone’s programme, even though they hadn’t lost anyone, made me realise that everyone was really struggling, so the benefit I felt of us all coming together in a choir, and having one goal of writing this song to express our feelings, and how amazing that made me feel to be part of something, I really wanted to share that with others.”
Wanting to emulate the therapeutic power of Gareth’s choir, Liam got the Alone Together choir to also write and record a song together.
He explained: “I encouraged everyone to write down their feelings, and we all found that really helpful with our grief, plus writing it as a choir reassures you about your emotions because you hear that everyone relates. And when you’re singing it in a group, and you’ve all got a mutual reason to be doing it, you just feel really connected and supported. It’s the togetherness of it.”
As well as helping people through the grieving process, Liam finds choirs help with other mental health problems too.
He said: “Works been very stressful, and I’ve suffered from anxiety in the past and as of current, so singing in choir is a distraction, and a way to express yourself and feel safe in a group that don’t judge you.
“It’s just amazing to be part of something like that, sharing a mutual love and being in a ‘family’ I suppose, and I see that love echoed through all the choirs I’ve met. It’s not about how well you perform, it’s about what you get from it, so I would definitely encourage people to try it out.”
