Welcome to the June newsletter ...

Here is your latest guide to all things choral.  

In this newsletter:

• Swingles Singers Jamie Wright answers the Big Choral Questions

• forthcoming local and national events 

• Choral tips

• Other Resources

The Big Questions - we are thrilled to be joined by the Swingles baritone/beatboxer, Stay at Home Choir Founder, arranger, coder, workshop leader and general really nice bloke: Jamie Wright. 

Desert island discs:

• Vocabularies by Bobby McFerrin: Anyone into vocal music should know this album!

• Junior by Röyksopp

• Phase by Jack Garrett: I love electronic music and anyone who can play drums, piano, guitar and sing at the same time is a winner in my book!

• Music for a While - Improvisations on Purcell by Christina Pluhar

• Discovery: Daft Punk

• St Matthew Passion by Paul McCreesh & Gabrieli: I remember asking for this for Christmas the year it came out it's been my go-to version since then.

• Voice by Hiromi: Listen to the last track of Beethoven's Pathetique

• Partita for 8 Voices by Caroline Shaw and Roomful of Teeth

Favourite warmup? Back to basics for me, I'm all about SOVT's (Semi-occluded vocal tract) like Z, V, Brr. Helps warm-up, warm-down and helps strengthen the voice. I use a little straw almost every time I warm up.
Best advice I was ever given? I forget who I heard this from first but it's that there is no "correct" or single path in the music world and that you should be unafraid to experiment. After going into opera and the classical singing world I never thought I would be in the a capella world (certainly not making drum noises with my face!) and here we are!
Best performance I ever gave? That's a difficult one, I'm definitely one of those people who comes off stage and worries about mistakes, I'm not sure I can think of a best performance! I really love the gigs towards the end of long tours where everything feels super dialled in and slick, you can relax and really have fun with the music and the audience.
Best I attended? I saw Brian Adams at the O2 a little while back. It was the first time I'd been to a full stadium gig and I sat there in awe at the whole thing. 
Favourite venue? Ooh that's hard...I'm not sure I can remember! Some of the enormous concert halls in China are just on a whole different scale to what we have over here in the UK and it's pretty amazing when you first get up on stage. That said, I do really love the Albert Hall, you get absolutely nothing back with the acoustic which makes it difficult but I don't think you can beat that space for sheer awesomeness!
Favourite piece at the moment? Nemo Egg....The opening titles to Finding Nemo, one of the best film soundtracks hands down.
Tea or coffee? I am a total coffee nerd. I got really into it while I was studying and I think I now own 9 different methods of coffee making! That said, I love an earl grey every now and again.
Bach or Handel? Bach. My undergraduate study at York had a strong focus on historical performance and Bach. Nothing beats him!
Beatles or Beyoncé? Beyonce!... I'm slightly ashamed to admit I've never really been into The Beatles. I fully appreciate how brilliant they are, but I'm more more of a Led Zeppelin guy myself.
What will I be doing in 5 years time? Difficult one! My time in Swingles and Stay at Home Choir has got me really into studio work and sound engineering which I'd definitely love to do more of. I've always loved technology though and would like to work with people in the music world on how they can use tech both creatively and to make the business side of things easier...though maybe thats a ten year question.