Restrictions are being eased in some places, and going out to choir practice feels like less of a dream. But what does that mean for the Stay At Home Choir?
In parts of the world, glimmers of light are beginning to appear on the horizon. We know the fight isn’t over yet, and with potential setbacks lingering in the wings here in the UK, our hearts go out to our fellow choristers and friends in places that still face immense challenges.
But as things begin to open up tentatively, we can’t help but allow one thought to grow larger in our minds: “Surely this will all be over soon?”
In fact, in a rare bout of optimism these last few weeks, Brits have been found up and down the country in that Great British institution: the pub garden. Enjoying pints of our beloved ale ‘on tap’ once more, and bathing in the spring sunshine. (Wearing many layers, and blankets of course! But hey, we’re used to it!)
Restrictions are also being eased over much of the US. And across the world, we join together in hope that these next few months will bring good news for everyone, and with it, a return to life as we knew it. We’re excited to hug friends and family once more, go to the theatre or a sports game, take our seat in a concert hall, and of course, go back to choir practice.
But what about the Stay At Home Choir? Will we still get to join together in song with our favourite artists from around the globe when all this is over??
Well, we have good news, friends – we’re not going anywhere!
The Stay At Home Choir is here to stay
We started the Stay At Home Choir amid global adversity. Our aim was to provide hope and solace to those isolated during the pandemic by coming together to sing. But what we have found along the way is even more permanent.
Together with you, our wonderful members, we have formed deep connections with new friends all over the world, and created works of art we never thought possible.
Your commitment and enthusiasm have inspired us. And we are in awe of the love and joy you not only bring to rehearsals but each and every video you record.
What started as a way of surviving the pandemic, has become a central part of our lives. And we’re not ready to give that up for a second.
The Stay at Home Choir is a virtual choir for all times
Of course, virtual choirs aren’t a new phenomenon. And at the Stay At Home Choir we’re so grateful to those who paved the way before us by developing technologies that allow thousands of people from around the world to come together and sing.
Long before the pandemic, people have enjoyed the global nature of virtual music-making. When Eric Whitacre founded his pioneering project, Virtual Choir, in 2010, the excitement from people around the world was palpable. The first project included 185 singers from 12 countries, which quickly grew to nearly 3,000 singers from 80 countries. His last project before the pandemic hit included 8,000 singers aged 4-87 from 120 countries, as well as a world-renowned professional choir and orchestra, and NASA!
Joining together with people from around the world to collaborate with professional artists and create immense works of art is something that stands the test of time. No matter what is going on in the world.
What has the Stay At Home Choir got in store for when we go back to normal?
We’re super excited to carry on offering our hugely popular projects and making music with you all long into the future.
Ever wanted to record an album? Well, now you can! As part of our newly announced Album Project, you can join us to learn and record five epic pieces from the choral repertoire over 10 weeks. And in November you can celebrate its release and feel proud of everything you and your SAHC friends have achieved during this strange time.
I want to join The Album Project! Tell me how!
But it doesn’t end there. We know you’ve loved the chance to work closely with highly-respected professional singers, conductors, and composers, and that won’t change. Over the next months and years, you’ll be able to get up close and personal with your favourite artists. Get to know them, learn insider tips and secrets, and improve your musicianship as a result.
All those epic pieces of music like The Armed Man that you rarely get to sing anywhere else? And those new pieces that were written especially for thousands of voices to create a sound like no other? You’ll still get to sing them. So, even as you relish the chance to sing close harmony with your vocal quartet in person once more, you’ll experience the incredible thrill of mass music-making with us.
You’ll still get the opportunity to appear in your dream concert halls around the world, even as you return to your local choir rehearsal room. And those friends you’ve made in far-flung corners of the earth? Well, they’re not going anywhere either.
And best of all? We’ll get to see you all, as we meet up in our online rehearsal room, reminisce on this strange time once it’s passed, tell stories from our back-to-normal lives, and share jokes about Lucy the Llama.
(If you don’t know about Lucy the Llama then we suggest you join our next project and find out!)
We cannot wait to see what incredible heights the Stay At Home Choir achieves as we all come out of this year together.
Let us know what you think!
Were you part of a virtual choir before the pandemic? Are you excited to keep joining SAHC projects even when you can go back to your choir in person?
Comment below and tell us! Or find us on socials (@stayathomechoir) to join the discussion about our next chapter.
Follow The Stay At Home Choir on Social Media
Read about our latest project
Sign-up to become part of The Album Project
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Very pleased you are continuing. This choir is here to stay!
So happy you’re staying. It’s such a friendly choir with Tori, James and Emily. I sang in the Self Isolation Choir last year and the Runbysingers choir. It’s been great to get Gareth to subtly change the A Capellaa Locus Iste to choral. It was so peaceful. This is when I first joined you,but on YouTube I’ve been listening to your previous work and it’s beautiful and an escape from worries.
Thanks and hugs.
I was so pleased to join you when Gareth introduced you during the Great British Home Chorus, Tori and Jamie. Loved singing with Karl Jenkins, Christopher Tin and Marin Alsop, whom I was once privileged to interview. Looking forward to Ode to Joy in German next. I’m staying with you! Thank you for giving us hope.
The Stay at Home Choir is wonderful and thank you so much for organising it, a lot of work I imagine, but enjoyable. I have really enjoyed participating and singing and interacting with people from all over the world. I am constantly amazed by the number of different nationalities involved. I am very glad you are continuing but, though I would like to do so, I don’t think I will have the time to participate once my choir is singing together in person again. It is not only choir but Scottish Country dancing which has had to cease, so once that also starts again, my time will be taken up. I am taking part in the Album project though and look forward to it. All best wishes for the future.
So pleased to read this. Something very special has been created and I look forward to many more projects and continuing to support you.
Once again a huge thanks for the JOY
So pleased you’re hear to stay!
I’m extremely vulnerable, with multipe allergies. I have yet to be vaccinated! Yes you read it correctly! My MP is in the case. So for me it is thr only way I have of being in a choir. Once my own community choir go back to live meets, I won’t have that-,unless I’m vaccinated.
Thank you so much for continuing.
I’m very pleased we are continuing. The love of music o uses from Jamie and Tori. You make us all feel special. Thank you.
So delighted to hear the SAHC is to continue. I joined after Gareth introduced Tori and Jamie during a Great British Chorus rehearsal. I have sung in all but one of your projects since then. What a fantastic time I have had. It is thrilling to be singing with music lovers from all over the world and I have loved every piece especially ‘The Armed Man’. It is such a privilege to meet composers, conductors and the wonderful Kings Singers and Voces8. Jamie and Tori, your enthusiasm is so uplifting. Thank you. I’m sure I will return to my local choir in due course but I will definitely continue singing with the SAHC. I can’t imagine life without it now. Can’t wait to do the album.
Im SO happy that we will be able to continue learning and singing with SAHC. It is just what we need. Good for mind, body snd soul. Cant thankyou enough. Very gratefully pleased thst there is no end to SAHC.
Thank you so much for offering this musical lifeline during the lockdowns. And, I get to sing with a piano that is actually in tune.
So excited to hear that the choir is sticking around! I’m not able to join an in person choir where I am (even after the pandemic), so this is so great! I am so excited for the upcoming album project too! I love the pieces we’ll be singing!
So excited you are continuing with the Stay at Home Choir. This has been a community of friendship and support during difficult times and it will be nice to continue the friendships and share our successes and experiences with new friends from around the world as we get back to life, post pandemic. Oh-and the music making-just superb! Thank you!!
I only joined when Gareth brought us together as I was part of his GBHC, but I do enjoy aome of the songs that you are going to sing. I’m hoping to get involved with Beethoven’s Choral Symphony, and may stay permanently depending on committments to the 2 other Virtual Choirs I’m in. I must admit I enjoyed the rehearsals with Tori and James and everyone is so friendly, especially Emily, who’ve exchanged E-Mails with.
Your message brings tears to my eyes. Thank you so much for continuing!
The SAHC has become such an important part of my life and I am grateful that it will continue to be so. The projects connect me with my friends here and on the other side of the world, but they also make me very proud whenever I watch the wonderful results of our work together online on Youtube. I’m looking forward to the Album Project.
Thanks doesn’t cover what I feel to be able to continue singing with you all. I only started with Locus Iste, so haven’t been a member of your choir very long, but your enthusiasm and joy boost my down days, and have helped make my life start to feel better, and this news is wonderful. Thank you.
Keep the stay at homechoir going. It has been marvellous and will be in the future. Thanks for all your hard work.
Delighted the SAHC is to continue as it provides opportunities not usually available to choral singers including learning with top musicians and contributing to wonderfully produced videos
I’m thrilled that the SAHC will continue. Looking forward to future singing with you.
Whoop whoop! So pleased you’re staying !
I’ve loved all the projects I have been involved in. Superb teaching and resources. Still waiting to say hello on a zoom so now more chances to do so as you are continuing. Really glad you are.
I am thrilled beyond belief that sahc is going to continue post pandemic – I will join all your projects. I love the deep learning that is required. I’m not sure I will sing full time in an in person choir anymore for a variety of reasons do I am grateful to have sahc projects to look forward to.
I came to stay at home choir after doing my first virtual choir project with Gareth Malone. When I saw some of the projects stay at home choir were doing I decided to join. The highlight for me was ode to joy which I have always loved but the Sogno de Volare projects was brilliant. Thank you SAHC.
Wonderful and inspiring! The SAHC has grown in something up and beyond making music together, it is about connecting, sharing light and knowing we are all people, no matter where we come from. It is so wonderful to be in contact with people from so many countries. Even more it is important! Music connects all corners of the earth. Singing together connects people, contradicts prejudices and looking at all the facebook posts shows love to all who join in. So yes, please continue to do this and make the world a better, lighter place for all. Your work has been and will be of great importance, solace and joy.
With lots of love and hugs from the Netherlands.
I’m so happy that the end of the pandemic is not the end of SAHC! I’ve learned so much, enjoyed every rehearsal. My biggest wish is to sing the whole Armed Man
I started with Eric Whitacre’s Sing Gently, then joined Gareth Malone – and then got to know about SAHC. I’ve sung with many online choirs since and it’s been amazing to see the same people cropping up in Zooms for the many different choirs – it feels like you’ve known them forever. I’ve loved my time with you and will continue – with online choirs you can choose so much more – no staying in your section, whatever the piece. As a first Alto sometimes the second Soprano is a better fit – and I’ve even done some Tenor!! One of my face to face choirs resumes this evening!! Outside – and only half of us, but it’s a start. I’m definitely aiming to have the best of both worlds after all we have had to put up with lately.
Best wishes to you all – and many thanks for everything you’ve done for us in these difficult times! xx
Fab idea. I will support u Stayathome Choir ?
This is wonderful news! I have been hoping that SAHC would continue past the pandemic. While I am very much looking forward to singing in my home chorus live, so, too, I have found I love this new way of singing and interacting virtually. Thank you for being here during these hard times and thank you for continuing past them.
We only joined virtual choirs from the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
So we joined GBHC from start to finish and all Military Wives Choirs went online in March 2020.
Back in June 2020 the Army and Navy Club Choir went virtual.
Then we had Gareth’s Locus Iste and now the Album project and the Vienna Ode to Joy.
Provides a safe haven, joy and fun!!!!
This is such fantastic news. I can’t imagine my life without SAHC now! Thank you to all of you.
I’ve been with you since Sir K J was involved over a year ago. I’ve joined other on line choirs and loved them all.
This has been my lifesaver. Thank you.
Yes I joined for the Armed Man because I had sung it with Karl Jenkins in Berlin in 2018. Since then I’ve done all the SAHC projects apart from Christopher Tin, when I had lots going on with Self Isolation Choir, but felt sad I’d missed it, as it sounded beautiful. I’m going to make sure I don’t miss any more with SAHC and have even got my husband involved! Long live the SAHC!
It was so wonderful to read the latest blog about the SAHC being in it for the long haul! It is absolutely right that such a great phenomenon continues. It has been so much more than just a choir to so many people and to those who founded it and nurtured it and have worked so jolly hard I say an enormous thank you and huge well done! I will look forward to continuing singing with you for many more projects to come.
This is such fantastic news! It’s nearly a year since I joined SAHC being also involved with GBHC and my own home choir on Zoom. What I have learnt, the fun I’ve had and the pride in everything we’ve achieved can’t be put into words. It’s opened up a whole new world. I even run the warmups for my local choir now which I could never have done before! So much to be thankful for. Thank you so much.
Thrilled with this news!!! I sing in some local choirs/singing groups, but have so enjoyed recently joining SAHC. The opportunity to work with professional musicians and sing with people from all over the world has been indescribable. Thank you
I am both delighted and relieved to hear this – thankyou. I have loved being in the Stay at Home Choir. I could never have imagined being able to participate in so may wonderful projects and amazing opportunities . I’ve always loved singing. It is my sanctuary. SAHC has helped me beyond words during this awful period of restrictions and challenges. The Facebook group is like having a virtual hug, there is always inspiration there. The fact that this will carry on is such fantastic news. Thankyou everyone!
Great news!
Before the pandemic, I want to join another choir in addition to — not to replace — my current choir, but couldn’t figure out how to fit it in around family, work and other commitments. This is absolutely the answer!
Many thanks for everything you do 🙂
I am so excited and grateful that you will continue with Stay at Home Choir. In Canada we are making slower progress against the pandemic than the UK. My choir hopes to start up in September but still uncertain. I would still continue with all of you nevertheless. I have learned so much vocally. You have been a Godsend to so many people around the world! Bravo!!!!
When I read the words: “Well, we have good news, friends – we’re not going anywhere!”, you cannot begin to know the sense of relief I felt and the tears welled up in my eyes. At the beginning of 2020, when I first heard about SAHC, I never imagined that, over a year later, I would have had the experiences I have had and made so many new friends I have never met in real life (yet!). Not having a choral background, I did wonder whether I had ‘bitten off more than I could chew’ but that is certainly not the case. I have felt so welcome in the group and the SAHC Team ensure that we are helped along the way to be the best that we can be. And, who cares about my ‘duff’ note in bar 8? Only me – because there are thousands more who can cover that up in the final recording! I am so looking forward to what the future holds with SAHC. Thank you to the SAHC Team for all you have already done and all that you are planning to do.
I echo all that Ruth Kilian has said. I am not part of a choir normally, although I can read music. I enjoy singing but don’t have a brilliant, strong voice. I wondered if I would be good enough for the SAHC when I first read about it; how I wish I had joined up for the first piece! But I am so glad I eventually plucked up the courage; during lockdown, I found taking part in the choir rehearsals etc much more fulfilling than practicing my violin on my own! And I am so glad you are carrying on – the tuition we get is second to none, and the thrill of singing with the guidance of such excellent choral groups or composers or conductors is huge. Thank you so much for the opportunities you give us, Tori, Jamie and the rest of the team, and I am so thrilled that it will continue.
That’s fantastic news! I am really looking forward to getting back to singing with my in person choir, but I have so loved and appreciated being part of the virtual SAHC and didn’t want it to end. Thank you so much – you have created something very special, given us great opportunities, lots of fun and a lifeline during lockdown. A real class act!! Long may we carry on… have signed up for the next 2 already :). x
Hello friends, I’m glad to hear that the Stay At Home Choir continues. I hope we will have as much fun together as we have had so far!
Thank you Tori and Jamie and your team. Learning that SAHC will continue is really exciting and reassuring. There are many reasons why a virtual choir provides a valuable outlet for people who NEED music. In my case I have not been able continue with my musical activities in S. London since the Pandemic began because I’ve been living with my partner in N.London. For other people maybe they have become housebound due to ill health or are not ready to mix in a larger group. Thank you for your humour, organisational skills and enthusiasm.
I’m a member of a large choral society, a Cathedral choir and a church choir. That means I usually sing on at least four days per week. Fortunately I am retired and would hope I can still find the time to join in with SAHC projects as life returns to some sort of normality. I can’t imagine life without SAHC now! ??
I am so pleased that SAHC is staying. I have felt so privileged to have had the opportunities to work and sing with you and when I first joined my voice was failing with age and the loss of choirs I had sung with and it has improved thanks to you and your training. I relish going back to the two choirs I sing with now but so glad that I can continue virtually with you as I have relished every second and the company of people from all over the world and look forward to the future with you
Ditto – I have plenty of music in my life but I cannot imagine life without SAHC – I have learned so much – I absolutely love it!
I joined the choir for Locus Iste and it has been brilliant. There’s no travelling involved, apart from up the stairs or from the lounge to the kitchen, the weather doesn’t matter, you meet so many new friends and you sing in situations previously reserved for the type of choir I would never have dared join. It’s fun and informal but so, so professionally run. Having only sung in school and church choirs this has given me such a confidence boost and a new purpose. Thank you Tori, Jamie and the team! X
I am so glad to learn that the Stay At Home Choir is planning to continue. Over the past year we’ve made beautiful music, learnt new pieces, worked with wonderful, professional musicians, had technique tuition and great warm-ups. (So often, in unvirtual rehearsals, there isn’t the time given, or available, to properly warm-up the voice for singing.)
We’re so lucky that it’s all here with Tori, Jamie, (+Lucy) , and the rest of the SAHC team.
Thank you to everyone, and Zoom !
So pleased to hear this news. I would really miss the SAHC but knowing what busy lives you lead I wondered whether you would have the time to offer us so much when your schedules start to fill with commitments again. I am so glad that you have enjoyed it as much as we have. We are a family now and long may that continue!!
Thrilled and excited by this. THANK YOU SO MUCH! The enthusiasm of Tori and Jamie is uplifting on the most miserable of days.
No other online choir has given me the joy and vocal learning I have with SAHC. You have a member for life here – even though I haven’t dared record since The Armed Man as my illness has affected my voice. I go back to our warm ups before ‘Come and Sing online’ events with other choirs – and I may do so before in-person choir rehearsals, if i ever feel singing together is safe again. I have sung pieces from composers I didn’t know as well as pieces I love, so it has been a great journey I’m so happy to continue.
I have really valued the technique workshops too, with professional input on healthy singing as well as vocal technique tips, which I would never have found otherwise. Keep it coming! And thank you again.
This makes me SO happy! Thank you!
Words cannot describe what this means to me! I am just thrilled and relieved to know that you are here to stay. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
This has been the biggest confidence builder of my life. I sing in Wrexham with a wonderful choir and we have sung in places like the Vatican and the Principality stadium. I was fine as long as I was next to somebody to sing along with. I was petrified of singing on my own and recording, but because of your encouragement I have done these things. I can’t wait for every new project. I have encouraged a friend from choir and my sister to join. At Christmas I got a new friend in America after sending out the Christmas cards. It was the biggest coincidence ever when we found out that we had both been in Cardiff College at the same time.I am so pleased that we will be carrying on . I was so worried that every project was going to be the last one. I am always so proud when I see the finished item.I just say that I was there!
I live miles from the main towns who have choirs so singing online has been a life saver for me this year. To sing with Sir Karl & Marisa and listen to them on Zoom was a dream come true. It’s been great learning vocal techniques and pieces I would never have dreamed of trying.
I am delighted that SAHC plans to continue! I have enjoyed every single project that I have been involved in and am looking forward to finding more joy on the journey down the road to better and more confident singing. Who would have thought that isolation could lead to such a wonderful adventure!
I was not part of a virtual choir before the pandemic, but I am thrilled that you plan to continue, and I definitely plan to continue with SAHC projects as long as I can.
For me it’s all about *opportunity*: opportunity to experience so much more music than I could with local choirs that meet once a week (usually only at night), and require driving time too. In fact, I used to drive 4 hours each way to get to one choir that I really wanted to attend, and it essentially took 2 days out of every week. With virtual choirs, I can ‘attend’ on my own time and spread music throughout the day.
There has also been *opportunity* to try different genres of music I had never tried before, such as the ‘video game’ music by Christopher Tin, and in other choirs: rock music, and music by indigenous people from the Arctic. And several world premiers of new music.
Most importantly, it’s *opportunity* to learn from world class singers, musicians, and conductors. Stay at Home Choir is topnotch in this aspect – Tory and Jamie are certainly world class on their own, not to mention all the other fabulous collaborations they’ve provided – thank you for the wonderful and innovative opportunities you’ve provided thus far!
Estoy súper feliz de seguir participando. Soy de la Patagonia Argentina y aunque estoy en la otra punta del planeta, los siento bien cerca en cada ensayo, encuentro y video.
Gracias por permitirnos seguir siendo parte de este coro tan bonito!
Desde acá, les envío un abrazo enorme y un beso a Lucy! Algún día tendría que venir a conocer a sus primos, los guanacos… pero cuidado! Si los molestás, te escupen! Jajaja!!
I´m super happy to continue participating. I am from Patagonia Argentina and although I´m on the other side of the planet, I feel you very close in each rehearsal, meeting and video.
Thank you for allowing us to continue being a part of this beautiful choir!
From here, I send a big hug to you and a kiss to Lucy! Someday she would have to come to meet her cousins, the guanacos… but be careful! If you bother them, they spit on you! LOL!!
It’s fair to say that Virtual Choirs have been one of the most positive outcomes of the global pandemic and a real silver lining of hope surrounding the dark clouds that were draining away life as we knew it for over 15 months.
While in person choirs are irreplaceable, I would argue that the same is true for a virtual choir like SAHC. This is a choir that has provided us with opportunities that many of us would have only realised in our dreams and has left us with musical masterpiece legacies that we will cherish.
A world without the thrill that SAHC brings to us would be missing a vital piece that embodies joy, friendship, musical potential and fulfilment all in one package. We would never be able to thank Tori, Jamie and the Team enough for truly making the world a better place. Long May it continue x
Well said, Lena!! ?
I am so happy to hear that Stay At Home Choir will continue – I look forward so much to all the rehearsals, socials and release dates for our recordings and being part of such a positive and uplifting community has helped me enormously. The extra special part is I will be able to join in even when we are travelling in our campervan as we will have mobile wifi! So thanks Tori, Jamie and your fab team and all Stay At Homies for your singing and friendship and especially my choir friend Ros from Wrexham who got me to join in the first place! The projects are brilliant, keep them coming!
I joined SAHC because I missed singing with my choral society and church choir so much, but I have found it has offered me so much more than those ever have, from first class tuition to a real sense of community that extends beyond the rehearsal room. I am delighted to know it will continue, and as it is on-line there will be no difficulty fitting it around any real life activities that resume.
Hello dear ones,
there are some rays of hope on the horizon for amateur choirs in Germany too. Maybe in a few weeks we can at least rehearse outdoors and give a small open air concert.
But will this affect our love and joy for the Stay At Home Choir?
Not in any way, not at any time.
For us, too, the SAHC has become a central part of our lives. We have made friends all over the world, sometimes worked hard together, had fun together and the biggest thing: we have sung together. That is perhaps more significant than saying “I do” at a wedding.
We will continue to be faithful to SAHC, to integrate it into our daily lives and into our choirs. Our children and grandchildren will get a “Lucy” soft toy for their birthday (okay, maybe a hedgehog now). And we will continue to sing together (even with 8.00 miles distance).
Maybe we won’t rehearse a “The Armed Man” every month and not every new computer game will have a SAHC/Tin arrangement. But we will sing together.
And if you Tori and you Jamie and the many great people on the SAHC team will join us, together we will make the world a little kinder.
You are a gift to this world
Birgit & Steffen
What a thrill it was to come across the SAHC through Voces8. It had been a bleak time for me and the opportunity to sing and improve my voice and abilities through the resources of SAHC was such a lift. I have enjoyed the singing, the learning, the humour, the feeling of belonging that participation in the projects have brought to my life. I’m in for the long haul…. even when I can get back to my live seniors’ choir.Thank you to all the SAHC team for bringing such light into these dark times.
Like Ruth, I’ve just felt such utter relief when I read the words – ” we’re not going anywhere!” Last summer the Great British Home chorus kept me going and this year SAHC has helped me survive, and offered me the kind of teaching and resources that are not accessible locally, with all due respect to the local choir that I will continue to attend when allowed.
Living on my own, and in my 70s, the feeling of community even though it’s all ‘virtual’ is fantastic and so positive!
Bravo for continuing SAHC! Sogno (Feb ‘21) was my first experience and I loved it! Since I am away from my usual chorus in the winter the timing was and will always be perfect! Hooray! ???????
I joined SAHC for Caledonia and have done almost all the projects since. I have been so grateful and happy for the opportunity and the cheerful faces of Tori and Jamie have done wonders for my loneliness and Anxiety. The wonderful tuition is incomparable. A good many people around the world of all ages are disabled or housebound for other reasons. I believe SAHC is invaluable for many reasons. I am thoroughly enjoying every minute of it all. It is much better than my home choirs for variation and tuition and I don’t wish to catch their other germs etc and going out in all weathers. Please continue. I really LOVE it all. Thankyou SO much.
It has been so wonderful to have the chance to sing with, and learn from, such renowned singers and composers. It’s a different, but no lesser, experience than singing in a face to face choir, so I would definitely love to carry on participating.
Being a teeny weeny part of SAHC has honestly been one of the highlights of the past year for me, and even though my regular chamber choir is about to start rehearsing I’m thrilled to hear that SAHC is to continue. It has seen me through all the fear and strangeness of the pandemic, been there for me as my husband underwent treatment for cancer, kept my voice from seizing up, allowed me to ’meet’ some of my musical heroes… I could go on!
More than anything though, it’s just so much fun. Thank you Tori, Jamie and all the team. You are legends!
Similar to others, my eyes welled with tears on reading that the truly wonderful Stay At Home Choir will continue after lockdown eases. Hurray!!!! ???
I’m not even much of a singer, but I am starting to find my voice again after relocating a lot for work over many years and not always being in one place long enough to join a choir.
I adore the scope of the pieces and the fact that we sing and connect with others from all over the world. ? I love the flexibility of being able to watch a recording if I’ve had to miss the odd live rehearsal.
Jamie, Tori, Graham (and Lucy ??) are all fantastic vocal coaches!!!! We are sooo privileged to have such quality guidance.
I love everything about SAHC and can’t wait to get started on The Album Project. I can’t praise the SAHC team highly enough.
You’ve created something very special, top-notch and inspiring.
Congratulations!!!! ?????????
I also breathed a sigh of relief when I realised that you were not going away! I have sung with choirs since the age of 8 (62 years ago!) and I can say, hand on heart, that SAHC is a great opportunity to keep up with the singing. Thank you to all concerned with producing and directing SAHC. You mean so much to a great many people, including me.
Hi David, so glad you’re staying with us too!! I still haven’t seen you anywhere ??? But maybe in the next project?!
SAHC is absolutely the best experience to come out of the pandemic. I sand from a very early age and all through my school years and then work, children and life sought of got in the way. I still sang along at every chance at work and home but it’s not the same as a choir. Then I found faith and was blessed to lead worship in a number of church’s. Then lockdown and once again cut off from the lifeblood of singing. Along with thousands of stay at homies I am so thankful to Tori and Jamie for everything they have done and will continue to do. The music, composer’s, conductors and venue’s around our globe are awesome and I know that SAHC has been a life line to us all. Long may we sing together and laugh and cry together.
I’m from near Chicago and yes, things have been opening up and we’ve been going out to eat and seeing friends face to face. I have only been to a couple of in-person concerts–we are waiting for outdoor concerts this summer. I have had so much fun in SAHC and really love especially the community feeling and meeting composers, conductors and singing groups we have worked with and you all of course. Yes, I am planning on staying involved and looking forward to the album project and whatever comes next! Thank you to Tori and Jamie and your team for making this happen!
I have been a member of a choir in the past but not for a long time. When the pandemic hit I joined the Great British Home Chorus with Gareth Malone. The SAHC featured in one of the rehearsals and as a result I joined the Karl Jenkins project, The Armed Man. I haven’t looked back since and have loved being able to practise in my own home but with others.
I’m delighted to hear that you are going to continue with the different projects. Thank you so much for reigniting my enthusiasm for singing, who knows I may even find a local choir to join as well.
You have truly been a light in the darkness, and helped to keep my voice going. So glad you will keep going!
I’m absolutely thrilled that the Stay At Home Choir Is carrying on. My choir here, Lochgilphead Argyll was fantastic, and I made so many friends. However, our young (33) inspirational music director is moving nearer his family. We sympathise, as this last year must have been a nightmare as he was living on his own. There’s no way anyone could take his place.
I’m so looking forward to what the SAHC has in store!
I am so happy to read this! Even when my face-to-face choir starts again ( I don’t know yet), I will be part of this one! It is UNIQUE. I would love to say I have made friends. Still, I didn’t, maybe because I am from Barcelona (anybody from Barcelona reading this???) or I have been so concentrated on rehearsals. I will be more active on Facebook definitely. Why do I say UNIQUE then? Because of the great composers and singers, I have been able to meet with you. Their stories, feelings when they wrote the score, and how/why/when their pice was created. How we are supposed to sing the piece. I love all this!!. And what else? I also love the easy tip techniques you give. I have improved my singing because I can see where I need to improve or if I can do better when I record myself. And I try and try…And finally, something better comes out. So thank you, Tori and Jamie, for putting it all together so well!!!!
Yes, this is fantastic news.
Church choir is getting back to normal, our f2f choir not until September, but I love to continue with SAHC as it’s been an amazing experience, I’ve learnt so much more and sang some awesome pieces, I wouldn’t have been able to do that anywhere else. And I can’t just “nip” to the Albert HallSo count me in for the future!!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for going on!!!!
I think it is very Good news that SAHC will be continuing as an Online choir – thank you! When my local choir returns to rehearse in person – and, as others, I hope this will be soon – I’ll also be looking to joining more SAHC projects online. The quality of the rehearsals, the technical sessions, the learning tracks – all the support from SAHC has been just great, and I know this will complement any face-to-face singing I’m able to do.
I have learnt so much about singing, enjoyed new music styles, gained a new global “family”and lots of llama jokes from SAHC. I am overjoyed that you will be continuing – thank you so much for everything you’ve done. I’m excited about the future projects?
Before pandemic, I was a lifelong singer (my parents were choir directors/voice teachers) and then I had two cancer surgeries in my neck that left me voiceless for a while and then, after therapy, the ability to sing but without top notes (important for a Soprano). So I gave up choirs. During pandemic, I began sending a regular email out with reflections, quotes and a song or hymn with lyrics, urging them all to sing out loud at home. I believe it changes things, really changes. So when I heard about SAHC, I wondered if I could do it. I needed to walk the walk and started singing with you all. I didn’t record the first two, but slowly regained my love for song, if not confidence. I just wanted that head up, deep in your soul feeling and found it. Thanks SAHC for leading me back to a love that cannot be found anywhere else for me. My 70 year old voice joins with all the rest. And that’s a good thing.
That’s fantastic news! I am really looking forward to getting back to singing with my in person choir, but I have so loved and appreciated being part of the virtual SAHC and didn’t want it to end. Thank you so much – you have created something very special, given us great opportunities, lots of fun and a lifeline during lockdown. A real class act!! Long may we carry on… have signed up for the next 2 already :). x
I am thrilled that SAHC will be continuing! Tori and Jamie and crew, you’ve truly built something beautiful!! Long May it stand!
I’ve been involved in music my entire life. I’m now 72 so that’s a long time! And while my voice and body aren’t what they once were, my spirit is still burning and my mind is sound. Music is what keeps me engaged and joyous and the opportunities you provide through SAHC are so enriching who would ever want to let them go?’
I do direct a church choir and a community chorus and look forward to returning to those people and that music. As a retired music teacher, I just can’t stop trying to enrich and enliven the world with music; to encourage folks to keep their bodies and minds active and the endorphins flowing through music.
But the connection with SAHC is such an enormous and uplifting jolt, a musical infusion, I’m completely addicted! I can never let you go!
Thank you, thank you , thank you for all you’ve given each of us and the world of music!!
Sandra Pheiffer (aka Hector Moses..my 17 yo cat!)
SAHC is special to many of us for lots of different reasons, all of them providing clear evidence, if any is required, of the importance for the choir to continue. I’m really glad to hear that you -Tori and Jamie, as well as the SAHC team, are prepared to carry on working for, and, with us. I appreciate everything you do and do so well. Your endeavours enhance our lives as you improve our singing!
Thank you! SAHC has become so much more than an opportunity to keep singing. I love the sense of community, the enthusiasm of the team, and the wonderful access we have to input from professionals. I’m here to stay for as long as SAHC will have me.
When I read the headline “What happens to the SAHC …” I was almost afraid to continue reading … Such JOYFUL news that this wonderful Choir Family will carry on! Today I also received the good news that the choir I sing with in Austria will begin rehearsing outdoors from 28th May (pray for good weather, folks!) – but I will DEFINITELY be carrying on with the SAHC!
Tori, Jamie & their Team, PLUS Lucy and possibly the As-Yet-Nameless hedgehog are just simply the best – THANK YOU!
I am very glad to read this. I was in the original Great British Home Chorus with Gareth Malone and only came to the Stay at Home Choir last autumn. I’ve loved the different projects I’ve done and I would be very sorry if I couldn’t continue with the wonderful group. Thank you to all those who organise the SAHC, especially Tori and Jamie. xxx
This is welcome news. Keep up the good work.
Age and mild infirmity had already caused me to retire from my beloved f2f choir even before Covid came along. I thought my choir days were over. Then came the Stay at Home Choir, out of the blue (almost literally) and I am singing again. What joy! In fact I think I even sing more now than before. And to get the chance to ‘meet’ my heroes like Voces8 and The King’s Singers! You can imagine how happy and relieved I feel when I hear that the SAHC is not going anywhere! Thank you Tori and Jamie!!!
This is wonderful news to read. Learning from professionals is an amazing experience, they are so full of knowledge which they happily share to bring out the best in everyone of us. I’ve belonged to choirs all my life but always shied away from solos , what belonging to GBHC and then Stay at home choir has given me is the confidence to sing alone and enjoy myself. Knowing thousands of other soloists will join together and produce magnificent recordings is so special.
Thank you to you all.
One of the great fears I have had is that the ‘end’ of the pandemic would spell the end of the Stay at Home choir! It has been so meaningful to me–the wonderful, funny rehearsals (where you manage to make seem as real as if we were in a choir room), the beautiful musical selections, the special events, like the Christmas card fun, and the collaboration with other artists and each other (via Facebook and chat–and who thought Socials would actually work). AND of course ‘spending’ virtual time with Tori and Jamie!!
You have all done an amazing job creating this animal and I’m so glad it’s not going anywhere, and I’m sure many homebound people are as well.
THANK YOU.
Have really enjoyed the rehearsals with Tori and James.
I met Tori first at ExCathedra Rehearsals. Knew how brilliant she is – tge enthusiasm and attention to detail is inspirational and her enthusiasm infectious. James equally so. Thoroughly enjoyed the involvement with SAHC through lockdown and Locus Iste rounded off the time together beautifully. Very pleased that it’s going to continue.
Thank you for the SAHC
I’m so pleased to hear it will continue.
I got involved with Gareth Malone’s GBHC and loved every minute of it. I was shielding last year so it helped me tremendously.
I’ve met some wonderful people during that time and now, with the SAHC.
I also enjoyed being part of Gareth’s ‘Locus Iste.’
And now look forward to being part of ‘Ode to Joy.’
Thanks you so much.
Jenny
I’m so glad to read that the Stay at Home Choir is here to stay… I love participating in the choir.. Its so much fun and has been such a Great way to keep singing during this time.. plus I can participate where ever my travels take me as long as I have internet.. Thanks so very much for continuing with this project. I love SAHC.. Thanks Tori and Jamie!!! You are the best!!!!
I’m so delighted to know the SAHC will continue! I lost part of my voice last year after having viral meningitis so it is no longer the rewarding sound I used to have. It’s great to have the SAHC to sing with, even without submitting a recording, and I don’t put off any other altos? Thank you Tori and Jamie for all your hard work and commitment ?
That’s fabulous news!
this is wonderful that we carry on i have been quite brave got over a lot of nerves and managed to this for quite a few projects and it been wonderful .Your encouragement has bee great also sometimes i was struggling but Toti OR Jamie or Racheal would give a much needed esp when i had made a mistake or something . AS my molility gets worse i realise that singing makes me stronger and when things fall into place my heart lifts . Thank you so much And God Bless you all….
I would be so happy if the SAHC continued. I’m no longer young, possibly won’t be able to drive now, and to be able to join in and sing at home is just wonderful, especially with such a friendly and knowledgeable group of organisers like Tori, Jamie and everyone else. I may not want to join every single project but there have already been so many I enjoyed and I’m sure there will be more.
Fantastic news. Over the past year I have been involved in Zoom rehearsals with my two Croydon Choirs including Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Philharmonic – we have our first face to face TONIGHT! A small group from The Male Voice Choir have been singing on walks and in pub gardens and we have our first outdoor concert with about 30 singers on Saturday! So why is SAHC so important? For all of the reasons that others have given but for me, isolated at home alone unable to visit my partner in her locked down Care Home, the SAHC sessions have been the highlight of the week and I have felt the warmth of the friendship of thousands around the world. I am delighted that we will be continuing, hopefully long into the future when Covid is history.
Really please that the Stay at Home choir is to continue as it gives other opportunities than you have in an ‘in person’ choir. I love working with Tori and Jamie. Best news yet.
… and I am definitely staying too! ??? ….. Apologies to some of ‘ee! ? Hehe ??? xx
I absolutely love being able to be part of a such an outstanding choir, in this way.. we are so very fortunate for everything SAHC provides us with, whilst we remain in the comfort of our own homes!? Thank you so much to all the team at Stay At Home Choir. Much love ????xx
I am really pleased to hear this. I only joined for the last project ‘Locus Iste’ having been involved in Gareth Malone’s GBHC. I joined a choir the year before lock down, that one is ‘Sweet Charity Choir’ where we sing pop songs. So I am really pleased to stay with the SAHC to learn classical works.
Ah, such a comfort to have met wonderful friends who share my joy of singing!
Love the rehearsals , with timely tips for that piece of mush . I find I am using those tips in my others choirs I have joined.
So glad we are continuing . Thank you so much?✨
this news makes me so happy.Ive so enjoyed the Locuste Iste project even though I,m not a choral singer but I,m sure you lovely people will come up with song projects more in my comfort zone.Thankyou Tori and Jaimie for all your marvellous teaching and making singing so much fun.I look forward eagerly to many more projects with you and your wonderful team, with gratitude ,Bette xx
This is great news and I’m so delighted that SAHC is here to stay. I joined the choir almost a year ago and quickly found myself doing more singing than ever before. I’m constantly amazed at Jamie & Tori’s creativity on Zoom with rehearsals, socials, technique and drop-in sessions. I’ve absolutely loved the opportunity to hear directly from composers and conductors and dueting with professional singers has been such a treat (especially as they can’t hear my efforts). So thanks for all the fun so far and thrilled there’s plenty more to come.
I’m so happy to hear that we will go on! For me, the Stay at Home Choir has been a life saver: My sister, the last of my family, parted recently, right when I decided to migrate to another country, so for me the isolation started even before the pandemic… And also, the little work that I had managed to find, was lost. I don’t remember how I found you, but I know it is a blessing from above, and I’m so grateful! I’ve been with you since Adiemus.
Another thing I must thank you for is giving me the possibility to re-encounter music in a kinder, enjoyable manner. In my youth I was a pianist, and left it because it was very frustrating, stressful, and after a while, it became a chore. So being able to participate in music again, meet the outstanding musicians I had heard about, but never dreamed to meet, and last but not least, be part of a worldwide community of “kindred spirits” has literally saved my sanity and my life. Thank You Stay At Home Choir, and bless you Jamie and Tori for creating it and making a difference in so many lives.
So happy SAHCwill continue!
Many thanks to the organizers
Thanks for the good news, Stay At Home Choir team! I had to leave *you* at the beginning of the year due to personal circumstances, but I was happy to have been kept on your mailing list. When I got the email about the Album Project, I knew I had to get back in. We were never really on lockdown where I live, but I’ve been isolated for about 15 months now and dining out has just been banned again until next month, so no pub garden for me yet 🙁 So thanks for being there for us!
So pleased you are continuing great news
That’s great news!
I had done 2 Eric Whitaker projects, while singing in my semi-professional f2f choir in a large city. I loved the idea of a virtual choir, where we could join together from all over the world, no restrictions. As a senior citizen, I’d recently retired from my choir due to difficulty with a lengthy night commute to rehearsals. Then the pandemic, and no one was commuting. I found Stay At Home Choir, and it has changed my life!!! Even if I can’t commute to a live performing group, I can still sing and make music with others in a setting where we get to work with incredible chorus leaders – Tori and Jamie, and world renowned instrumentalists, vocalists, composers and conductors. This alto is tremendously grateful and happy that SAHC will continue into the future!!
Delighted that you will continue. The experiences in this choir have been second to none, and have, most importantly kept us all exercising our voices, to wonderful effect.
I have been singing all my life, since joining a church choir at 8, and now 68, the voice is doing better despite lockdown, all due to you. I have learned more about singing, breathing and voice production, in this last year than in the preceding 60!!
I had been unable to go to my choirs for nearly a year before lockdown, due to cancer treatment, and so was shielding even before last March, but this was a lifeline to singing once more.
Thank you so much for the brilliant professionalism and expertise you share, both Tori and Jamie and the other singers we have had exposure to through your wide contacts, and especially the special vocal technique and therapy seminars. Priceless.
I am really not sure that I want to return to my in- person choirs now, after the convenience of singing with SAHC; not having to get organised with an early meal, and dash out, usually in the dark and cold to a draughty church/hall, when already tired from the day!
Long may you continue– please!
Thank you so much for all you have offered us, and continue to offer.
I am delighted by your news, to the point of tears! Indeed you have been a light during this past year, not only for the beautiful music, and the interesting technique work, and the coolness of being (sort of) connected with people all over the world, but because of your seeming unflagging enthusiasm and joy in what you do. (And it’s so fun to feel I am in England again.) You are inspirations and I look forward to future projects, even as I begin meeting an actual places with my singing groups back home.
This has been both terrifying and exciting. Singing solo into my phone and trying to get cat to NOT join in has been a learning experience for all. Tori, Jamie and Graham have been wonderful coaches. All have contributed to our learning.
So glad it is continuing on and look forward to each project..
Thanks to all and here’s to more great music..
Such great news. Your enthusiasm, community spirit and musical professionalism have been contagious. Bright sparks during this difficult time. Thanks for your dedication and love of music which brings us all together. We’d miss Lucy!
I’m delighted. Having these wonderful learning and performance opportunities so widely available is a gift to the world! I’m so pleased to be able to continue to be a part of it, even as my own choir begins to rehearse and perform again.
Very glad to hear that we shall continue to be we! Been afraid that this fantastic global community would be a victim of the victory over the virus. I think this way of singing together is a new normal, side by side with live choruses. For me, a virtual choir suits me better than a live choir with weekly fixed practices since my life is very unpredictable in many ways. So, big thanks for the good news!
Great to hear SAHC is sticking around. I’ve just recently joined for the Gareth Malone project and loved it, so this is music to my ears!
I came over from previously doing GBHC and still awaiting to get to our local community choir here in York.
I know this is a virtual but I think it would be amazing if there was a real meet up 🙂
Anyhow look forward to doing more projects can’t wait to start on the album!
I am pleased to hear that SAHC will be continuing. I joined my first virtual choir March 2020 when Gareth started GBHC. My only regret is that I did not join SATC for Gloria. I have missed so many wonderful singing projects with SAHC. But year ago I was not sure that I would be good enough to join your choir which is so very professional. I have joined for Locus Iste and I enjoyed it very much. I like the rehearsals, I have learned so much from Gareth, Tori, Jamie and Graham. I have already signed up for your next 2 projects – Ode to Joy and CD album. I am very much looking forward to be part of SAHC in the future. Thank you all so much for the wonderful experience so far.
We are so pleased to hear you are continuing with these lovely choir sessions. It is so much easier for us to join online and sing some amazing pieces of work. And Jamie and Tori are so much fun, uplifting and encouraging. We are so pleased to hear we will be continuing to enjoy this, thank you.
Music to my ears! woo woo woo! and all that jazz!
Great news. Stay at Home Choir is a totally different experience than singing with the 2 choruses of which I am a member. I never would have gotten the opportunity to sing with Voces 8, the King’s Singers, Marin Alsop, John Rutter, Karl Jenkins, and Gareth Morgan without SAHC. Even though our chorus directors do their best to give us vocal pointers, I have learned much more about vocal technique from participating in the SAHC. Many, many thanks for your efforts and for providing us worldwide with this wonderful tonic during a pandemic.
You are the sunshine of my life (I know I didn’t write this line!) And I will repeat it again and again: The SAHC was one of the greatest gifts in 2020. You brought so much fun, so much happiness, so much surprise, so much positiveness into our lifes and somehow it feels like having found a new family. In some perspective even better, because all of the wonderful people from all over the world came together for one reason: to sing together and not to fight for the best piece of the Christmas turkey. And you Tori, Jamie, Rachel, Cat and the whole team around Lucie ;-)) made it a huge concert which we experienced in our living rooms. Having the chance to get to know such outstanding persons like Marin Alsop, Karl Jenkins, John Rutter, Christopher Tin, Gareth Malone and all the other music gods you brought into our lifes was beyond reality and imagination. Thank you so much for your generousity, your belief in the power of singing and just for you! Life wouldn’t be the same if you wouldn’t go on. Lucky us!!
Dear SAHC. Stop.
Don’t stop. Stop.
I’m so glad that you are continuing. You did so a fantastic job during Lockdown. I began with Gareth’s GBHC and then I’ve joined the choir “Together in Harmony” with Jess Parnell which I hope will continue too. I joined you with Locum Iste but also Sogno di Volare was a fantastic song. I look forward to “Ode of Joy” , one of my favorite pieces. Thank you Tori and Janie for your commitment.
SHC has become part of my life. I would have hated to see it disband. It began as a way to get through this pandemic by singing alone into a microphone. An artificial and disjointed way of singing, but at least it was singing.
With all the techniques and rehearsals it has become to much more than that. I am so happy to hear that you will continue to be part of my musical life. Thank you for the music, Jamie and Tori!
I just started crying when I read this.
Thank you!!!
Love it! I’ll be so pleased to continue with you all. The concept of dining with folk all over the world is inspiring.
I was blown away by Eric Whitacre’s first Virtual Choir project, but never thought I might take part in one. The sound produced is truly different with so many, and your technical people do a fantastic precision job.
I have only missed one SAHC event, and hearing from composers and conductors and professional performers – as well as getting the vocal advice – has been such a privilege. You have created something really special and I’m delighted It will continue.
Thanks so much, especially to Tori and Jamie… ???
Edit: I’d love to dine all over the world, but singing is even better…?
Firstly, Tori and Jamie and all the team, thank you for everything you have done for us to help us make music together during the lockdown, make new friends and learn how to sing better. The SAHC is a wonderful project and I am so pleased that it is to continue. Right decision. Well done! I have not been able to sing in all the projects so far, mainly because I have been busy trying to keep my own little choir together virtually and therefore spending far too much time on the computer editing audio and video…never to the same standard as yourselves but not too bad. I am looking forward to singing in the album project and hope to make better use of the excellent learning you are providing. Thank you once again. Here in Mexico, where choirs are few and far between, you are providing us with a lifeline and connecting us with singing friends around the world.
So grateful that SAHC will continue. This group has been a lifesaver during the last year, and not just because of the music we made together. But you, Jamie and Tori, have taught me so much, about breathing, warm-ups and singing. Your enthusiasm, smiles, funny warm-ups make every rehearsal a pleasure. Where will else would we be able to work with word class musicians and composers, as well as experts in vocal technique, Italian, etc…? The fact that the membership of this group has grown so much is a tribute to what you offer. I might not spend so much time in front of the computer in the future, but I will be there for SAHC!
The first time I sang with Stay at Home Choir was in And So It Goes. Desde entonces no he dejado pasar un solo proyecto. Only in two times I couldn´t submit my part. Mi inglés no es muy bueno, but this never has been a problem to join and share with all of you. SAHC hizo un cambio muy importante en mi vida. Thank you, thank you, thank you for inviting us to seguir cantando juntos en el futuro.
I am thrilled that the SAHC will continue. You have been such an inspiration and the experiences that you create are awesome. Thank you for your professionalism, enthusiasm, creativity and talent.
Thank you for keeping SAHC going in to the future. In 2014 I transferred to a remote northern community that does not have a choir (thank goodness for the community band here!) I jumped at the chance to sing again once I got connected to virtual choirs early in the pandemic. Being able to keep up my choral skills going forward will be a blessing. Plus all the fun and health benefits. It is so great to be connected to a choir community again when face to face is not an option. I am sure there are others like me out there that are thankful for virtual choirs, pandemic or not.
I’m so glad that the Stay at Home Choir is here to stay. Having the opportunity to sing the beautiful pieces, that some of us might not have otherwise had the opportunity to do so, has been such an amazing experience. Even after choirs start back up here in the states, I will continue to sing with you all and look forward to being a part of the wonderful music we will continue to make. Thank you Tori and Jaime and your whole crew for all of your hard work.
I am so, so pleased that SAHC is going to continue. It has been wonderful to take part in all the projects and I feel really privileged to have done so. I will definitely be continuing and encouraging members of my own choir to take part as well.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I will rush out and buy a llama!
Thank you so much for deciding to stay on with the SAHC! It was been such a silver lining of the pandemic for me, and I look forward to many more wonderful musical moments in the future with all of you!
??❤️??
My first experience with Virtual Choirs happened right when the pandemic hit and Eric Whitacre was recruiting singers for his Virtual Choir 6. I have done choral singing most of my life and was devastated when live choirs and venues for concerts where shut down. My experience with Eric’s VC6 restored my self-confidence and inspired me to get involved with some other virtual choirs. I have done projects with the San Fernando Valley Master Chorale; the Inauguration Project and of course with Stay At Home
Choir.
I vote for SAHC to continue as usual. I have much better access to your projects online now and have mastered the techy stuff pretty well! Please keep going Tori and Jamie!
So glad you are going to continue. SAHC has been such a wonderful experience and so thrilled to continue singing with you.
Thank you for keep going, thank you for all things made and make possible. Thank you for the joy it gives to me. The Stay At Home Choir ( and some other virtual choirs) offer me the opportunity to sing during the pandemic. It offers me the community feeling, a lot of joy learning new songs. Sang in world choirs with people from all over the the world. In real life I do sing world music so it feels like a kind of expand as well.Great projects and singing with many, many others( In real life I’am not able to do this).The singing lessons are very usefully for me. I learnt new things, and although it was very hard to do in the beginning and sometime still is, My singing improved a lot. In the Netherlands we are not aloud to sing in real life jet, so it is wonderful SAHC keeps going and when real life choirs are allowed again, I like to join SACH as well and learn songs or do projects .
This brought a tear to my eye. The sheer joy that singing together online has brought to people around the world is a wonderful thing, and it is equally wonderful that you as professional singers are prepared to commit a proportion of your time to continuing this mission. Thank you.
This is the best news I could hear right now! Stay At Home Choir is STAYING! Brilliant!
I have thoroughly enjoyed participating and it is so clear to me the enthusiasm of Tori, Jamie, Lucy the Llama and the SAHC Team has never waned from the first-ever Zoom I attended.
Before Lockdown 2020 I hadn’t even rehearsed or sung in a choir so when complete novices like myself were welcomed to join alongside experienced and professional singers in a virtual choir I had to give it a try. I was thrilled with the possibilities and praise the day Tori invited GBHC members to join SAHC. I feel the difference in me. I have expanded my musical tastes, developed better breathing techniques that have helped me health-wise, become more confident singing and recording but most of all I have valued the sense of comradery, professionalism and support from the Team, talented artists and fellow members – you’re all I needed to get by – and I am so happy this virtual choir is here to stay!
I heard of SAHC through Gareth Malone’s GBHC and have joined several of your projects since then. It has something of value for everybody and Tori and Jamie are to be congratulated on founding this amazing community. Long may it continue.
That’s great news I have loved your enthusiasm for singing and only just joined for locust iste so would love to carry on as my choir is not looking to start anytime soon
Thank you
Thank you Tori, Jamie, Lucy the Llama and the SAHC Team it has been a wonderful experience, not just from the singing perspective but also by learning how to do techy things with my mobile and computer.
I am so pleased that the choir will continue and I can look forward to many more wonderful musical moments with the SAHC community.
So pleased that the choir is continuing. It’s great to have a choir that I can fit into family life. I’m excited for the projects to come.
Well done to everyone who has been involved in the SAHC throughout the pandemic. That the SAHC will continue, and with ever more innovative projects is great news indeed.
I’m thrilled that SAHC will continue. I am a retired professional bassoonist who only started choral singing in 2019 with one local “in person” choir. When the pandemic hit, I was devastated that I was not going to be able to continue this musical outlet. One of my colleagues from the chorus introduced us to SAHC with the video of the first King’s Singers project. I immediately signed up for the Swingles project “You’re All I Need to Get By” and have sung on every project since then. I have learned so much from Tori, Jamie, and the wonderful guests and artists with whom we have collaborated. I can’t imagine life without this fabulous global community in it. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
This is the best news! Fantastic to be able to keep going with this wonderful choir, leaders, guests, and fellow singers! Woohoo!
I’m so glad SAHC is continuing! Love you guys!
So pleased that you are going to keep going with this enterprise. I have been with you since The Armed Man and am looking forward to the album project. Thank you.
Yes, I was part of the GBHS and would love to continue with the SAHC.
I began singing with the GBHC and enjoyed the virtual choir experience for the first time as well as the wonderful community which grew up around it. Like many others I have recently joined the SAHC and have been welcomed into this lovely group. I am no5 sure if my French choir will meet again before the Summer but I will always keep time to continue with the SAHC projects. Long may it continue!
So happy that SAHC will be continuing! Rehearsing Locus Iste was a very special experience and I am so excited to see what comes next. I’ve already signed up for Ode to Joy and the Album Project and can’t wait to see what else will be on offer in the future. I have been spreading the word to family and friends, telling them how brilliant Tori and Jamie are – not forgetting Lucy the Llama and the whole SAHC community.
I am so happy that this amazing Choir is here to stay! I was part of GBHC – never part of a virtual choir before the pandemic – and saw you both, Tori and Jamie, at that famous rehearsal with Gareth. I joined SAHC with Locus Iste and will register for all the wonderful ventures you have in store for us. You have managed to create a community that is joyful, grateful, curious about each other, and keen to learn. I am so proud to be part of the SAHC, all my friends know about it. I think it’s such a good idea to have live choirs and virtual choirs running at the same time.
Now trying to get to grips with German pronunciation, and very much looking forward to this project and the album recording! Merci!
I joined GBHC last year and am very happy to continue joining projects online and from home as I am not in a live choir anyway. I’d love to keep it up from France, especially as my twin sister is also following SATC from Oxford and my best friend, from another town in France : it’s sharing music that makes us so happy. Well done to the whole team behind the scenes and to Jamie and Torie and many thanks for making it possible for all of us !
I joined SAHC when we did Adiemus. I am disabled and struggle to get to real life rehearsals, especially on dark cold winter evenings. I spent much of last year shielding and knew until a vaccine was produced I wouldn’t be able to go out. Singing at home and sending in recordings was a way for me to keep making music. Even if my church choir does start again soon I would still love to be able to sing online and am happy to learn that this is going to happen. I think the rehearsals are so in-depth and it is such a privilege to ‘meet’ the composers and learn about the pieces in a way that just doesn’t happen in a normal choir. Tori and Jamie are so inspiring, encouraging and, above all, cheerful. Rehearsals are fun! Recording presents its own challenges but it is worth going to the trouble to see the wonderful videos at the end.
I’m delighted you plan to continue! Although I expect my live choir to resume singing soon, the experiences we’ve been able to have through SAHC are entirely different and wider in scope. There might be times when I won’t have enough time to take part, since I do some administrative work for my own choir as well as sing, but I’ll certainly try to be involved in everything. I’m also very glad that this experience will be available to shut-ins and members who sing with small local groups and might not have access to the excellent musical training you have been providing with each of these projects.
SAHC is an idea whose time has come! Best wishes for continued success and joy.
I just joined yesterday and I’m happy I’ve found a choir singing such beautiful repertoire, and glad to hear that it is here to stay. I didn’t take part in a virtual choir before the pandemic, but since last autumn, I lent my voice to a very small church choir in Colorado, USA, who use Soundtrap to record their hymns for the weekly Facebook worship service. I often recorded Soprano, Alto and Tenor for them from at home – in Germany.
I just love working with the Stay At Home Choir. So many opportunities….meeting with so many of you from all over the world….being exposed to professionals “up close and personal” on Zoom….getting that feeling of community….leadership with such genuine enthusiasm and positivity from Jamie, Tori & Graham…learning expert and professional singing tips from the best choristers in the world. I think each project has taken me further along in my improvement as a musician and singer. Huge THANK YOUS to you both, Jamie and Tori, and your wonderful team! I’m hanging with you for the long haul!!
Hi I’m so glad SAHC is continuing. Could you please list the countries in the world with the number of members for each country. It would be lovely to see a representation of our global choir. Not everyone is on Facebook or Instagram so the SAHC website would be the best forum for this. Keep up the great work and the joy and pleasure you bring to each of us. Thank you and God bless