Mon, Aug 31, 2009
After the television airing of The Choir: Boys Don't Sing (2008), choirmaster Gareth Malone received hundreds of requests to set up choirs. What he chooses as the follow-up is to set up a choir in the post-WWII estate of South Oxhey, a working class community of 12,000 north of London if only because he sees singing as being perceived as an elitist activity with South Oxhey not receiving any sort of financial or cultural investment. Indeed, South Oxhey has a history of being deemed a wasteland in almost every respect. His project will last eight months, with the biggest challenge being to bring the diverse group of residents together - most who don't seem to like their community - and to overcome the inbred notion that singing or anything cultural isn't a part of South Oxhey. Although he does have these initial hurdles, he is pleasantly surprised by the turnout at the first rehearsal of the adult choir, its formation which is welcome news to some, such as recently widowed Fred who needs a distraction from his grief, and Dee who has felt unwelcomed since moving to South Oxhey. But a comment by boxer Matty, one of South Oxhey's more famous residents and someone who Gareth believed would be one of his strongest allies upon first arriving, makes Gareth refocus, which means holding a performance earlier than later to make everyone in South Oxhey feel like it's truly their choir regardless if they're ready or not.
Mon, Sep 7, 2009
Now that he has got the South Oxhey Community Choir up and running which included having its first public performance in the estate precinct to garner public moral support among South Oxhey residents, choirmaster Gareth Malone moves on to starting the children's choir. He goes to the estate's six primary schools to recruit members. Among the six is Colnbrook, a school focusing on special needs students. Rather than their learning issues being a problem, Gareth hopes that the choir will provide a positive and inclusive outlet to a group that is even more marginalized than the general South Oxhey populace. As he gets the seventy strong children's choir going, he faces the challenge of dealing with the short attention spans typical of any group of children, and needs to find a way to deal with this issue effectively to get them ready for a performance in short order. Meanwhile back with the community choir, Gareth tells them that they will have another public performance in six weeks time, this time to a paying audience. They will be the guest performers at a Christmas concert headlined by the renowned Watford Philharmonic. What is daunting about this event is not only the paying customer aspect, but that it will be held at the Watford Colosseum to an audience that they know figuratively thumbs their noses at the notion of anything related to South Oxhey. In getting them ready for the concert, Gareth faces another challenge in that his men are dwindling in number and the basses in particular are not providing the grounding sound that the choir needs to anchor it. So Gareth goes on another recruiting drive specifically for testosterone.
Mon, Sep 14, 2009
With some early successes with both the community and children's choir in South Oxhey, choirmaster Gareth Malone moves on to his next three somewhat discrete challenges in South Oxhey which he hopes will converge at some point down the road. The first challenge is to have more young men singing, even if it's in their own separate group in whatever form they want. Boxer Matty Leonard, perhaps South Oxhey's most famous resident and an initial supporter of Gareth's overall mission, dropped out of the community choir after only one rehearsal since he only knew a handful of people there, which meant to him that the choir was not representative of the South Oxhey he knows. With Matty's help, Gareth goes on a recruiting drive to have Matty and his young male friends form a singing group. After an initial mis-start, they end up choosing as their venue a Friday night pub crawl through the estate as their singing debut, of which they are apprehensive if only not wanting to look foolish in front of their friends. The second and third challenges are somewhat similar: getting both the existing choirs to sing classical music, most specifically in Latin. The children's choir is initially reluctant, but eventually take on the challenge with verve, especially when they learn they will perform their Latin piece, Giuseppe Verdi's "Carmina Burana", jointly with Merchant Taylors' School Choir and an orchestra. Merchant Taylors' is a prestigious private school only a few miles away, but in the minds of South Oxhey residents it may as well be hundreds of miles away. Conversely, the community choir members are initially enthusiastic about their challenge when they hear a recording of their new song, Samuel Barber's "Agnus Dei", which they are to perform in eight week's time in a joint concert with the renowned Hertfordshire Chorus. As the challenge ends up being more difficult than the choir members initially believed, Gareth may lose them forever unless he drops the idea. But a little adversity may instead end up being a bonding force.
Mon, Sep 21, 2009
With the community choir, the children's choir and now the young men's choir all rising to the challenges he's placed before them, choirmaster Gareth Malone moves on to his final project with his South Oxhey choirs. With only two months left in his eight month stint with them, Gareth wants to bring all his singers under one umbrella truly to be representative of all aspects of South Oxhey, and in turn feel like they truly do represent South Oxhey not only to its own residents but to the outside world. What he chooses is to hold a South Oxhey festival, which used to be held when the estate was first developed in the post WWII era. He decides the South Oxhey playing fields would be an appropriate venue, which has the potential for a 10,000 capacity. This locale may be risky as it is outdoors and thus at the mercy of Mother Nature, and it is huge which may dwarf the event if they don't get the turnout. The authorities and technicians who he approaches to provide their OKs and expertise - in kind if possible - are all positive to his requests, which leaves the rest to the choir to make a success. However, the larger question may become what will happen to his singers as a collective once Gareth's eight month project has concluded.