Community Engagement

Vocalise! – Sharing the joy of singing

 

“This has had an amazing, positive and happy impact on my son. After the concert we were blown away!” (Parent of Year 4 participant in Vocalise! 2019)

“The children have gained so much confidence and are so proud of themselves” (Year 5 teacher, 2019)

“What I like about singing with The Bach Choir is that they’re fun and they support my school and different schools” (Year 4 participant in Vocalise! 2019)

 

Vocalise!, The Bach Choir’s community engagement programme, is now established as an outstanding example of spreading the skill and enjoyment of singing as widely as possible. Since 2010 volunteers from The Bach Choir have come together to sing with primary school children in London in workshops, rehearsals and performances.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our in-person activity was paused in March 2020, and we missed working with schools. So we decided to put together a virtual choir project for children to take part in at home. Using the resources we provided, 46 children from the UK and abroad learnt the song ‘Love’ by Will Todd and Michael Rosen, and sent us their video recordings. We combined them into a celebratory choral collage which we are delighted to share with you. Watch the Vocalise! Virtual Choir video here.

 

In December 2019 we held our annual Winter Singalong. Each school taking part in Vocalise! is invited to this event to sing festive favourites with members of The Bach Choir and our musical director David Hill. Watch a clip from the event.

In June 2019 we held a fantastic concert at Cadogan Hall. The ten primary schools taking part in Vocalise! in 2018/19 were joined by The Bach Choir, jazz ensemble and percussion to perform songs based on the theme Sounds of Music. Read about the concert here or watch these highlights:

 

The 2017-18 school year ended with a performance of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in Hammersmith Town Hall on 29th June 2018. The theme of the concert was Colours in Music and, as well as Joseph, featured items as varied as Blue Suede Shoes and Greensleeves. Read more about Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (PDF).

In June 2017 we graced the stage of St John’s Smith Square with more than 250 children to perform The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Ian Assersohn, which was the winning entry to our 2016 Composers Competition, and other songs and music on the theme of animals.

In March 2019 Vocalise! began working with a new client group through piloting a singing project in a care home for people living with dementia. To find out more about this pilot project and the schools programme, visit the About Vocalise! page.