The FaceNoise Journey

If you have landed on this blog looking for some more background on the Pop Chorus, please scroll down a bunch.

The FaceNoise journey started in 2024 when I felt that there were sufficient cavities in the group singing culture of the UK that it justified experimenting with new formats and functionalities of choirs.

Firstly I had a look at classical amateur groups. When I started to pay more attention to the split between the choir and the audience, I observed two key things:

Singers were not gaining new experiences

Audiences were supporting, not being entertained.

Some choir members have been in a group for decades. Sometimes, the conductor has been there just as long. This can lead to a stagnation of ideas from the director. But this is common in all walks of life, (like the uninspiring manager) and should not be the sole or primary focus, otherwise the argument could simply reduce to "change your conductor every 4 years".

The audiences attending these traditional performances are usually supportive friends and family. However, choirs may plateau if they only ever sing to the same faces. Their passion to entertain wanes. The average age of the singers creeps up, year on year. Rarely does anyone under 50 join (excluding symphonic choruses who have the privilege of mega concert halls, repertoire, orchestras and conductors).

None of this is the fault of the choirs. This is due to a cultural shift away from group singing, which stems from larger issues which are not going to be clumsily unpacked here.

FaceNoise believes that paying more attention to audience experience will keep the regulars pleased and bring in new bums-on-seats (possibly helping with choir recruitment), which will in turn help the choir feel more engaged in the performance.

How does focussing on audience experience change the format of a traditional concert, and will it bring in younger singers?

This first question led me to experiment with new styles of choral concert in my role as music director of Horsham Chamber Choir. After getting lots of positive feedback from singers and audience alike, and collating desirable statistics, I decided to make it more portable by creating a model.

It involves a three-part annual season: Concept, Collaborate and Connect.

Concept

The concept concert uses a broader, accessible theme to bring classical choral music a newer audience. It also uses this repertoire to bring a traditional audience into a more contemporary and fresh space.

One of the concepts was Threshold, a concert exploring somatic music, and the role of spirituality in music. My colleague and I composed brand new electronic dance music to be interspersed throughout Byrd's 'Mass for Four Voices'. Another concept, called Earth Seen From Above, used a set list to tell the story of a rocket launch, featuring the rarely performed eponymous piece by Meredith Monk. This was performed in the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.

Other concepts have included using Tarot card reading as a form of spontaneous programme generation. Your local Catholic Church does not want to be your venue for this one though... trust me.

Collaborate

This part of the season has always been hugely enjoyable for everyone; the choir collaborate with a music artist. In the first half of the concert, the choir receive accompaniment from a music artist. Then in the second half, the choir provide backing vocals for the music artist. These are usually world premiere arrangements of the tracks and lead to further performance opportunities. I hope this will go on to a summer festival slot for the choir, as roadies for the band/singer.

Singers used to classic choral society repertoire tend to get a lot from these performances; challenging vocal arrangements with extended techniques, performing to an audience who provide immediate feedback (cheering, whooping, singing along). Evidence from one of the octogenarians:

"What a fantastic evening... it was just amazing to be part of that huge sound - something I would never have believed I could do!"

Connect

Lasting up to a few years at a time, this section of the season is a patient exploration of something significant in the community. In Sussex, there is a strong history of folk music and folk song collection by classical composers like RVW, John Ireland, C.H.H. Parry and Elgar. I used three years of concerts to unpack the relationship between folk music and the classical world.

Some of the ideas explored here were that of vocal timbre, audience and performer layout and aesthetics.

Other uses of Connect is to nurture relationships with local schools and arts foundations. This is something FaceNoise hopes to push in the future.

Let’s go back to the opening observations: singers were not gaining new experiences and audiences were supporting, not being entertained.

The model has worked well. An issue has been how diverse the repertoire has been with only an average of 12 weeks to prepare 100 minutes of music, going off 2 hours rehearsal per week. The repertoire has ticked the box of providing new experiences for singers, so longer rehearsal periods are necessary. A shorter concert is an option, but it would suggest charging less for tickets.

When our concerts did not clash with other major classical music events in the area (I promise we booked ours first!), they sold out. I’d ask the audience at each concert if anyone was there for the first time. It was usually 40-50%. I deem this a success.

It is expensive putting on these concerts. So any minor clash does suffer economic casualties. This can be avoided to a small extent, but there are only so many avid choir fans in one town.

It is our hope that the FaceNoise: Singers model takes root and draws in audience members from beyond the classical circles, thus starting the slow march to changing the culture of group singing in the UK.

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FaceNoise: Pop Chorus

There are loads of Pop and Rock choirs about the place: the corporate workplace choir, the Rock Choir franchise, the backing track singalong group in the church hall. These are excellent and needed. So why have I made another one, and how is it any different?

This choir has a timeline, starting out as a professional development opportunity for musicians in bands and recording artists. Half of this notion is inspired by Brian Eno’s private choir of recording artists, with footfall including Fred Again, James Blake and Romy Madley Croft from the XX.

Some singers can be confined to their solo, almost hermitical creative output, and some band musicians can get stuck in their set list, becoming rather mechanistic. The FaceNoise: Pop Chorus is designed, in this first period, to provide a risk-free platform for these musicians to participate in group music making outside of their standard offerings, and to have professional guidance from a choral leader. The sessions will include experimental harmonising, musicianship training and using ensemble skills as a facet of learning a simple arrangement of a pop song.

Once FaceNoise: Pop Chorus has been established, it will open up to anyone and everyone passionate about group singing. It will still focus on the structure mentioned above, with the added goal of learning more repertoire.

This choir will be accessible to all. Some people are commonly marginalised by choirs. By way of being crystal clear, here are some of these people whom we will be proud to welcome: trans people (including those taking voice-altering hormones), people with mobility issues, visually impaired people and deaf people.

-- by Timothy Peters