WIBU to say that choirs full of people who can't sing (Rock Choir) are awful?

Are you also against busking and street theatre Rooiboscz, out of interest?

Hardly any of the rock choir performances are paid ticket events though. I've been a member for two years and we have done one big show in a theatre, everything else has been fundraising or free.

"These choirs are no different. It's the unskilled and untrained taking a good, enjoyable, fun hobby a step too far."

If there's one thing this country doesn't need it's people controlling what other people do in their spare time that makes them happy. As a so-called rabid remainer I've just got a glimpse into why people don't like the 'experts' from your post.

There are loads and loads of dodgy sounding amateur musical performances of every type and performed by young, middle-aged and old people. Lots and lots of amateur groups aren't great. Some are amazingly good and some are virtually professional. I used to play in an orchestra that at one point was banned from performing on the basis we gave a bad impression of the College of Music that the orchestra was part of :) And I can see their point. It would have been cruel to inflict that on innocent members of the public, family and friends AND make them pay to listen to the cacophony. But generally I think all standards of amateur groups are doing a bloody great thing - bringing people together, having fun, lifting mood and often raising money. Tis a joyous thing, even if it's not always so fun for the audience.

Singing in a choir doesn't demand to be performed publicly. Plenty of people attend dance sessions, but they don't feel the need to foxtrot in the local shopping centre!

For the cost of a ticket to see the last concert you could go to see a professional choir, with excellent singing which would be enjoyable and worthwhile.

You wouldn't pay to see a little local football team if you could go to a Premier League match for the same money.

I've been to a couple of country fair type things and seen Rock Choirs. If I don't like it, I just walk on by. It's not difficult. The other day, I saw some art that I thought was ugly. I kept walking.

Singing, like dance and playing a musical instrument, is a performing art. What's the point of putting in all that practice if you aren't going to perform?

I saw a few of them recently but I don't understand why anyone would bother starting a post about a hobby. I also see shit knitting/pottery/wanky photography/things I would not class as art but sell all around me but they all benefit the people doing them in some way. Networking, socialising, sharing profits to charities and the health benefits against disease (mental and physical, such as dementia) people get from singing all outweigh snobbery from anyone IMO.

The fact that they are full of people who have had no adequate training, and just pay their subs and join in indicates that they're going to be shit.

You couldn't just pay a tenner and join and string quartet and expect everyone to want to hear it.

You couldn't just chuck some clay on to a potter's wheel and expect people to pay for whatever you create.

You couldn't just speak with a dodgy French accent and expect anyone in Marseille to understand you.

You couldn't just jot a few brief sentences down on a piece of paper and expect to pass it off as poetry.

These choirs are no different. It's the unskilled and untrained taking a good, enjoyable, fun hobby a step too far.

YABVU and goady.

I have nothing to do with a Rock Choir so nothing to defend, but think that singing - just like sport - is, and absolutely should be, open to all, from the very formal, highly skilled conservatoire choristers, to the kareoke machine down at the local.
Singing is good for the soul, and, if it's enjoyed by the people who are doing it, then it's a good thing. If you have a finely tuned ear then you will probably only go to the highly skilled, highly trained choristers - which is fine. If you are a true friend to someone who is in a less skilled choir, you would probably go to support them once in a blue moon, because that's a nice thing to do.
But it is downright nasty to say they shouldn't be giving it a go.
Singing lifts the soul, makes people feel part of a community, gets people out the house, and is generally good for the wellbeing, so what a shame you can't just let them get on with it without being so unkind. You don't have to go and listen if your ear is too refined.

A lot of the money taken on the door must go to pay the venue, as their concerts are held in large theatres. Cringe.

If they're held in large theatres they must get quite a few people through the door right? Maybe not everyone in ur community is as narrow minded as you thank god.

I don't think many of the participants see it as providing a "bit of fun the community", as they genuinely believe they are worth paying to hear. They're not.

Again, that's easily solved - don't go! Stop going, and hopefully everyone else will stop going and then at least you will be happy right?

There....it's not rocket science.

That's not the issue

No, it's not the issue, the terrible singing is, agreed.

However that could have been said without bringing their age, which isn't the issue, into it and that is what qualifies it as ageism.

FWIW my choir(s) wasn't Rock Choir but I know people in their 30s who DO sing in Rock Choir and other community, audition free, choirs.

That's not the issue, it's the fact that they can't sing and it's embarrassing to watch them perform.

How can you tar every Rock Choir with the same brush and say they ALL can't sing? Have you physically sat through a concert from every single group throughout the UK?!
Maybes you're projecting your experiences of listening to a concert on to all the rest, presuming you've sat and listened to one in the first place.

It's not sexist or ageist, as these choirs ARE full of middle aged women.

Yes it is. Had the poster said "full of people who can't sing" it would have been OK, but you are being tad disingenuous to imagine that those words are value-free. " Middle-aged women" in this context is a put-down. It shouldn't be, but it is.

It's not sexist or ageist, as these choirs ARE full of middle aged women. That's not the issue, it's the fact that they can't sing and it's embarrassing to watch them perform.

a favourite musican not musiccan - bloody internet connection

You cannot feel sad when you're singing/dancing. It is everyone's right to sing, who decides who "has a good voice" anyway? My mum loves Annie Lennox, Adele and Emily sande - none of their voices/music appeal to me at all. So I just don't buy their albums/turn over radio. If u don't wanna listen to particular singers s'easy really.

Totally agree with this. Singing and dancing to favourite musiccan bring you out of feeling miserable/sad. How is that a bad thing?

This thread will be pulled for ageism and rightly so I feel, but in some respects you have a point.

I am in my 30s - I joined a couple of choirs a few years ago both absolute disasters for different reasons. I was hoping to find other singletons or perhaps men my age, but in one choir certainly I was youngest by 20 years and no males.

The other a good eclectic mix of ages, race and gender, but hardly anyone, including most likely myself who could actually sing, and an utterly abysmal leader who thought she was far more talented and capable than she was and victimized people.

I don't think many of the participants see it as providing a "bit of fun the community", as they genuinely believe they are worth paying to hear. They're not.

YANBU I'm sure it's great fun and has lots of benefits for those who take part but our local choir is bloody awful to listen to. I loved choir at school and we were very good (my mum still has the recordings to prove it!) However after listening to the only local one we have, I just can't associate myself with that rubbish. It's a shame.

A lot of the money taken on the door must go to pay the venue, as their concerts are held in large theatres. Cringe.

So, all these people saying that Rock Choirs give people a lot of enjoyment aren't necessarily disagreeing with the OP.

They don't HAVE to do the cringefest public performances, they just need to enjoy singing in a choir, like people have done for thousands of years!

Pickachew, hope you enjoy it!