To ask if Rock Choir is worth joining?

[MsMcMurphy]

I am seeing them everywhere: Edinburgh Fringe and many local festivals among others. Looks such fun and being moderately musical (play several instruments and can hold a tune - in the shower at least) I am considering joining my local group.

Just wondering if there are any members on here who can share their experiences. How much time does it take up, do you travel much etc. And whether it is easy to combine with a busy life!

TIA

It’s loads of fun, takes up 2hr a week for me and I love doing gigs when I can but no obligation to do them. I travel to gigs within my city mostly charity stuff and did do proms in the Park last year but not essential, do a free trial session - definitely recommend it, uplifting 😊

Yes yes yes yes yes

I’ve been a member since 2011. Fabulous stress reliever, great fun, meet lovely people and really brilliant opportunities for performances/trips. I went to Dublin with my choir last year.

It's expensive in my opinion - if you have a look around, you'll find choirs that are far cheaper because they aren't part of a franchise. Or start going to Open Mics/local gigs/community music and find other people who play?

No harm in trying. I gave it a go but it wasn’t for me - I had sung quite a bit in the past at a decent level and was used to having to read music and sing straight off. I found Rock choir rather slow going with learning songs - but could well be the right pace for you. Plenty of people were enjoying it.

It’s very tedious if you can read music and could tackle something more challenging. Each section has to learn each part my ear and it takes ages! Drove me round the bend and seemed very commercialised and expensive.

I think choirs in general can be a lot of fun, and they're so good for wellbeing and mental health.

I like the theory of Rock Choir. However, there was a documentary about them a couple of years ago, and the woman who runs it came across so badly, she just seemed horrendously awful and everything was an excuse to charge extra and make more money for the company. I know that's what businesses do, but I remember how badly she came across.

Rock choir isn’t a franchise.

”everything was an excuse to charge extra and make more money for the company”

Literally there is absolutely no reason anyone would ever need to pay more than the fees.

It's very expensive for what it is. Works out at £10 a session which is crazy prices imo.

Of you're at all musical would avoid rock choir....painfully slow,expensive and really awful musical arrangements. ...

Some people obviously like it though

I used to belong to one of their choirs but left.

You can fit it in with a busy life because you can go as often as you like or not, although if you miss a session you still pay for it as you pay in advance.

Likewise with the travelling, you don't have to go to any of things abroad if you don't want to. The only drawback to that is if you don't do those things you tend to miss out as, I think a lot of the friendships and getting to know people will come about from being on a trip with other members of the group.

Most of the choirs are quite large, so if you prefer something a bit more intimate it might be better to look for a smaller choir, which is what I did as I found it quite difficult to break into the friendship groups that were already in place, even to the extent that even the person sitting next to you wouldn't want to chat. Something that you might find easier to do than I did if you're strongly extrovert. I also think most people go with a friend so going on your own as I did can be a bit isolating.

I love to sing, but I found the dance movements that you have to learn annoying and very off putting, as my ability to perform even the simplest dance movements is non existent. And tbh that's one of the main reasons I left.

I know a lot of people love Rock Choir, well, obviously they do as it's very successful. It's very well organised and run and you'll be part of something big. Just didn't do it for me though.

Exactly what pigsDOfly said. I didnt mind the singing although would have preferred the music to read, but couldn't hack sitting by myself and being ignored while people talked to their friends!

I'm a member of our local one and I love it. I am not a fantastic singer but enjoy the fun, laughter and camaraderie as well as the singing. I guess it isn't for everyone. They let you do a free taster session so you could go along and see what you thought.

It wasn’t for me. I’m quite musical and it was just singing backing vocals for a soloist - easy harmonies, oohs and ahs. I found it boring.
I now belong to a local choir and sing alto. Really I’m a soprano but they didn’t need any of those. We sing a mix of stuff, classical stuff and popular songs according to the time of year. I need to enjoy a bit of a chalk, not just the social side.
My choir is also a lot cheaper. Only about £40 for the term.

Challenge not chalk!

Agree with pp, there was a lot of sitting there not doing very much because it was going so slowly.

An ability to sing is not required so I supposed they have to go at a speed to cater to that level, frustrating if you have any sort of musical ear.

Bit money making corporate for my liking. There are some fabulous independent choirs around which have far more heart and are run by amazing and committed individual choir leaders and musicians. If you’re in London then any of the London Soul Choirs are truly amazing or London City Voices.

Personally I looked at it, thought it seemed very expensive, looked in my local area and found a local community choir that icky costs me 10 a term! It's much smaller too with 15-20 members so feels much more a place to make friends.

*icky should be only

We're also playing a local festival so similar opportunities

If you're vaguely musical and would like a bit of a challenge, don't waste your time. It's a bit like learning songs in primary school.

I went for 9 years and really enjoyed it but if you're someone who is very musical or an experienced choir singer the pace may frustrate you. However if you're someone who loves a sing song, can't sing directly from a score and don't want the formality of auditioning then I'd definitely give it a go.
All the choirs do a free taster session so you can try out for free with no obligation
I got to the point after 9 years where I felt I needed a different singing outlet and had out grown it but I had some great experiences, I can sing better and have some good friends as a result.

Maybe franchise wasn't the right word. An organisation where 'employees' have to bang out hundreds of pounds in advance and, whilst there might be 4 sessions x 50 people x £10 a pop = £1000 going into Rock Choir's bank account, it certainly isn't all going to the 'employee' who has to pay for venue hire, advertising, etc, and bear the majority of the financial risk. And pay a fee to the company to be allowed to teach exactly what they say in the way they say it. Would licensing operation be slightly more accurate?

Anyhow, my point was that there are many choirs which do not charge as much, do not lock you into a contract, will work with the strengths and weaknesses of members, and will be delighted to take you.

Having had a friend who nearly took on area several years ago I too would describe it as a "franchise"!!!

If I remember rightly, in the tv documentary they were putting on a big concert at the Albert Hall, and it showed various choir leaders being heavily pressured by the main overall woman in charge to recruit a certain number of performers to take part, each paying for their own ticket to sing, plus a t shirt, plus minimum two guest tickets as well as other stuff.

MIL did this and although she enjoyed the singing and socialising she was very upset with the amount of dancing.

In her own words "It's choir, not a rave. How am I supposed to concentrate on my vocals"