You've likely heard it before but we'll say it again. The most important factor in the success of any choir is the relationship you build with your singers.Each person in the choir knows that we genuinely care about them as people, not just as sound-producers. We take time at every rehearsal to talk to each singer and single them out in a positive way. When you model this kind of behaviour, it isn't too long before the kids begin to act this way with each other as well. We've discovered some very good singers because we cared about the kid first. In a few cases, we are even talking about chil ..read more

The original contingent of pre-choir school Choristers on the way to Montreal in May 2015 Having decided that we wanted to create a new and more dynamic children's choir at Met we had to figure out where to start. At this particular moment we had five singers who we knew we could count on to sing with us, but that was it. We knew we needed more singers, but we had to decide exactly what and who we wanted. Yes that's correct -  we chose our original group of singers! STEP ONE: Choose singers who get it! We wanted singers who we knew would be committed to what we were trying to accomp ..read more

​ To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time."                                                                                                                           - Leonard Bernstein Let's be honest, building a children's choir from scratch requires more than just casual interest. It requires passion. The rollercoaster ride of emotions, the highs and lows that come week in and week out are exhausting. Just when you think you are on the right path, a key chorister will drop out to play hockey, or a parent will tell you that their child can't sing ..read more

In this week's blog post we thought we would begin with a bit of background on our great adventure. Our church, Metropolitan United Church in London, Ontario, Canada, is one of our country's most storied congregations. We are one of The United Church of Canada's 'cathedral' churches and we have always had a tradition of excellent music. 'Met' is the kind of church that one comes to and stays. Built in 1897, Metropolitan has only had had seven organists in its history, so it is a pretty splendid place to work. With this said, in spite of always having a superb professional quality adult choir ..read more