Chesterfield Studios boss forms virtual choir to unite 27 isolated singers

Jonathan Francis, artistic director at Chesterfield Studios, encouraged past and present members of two choirs to record themselves singing You Raise Me Up in the comfort of their homes. He then edited the footage which can now be seen via the online YouTube channel.

He said: “The weekly rehearsals at the studios are integral to a lot of people’s lives and they are missing this connection deeply. It’s not just the music-making and rehearsing that people are missing, it’s the social aspect as well.

“The important thing with all this is that it has given a lot of members the chance to continue being part of something they enjoy – even though the challenge of recording themselves and having to listen back to what they had captured was a bit daunting for some.

Jonathan was inspired to create the virtual choir after a parent sent a video clip of students at Chesterfield Studios rehearsing You Raise Me Up for a concert last summer. He said: “I posted it to Facebook to remind people of happier times. Most members, old or young, have sung this at some point with me; it’s one of the main songs in our repertoire.

“So when we closed on March 20, I started thinking about how we could continue to keep people involved during the closure. I’d seen people try to hold rehearsals on Skype and Zoom, but due to the latency between connections, I couldn’t see how we could use those platforms in any meaningful way.”

After learning that American composer Eric Whitacre had been running virtual choirs for a few years, Jonathan researched how this was done and found that the best way was for singers to send in their own clips that could be edited into one.

He put an appeal out among current and former members of Chesterfield Studios Choir and Rose Choir.

Jonathan said: “In the end twenty-seven people took part and it took me a week of mixing the voices together to make them sound like a group, rather than a bunch of people singing in isolation and recording themselves on their mobile phones.

He played most of the musical accompaniment himself, apart from the drums which had been recorded at a concert in Derby last year.

“I’m pleased with how it has turned out and proud of what we have achieved,” said Jonathan. “We’ve had some amazing comments online and that’s really heart-warming for everyone involved.”

*Share your stories of how you’re helping brighten the lives of people in your community during the coronavirus pandemic. Email: [email protected]

READ THIS: Perfect pictures of National Parks lift spirits.

A message from the editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you

Nancy Fielder, editor