Singing Together Apart

I am passionate about singing - I have loved it since I was a child and I am very privileged to be part of a community of A Capella singers in Sheffield. In particular the wonderful Decibelles, a group of 12 incredible women, who meet up on Tuesday evenings to sing, eat cake, drink tea and provide each other with support. We have been singing for several years, we sang at my wedding, we have sung at our children's weddings, for birthdays, events and for charity. But it is so much more than singing, we sing in harmony, we understand each other, support each other - we are there for each other. COVID19 was not going to stop us.

It has been really hard for singers, expert advise has been clear - singing causes aerosols and it is not safe. Sadly, no matter how good your broadband connection and video conferencing software is, it is almost impossible to sing successfully together online, it becomes a jumble of un-synchronised voices. (My husband politely calls it caterwauling).

As we moved from February into March we remained optimistic, we didn't know that we were about to enter a pandemic lock-down and that we would be forced to sing apart for so very very long. No cosy cake and tea evenings together for quite some time to come.

By mid March it was becoming clear that we were going to be unable to meet up in person - so - as the vanguard of all things digital - as I sat on a train on one of my last commutes home from work - I wrote my dearest Belles this email:

Tues 17th March 17:08

Hi all,

We will not be defeated by this! 

I’ll look into and set up a video conferencing link - so we can look at each other’s cake but not eat it. Dust off your webcams - and check your smartphone camera for smudges - #decibellesonline

Xxxx

And the response:

Emma!

You crack me up. 

That's the spirit.  :)

So I set up a zoom account and sent out the invites.

OK everyone - I've scheduled this as a quick test for us tonight.

Anyone free at 8pm give it a go and we can go from there! Show off your cakes!

See you in the virtual world at 8pm - click on the link below and follow the instructions, remember to have your video turned on (should be automatic and mute your microphone when you are not speaking - otherwise it gets quite messy). Be interesting to see if we can actually all turn our microphones on and attempt a sing! 

Little did we know - how inexperienced we were - as we ended our first zoom I emailed to say:

20:49 - the same day

Hi, Quick test was successful! Laura, Marie, Margaret, Patty and me, all negotiated the zoom challenge this evening and had a nice chat - and proved that singing on a video link is impossible (the software tries to prioritise the person that is talking and when we were all singing together it was awful!). I'll try and see how we might get around that - but we may just have to chat!

I'm going to schedule a weekly Tues evening zoom meeting at 8pm for those that are available to join so we can keep in touch. Keep safe,

Our weekly zoom sessions kept us connected, we shared our ups and downs, our hopes and our fears. We missed our tea and cake and our birthday celebrations but most of all we missed singing. The challenge was how to sing together - when apart.

It was not an easy one to solve.

As March moved into April and the news reports became almost unbearable and the nation pulled together to support the NHS and each other - we hatched a plan. We purchased a new set of music, dusted of our recording devices and compiled (with and little bit of help from my son) our first track. In the cold and rain of early spring we each recorded "The sound of silence". It is difficult to explain just how much this meant to us - it was a dark dark time, we all felt very down and scared and we missed each others company so much. We recorded our own voices and sent my son a track each - he compiled it and by the power of technology we were singing together once again. And we cried when we heard it. It wasn't perfect - not our usual polished performance - but it meant more than any of us could have imagined. We were singing together apart. And the words of that famous song were so so poignant. "People writing songs that voices never share, and no one dare, disturb the sound of silence".

When we hit our 50th zoom session we had another track under our belts - more upbeat this time as the weather had improved and restrictions were being lifted. In the middle of a heatwave we recorded "Nothings Gonna Stop us now" and in our enthusiasm we thought we would be singing together before long. We managed a few socially distanced garden meet ups - not all of us at once and we felt encouraged.

As Autumn descends rapidly upon us - we would normally be planning for the Christmas season - a new carol, a set of charity performances, new costumes and props. But we are still on zoom and the weather is closing in.

So here we are again - we will not be defeated, we will venture into singing together apart once more for Christmas and we will raise money for the charity that we have been supporting for the last few years - appropriately for a group such as ours "The Wellbeing of Women" (WoW). Our tracks are being selected and we will create our Christmas compilation.

A WoW Christmas from The Decibelles Online - Singing Together Apart.

Let the rehearsing begin, set up the just giving page - we have more work to do ladies.