We practise each Tuesday evening in the Castle Street Centre in Kendal, and have many outings – such as singing in a candlelit cave near Christmas, in pubs in Dent and the Lake District, and on walks through the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales. We sing in Slovenia (Sedbergh’s twin town is Zrece near Celje,) on the island of Jura and on top of many Lake District mountains.
We have been singing in Kendal and the Lake District for 30 years – having started as the Discover Your Voice class at Kendal Brewery Arts Centre.
I teach all the songs by ear – by call and response – and we mostly sing in a circle so that everyone can hear the harmony we create, and fully enjoy being part of that.
We do occasionally do concerts raising money for local causes, and this year 2023 will be the second time we have arranged the Street Choirs Festival where we host over 40 choirs of conscience – 900 singers – in Kendal for a weekend of concerts, massed singing, workshops, walks, and shared experience.
I was the first paid up member of the Natural Voice Network, and started Lakeland Voices in 1993 while I was apprenticed to Frankie Armstrong. In those days it was rare to find a choir in Kendal that wasn’t a formal choral society standing in rows and using written music, with the sole purpose of providing concerts.
We see harmony singing as a secular communion – where the singers all experience being empowered in their different voices, but united in the harmony we create.
