This Monday I took part in the first session of Casual Choir.
I've been singing with choirs since I was six years old but the last few years I've found it harder and harder to commit to regular rehearsal sessions.
With work, college and two kids I don't have a lot of time left over in the week to take part in hobbies.
A couple of weeks ago though I spotted a Facebook post about Casual Choir, which is exactly as its name suggests a casual choir, so I bought a ticket for their first session and headed along this week.
Seeing as it is run by Róisín Savage who directed a choir of over 300 singers for the IFTA award-winning
Centenary and a choir of over 150 singers for the IFTA-nominated
Laochra in Croke Park, I knew it would be a great experience even if I found afterwards that it wasn't my sort of thing.
It turned out that it was very much my sort of thing.
First of all the song that we were going to be singing that night was by
Erasure who are one of my favourite bands so I was won over very early on in the session.
It began at 7:30 pm and finished at 9:30 pm and in between those two hours we rehearsed, harmonised and recorded ourselves singing
A Little Respect.
Seeing as most choirs practice songs for weeks before getting them to be spot on it was pretty impressive, especially the harmonies.
So where did the idea come from?
"Casual Choir was born out of a demand for a more informal choir. One that doesn’t require any commitment whatsoever. No auditions, no sheet music, no concerts. Just a fortnightly session with a few harmonies thrown in....it’s as casual as that!"
This is the exact reason why I signed up for the first session and why I've already booked my slot for the next Casual Choir on September 24.
It's a fun and easy way to blow off the Monday blues without any huge commitment and because you book in whenever it suits you, you can work it completely around your schedule.
I'm absolutely loving the video from this week and can't wait to see what our next song will be.
Casual Choir takes place in Harold's Cross, Dublin every second Monday and the cost for attending is €10.
Tickets for Casual Choir's next session go on sale today and can be bought through their
Facebook page and other social media accounts or you can email casualchoir@gmail.com to be put on their mailing list.
