'Singing to feel better’ - the Manchester choir lifting hearts and raising money for charity

A choir in South Manchester is helping members focus on the positives, even while the news around the world may be getting some of us down. Choirs Manchester is the brainchild of Sarah Adams, who believes we could all feel a little better if we sing out loud and proud - and next month the choir is raising money for charity with a live show.

Raised voices bounce off the high ceilings of the Withington Public Hall Institute one Tuesday evening as choir leader Sarah conducts a complicated-sounding three-part harmony. Choirs Manchester is rehearsing ‘90s dance classic Freed From Desire ahead of the first of its summer shows, and everyone in the hall is standing to attention and belting out their part.

Meeting on Mondays in Chorlton and on Tuesdays in Withington, the two-site female choir was Sarah’s idea back in 2015 after the break-up of a band that the musician was in. The South Manchester locations are separate to allow for more attendees to make either day, but when it comes to events and concerts, they come together in one seamless women’s choir.

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Many of us sing in school or even in church when we were young, and then let it slide. Perhaps you got self-conscious, or you didn’t make practice - or maybe you just fell out of love with singing.

Choirs Manchester has no audition process for new members, and you don’t have to sign up for a month, or term. You just book online, turn up and sing, meaning it's low pressure even for new members.

Sarah, who runs a musical theatre club and a singing club with children as well as choir sessions for corporate teams, says nothing beats the power: “It’s singing to feel better. The feel-good element is really important to me because I think that is what it’s all about.

“There aren't many times in life when we give ourselves permission to go, ‘feeling good is all this is about’."

Singer-songwriter Sarah, who released her first solo EP under the name And Loops in March, says that she relishes the choir as something apart from the “getting further, getting noticed” drive that makes up her musical career.

She adds: “This is just about having a nice time. Our gigs are about making other people feel better as well as ourselves. It’s quite meditative, you just think about the next note you’re singing.”

The Chorlton session meets on Mondays between 7pm and 8.30pm upstairs at the Royal Oak pub, while the group at Withington Public Hall Institute meets between 7pm and 8.30pm on Tuesdays. With around 60 members across the whole choir, there are singers of all ages and experience levels.

Singing as a ‘low’, ‘middle’ or ‘high’, Sarah leads her singers through seemingly complex harmonious arrangements of pop songs, teaching them by ear with lyric sheets. Recent run-throughs have included Fighter, Running Up That Hill, Use Somebody, Ray of Light and What Is Love.

With a dread of singing in her own past, she says it’s important to her that people feel at ease in the choir.

“I had a lovely teacher at primary school, but singing was my biggest fear when I was young. It wasn’t until I was 23, or 24, that I sang.

“I was part of a gospel choir and they did a vocal development programme and at the end of it you had to perform. I signed up to it because I knew I had to face it. #

"I don’t want anyone to feel afraid because I felt so afraid. It feels exposing, singing aloud."

As well as the weekly choir sessions, Sarah also runs occasional Saturday morning a cappella workshops, where singers work on one song over the course of 90 minutes and sing it through unaccompanied by instruments at the end. There is also the massively popular Gin Sing, which takes place in venues with a bar for refreshments.

It's heading to the Carlton Club in Whalley Range on August 9 for an outdoor session. Advertised as ‘Club tracks and ‘90s bangers singalong set to piano’, Sarah plays arrangements of well-known pop songs while attendees - often accessorised with inflatable microphones and guitars - belt out tracks from their seats with their choice of a tipple in hand.

Choirs Manchester has popped up for performances in events around the area, with recent appearances including at the Manchester Half Marathon, Chorlton Arts Festival and a Christmas shows at Refuge on Oxford Road. Singers are currently rehearsing to sing at Withington Baths for West Didsbury’s West Fest on Saturday, July 6pm at 1pm.

After that is a special show that Sarah has arranged - a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders at the Carlton Club in Whalley Range. Taking place outside the venue on Thursday, July 11, at 7pm, the event will be free for people to attend but there will be an opportunity to donate - by cash and electronically.

The venue's bar will also be open for attendees to enjoy. Sarah says she was keen to do her bit for those living through the conflict in Gaza.

“I feel in these moments of crisis that you should do what you can do, and I can do a gig and raise money. I’ve felt quite helpless during the whole thing and change isn’t very easy to make, whereas I can do this little thing."

And for those still wavering over whether they're ready to join her choir, Sarah has this message: "It doesn’t matter if you can sing. I think everybody is better than they think they are, and it doesn’t matter in a group what level you are because you’re all just doing it together.

"At gigs, if some people are more confident, maybe they lift the group but, in the end, we’re all in it together."