The choir will start back on Tuesday 13th September, 7:30pm at Shirley Methodist Church. New members are welcome, now would be an excellent chance to join as we will be starting some new repertoire.

Bring your singing voices and we will see you on Tuesday 13th.

The Shirley Community Gospel Choir are joining forces with the Shirley Methodist Church Choir for a service on 10th July which will feature the large joint choir of over 40 people.

The service is a celebration of the work of the Moseley Road and Sparkhill circuit.

The choir were on top form performing their entire repertoire, first-time soloists from the Choir – Rebecca, Carol, Pat, Claire, Peter and Gloria sang wonderfully, and the guest performers Matt and Laura were a joy to hear. We will soon be able to announce how much money was raised for Birmingham Children’s Hospital Arts Fund.

If you are interested in joining the choir then please feel free to come along to our next rehearsal on 26th April, 7:30 at Shirley Methodist – no audition required!

We also announced the date for our first full concert:
Saturday 2nd April at Shirley Methodist Church.
Proceeds from the concert will go to a local charity.

Please put this date in your diary and start spreading the word!

See you at the next rehearsal on Tuesday 18th January, new members are always welcome.

Now I have a voice, and quite a loud one at that, as I’m sure those of you who have heard me either reading, or acting both in the pantomimes and my sketches, will testify. Singing has always been immensely enjoyable for me; something I have never felt obliged to confine to the bath, as my family will confirm. But, I have never joined a choir, both for fear of veering wildly off tune and because of my inability to read music.

The remedy came in the shape of the Gospel Choir.

If you haven’t heard us perform yet, where have you been? 
If you think you might like to join us, what’s stopping you?

Choir rehearsals are now a very important part of my fortnightly routine. I am constantly surprised when I find myself singing both in time and tune with the rest of the sopranos, and being tall, I find it uplifting to project from the back row. I did not have much experience of gospel music before, and it is a foreign cousin to the traditional hymns I have learned from nearly twenty years of congregational singing at SMC. For me, it is the simplicity of the words which contain the power, an added bonus to the potency of the music in general. Simplicity and a multiplicity of voices just seem to click when we all sing together, and that is when, for me, we create a special significance -perhaps not just for those of us singing.
When I have had a long and difficult day, coming to choir is by no means a chore, but a catharsis which alleviates my stress slowly throughout the evening. I can go away tired, but with less worry than when I came in.
We do not take ourselves too seriously by any means; there is always something to laugh at. It doesn’t matter to me that there are few people my own age, I simply enjoy the fellowship. Where else would you get such a diverse range of ages and denominations? It might be a cliché, but music really does bring people together.

I am proud to be a member of the Shirley Community Choir, and even prouder that we have had the opportunity to sing at services, in my own church.

Rebecca Lovell.

September often brings about new changes and for the choir that involves a new day for rehearsals! We will now be meeting on Tuesdays rather then Wednesdays, please get in contact if you would like to know when the next rehearsal is – we are always ready to welcome new members.

Two gigs coming up – firstly the Shirley Methodist Church Harvest supper on 25th of September, and the next Jazz Church gathering on 17th October.

Well done to everyone who participated in the first performance of the Shirley Community Gospel Choir!

The choir performed two songs (‘Speak to me Lord’ and ‘Sanctuary’) at Jazz Church last Sunday.

For pictures and eventually a recording visit www.jazzchurch.org.uk .

If you are interested in joinging the choir then please come along to our next rehearsal on Wednesday 14th July.

After a few months of rehearsals, Shirley Community Gospel Choir will be performing for the first time at Jazz Church on 20th June 2010 at 7:00pm. The Choir will singing a couple of solo items and also lead the congregation in the singing throughout the rest of the service.

For more information on Jazz Church then visit the website at www.jazzchurch.org.uk.

Hope to see you there!

Hope to see everyone and maybe some new faces on 9th Feb, same time, same place when we are going to try a re-arrangement of the classic Amazing Grace.

See you there!