Harmonix Choir
Where Did It All Begin ?
In the summer of 2016, I was asked by the friend of a friend if I would be willing to provide some musical entertainment for a local community Christmas event, and whilst a keen singer, I didn't really fancy doing it alone. So I wondered if that was the push I needed to realise a life-long dream of having my own singing group, perhaps for a one-off event, perhaps, just perhaps for something a little more.
Tentatively I approached a few unsuspecting fellow singers, with no real expectation anyone would be interested, but I was bowled over by the enthusiastic response, so much so that the plan to meet in September was shelved in favour of an earlier date.
And so, on August 11th 2016, the very first rehearsal of what was to become Harmonix took place.
The Early Years
Early rehearsals were fairly informal and consisted of tea and cake in my lounge with some singing thrown in for good measure! Right from the start of the choir I wanted close harmony to be a feature of what we performed and even with only 6 members, all of our repertoire was in at least 3 parts.
Christmas 2016 saw our first performances with a short programme of traditional carols in Wadworth Community Hall, and carol singing in Doncaster Marks and Spencers.
2017 began with a real sense that we had something we wanted to cherish and grow, and during the spring and summer we performed for a local Yorkshire Country Womens group, supported a charity gala and sang for a local WI. Our name was getting known and the year finished with a busy season of carol singing at Boston Park Farm and short performances in Hatfield and central Doncaster.
Our First Concert And An Award!
2018 started with a bang! The choir was growing in number, strength and confidence and in February we braved the UK Choir Festival event in Manchester. It was a massive honour for us to walk away with a certificate for our performance of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, a piece that is still very close to the heart of the choir.
By this time we had outgrown my lounge and moved rehearsals to a local community hall. We were gaining a solid footing in local circles with bookings from several local groups and charity events. All of our performances were, and continue to be, linked to charity and every penny raised by the choir through performances, carol singing etc goes directly to charity with all costs / overheads covered by the membership. And so our thoughts turned to how to maximise our charity efforts and inevitably to thoughts of offering a full length ticketed concert.
It was with great pride and thanks that our first concert took place in Wadworth, where we had started out less than 2 years before, to a sold-out appreciative audience.
Strength to Strength
Once we had our first concert under our belt we were off, with bookings from local groups continuing to come in, performances as far afield as Leeds, and concerts in Hatfield and Cantley. We attended Epworth Music Day 2019, UK Choir Festival in York, sang in Priory Place Methodist Church, supported local care homes and continued to raise funds for charities at every event.
We were also very privileged to be approached by the Doncaster Ukelele Band and our joint concert in February 2020 was very well received.
Little did we know what was coming...
Covid.....and Recovery
As it was for everyone March 2020 was a huge shock to all of Harmonix. Individually we all had tough challenges to face and as a group everything that we worked so hard for was stopped abruptly as rehearsals and concerts were cancelled. Our singing stopped just as much of the world did and for a short while Harmonix was on pause.
And then I discovered Zoom....
I was incredibly touched by the choirs desire to keep singing, to keep talking, and keep supporting each other through those dark days. And so we set up Zoom rehearsals and week after week everyone made the effort to log on and sing. It was very hard as an MD to see everyone without being able to hear them - I've often said that the proudest place for me to be is out front of the choir listening to the sound they produce, so singing at them on Zoom with them all muted and doing their own thing was heart-breaking. But also uplifting in so many ways too. Their genuine sense of family and togetherness is a huge part of our success.
When we were finally set free in the summer of 2021 it was a very different experience for us - masked and distanced it took a while to settle back into group and find our sound again. We even managed to recruit 2 new members during lockdown so it was a new line-up too!.
That said the work during lockdown showed and we braved a concert in Epworth September 2021, followed by a relatively full Christmas season finishing with a concert in Cantley.
Upping Our Game
Heading into 2022, the choir diary was looking a little sparse. As all of us were getting used to being out of lockdown, many choirs found difficulty getting members and audiences back to the levels of pre-Covid.
In April we had our first performance of the year returning to St Hugh's Church in Cantley, and were pleasantly surprised with the good turnout. This started a roll of bookings for the choir and 2022 turned out to be our busiest yet!
Main concerts in Bentley, Epworth and Cantley were interspersed with performances in Denaby, Haxey, Balby, Warmsworth, Blaxton, Bawtry and Bessacarr - some wonderful new venues to perform in and some wonderful new audiences to entertain!
As a non-profit choir, all our fees and monies raised from tickets, raffles etc go to charity. Our chosen charity for 2022 was the St John's Hospice based in Balby and we were immensly proud to be able to hand over £2,750.00.
2023 beckons and we have a busy year ahead with return visits to Epworth, Bentley, Upton and Cantley as well as new events in Tickhill and Dunsville.
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