A little over a year ago, we partnered with Age UK to run our Community Choir at their Greenwich centre, in Sherard Road. The group was designed to provide a space for people in our local community to sing together, make new friends, increase their confidence, and learn new skills. Everyone over the age of 50 who feels that they could benefit from the joys of singing is welcome to join.
Being the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, we don’t often get the chance to extend the social and emotional benefits of music-making to older people, who are regularly overlooked in our society, especially when it comes to social services provision. This project has been a fantastic opportunity to further embed ourselves in the local area surrounding our home at Woolwich Works and extend our offer beyond its usual reach, while also providing an opportunity for NYJO musicians to gain experience running a project in a completely new setting.
Feedback from participants has been incredibly rewarding. A year on, most choir members have reported feeling more confident in their musical skills and working as a group.
I have enjoyed meeting lots of new lovely people and meeting the young musicians who lead us, plus tea and cakes and biscuits! It is like a big family.
I am a lot more confident, less self-conscious, and less anxious.
Community choir members
In Summer 2023, the group performed at the Greenwich Carers Centre, in Charlton House, as part of their large event in celebration of Carers’ Week.
Since October last year, the Sherard Road Songbirds (as the group decided to call themselves) has been led by four NYJO musicians – Daisy Houlder, Myra Brownbridge, Amelia Wilding, and Cal Herron – who have been running the weekly sessions at Age UK Greenwich, gaining important skills as project-leaders in a community setting that is quite different to our usual offer.
I wanted to widen my teaching experience age-wise as I’ve always worked with younger people. Working with older people has been a great learning curve for me.
Amelia Wilding, NYJO Emerging Professional
This being their first experience running a project of this kind, it was really important to us to ensure the NYJO musicians involved were supported in their development as project-leads. We wanted to ensure they had the space to build their own approach to the challenge, while allowing choir members to give them constructive feedback that would help adapt the way sessions are run to their particular needs.
It really has been a great experience which I’m grateful for, and to get to know the participants and become friends with them has been lovely.
Cal Herron, NYJO Emerging Professional
Music is a powerful way to connect people. Because it doesn’t involve an instrument beyond our own vocal chords, singing is an especially good way to involve people who might not have seen themselves as “musical” before. The tangential benefits of being part of the Sherard Road Songbirds choir really come to life in the members’ own words:
Two months after my wife died I joined the choir. Some songs cheer me up and some songs make me cry. But in any case both types give me relief.
Choir is something that I really look forward to. It gives me time out. It helps me to destress. It’s a therapy session. It makes me feel free. I leave feeling very happy.
Since I started singing in February, I have noticed a great difference in my lung capacity/breathing and I feel alive. My concentration and memory has also improved. I’m not so forgetful and can only put it down to singing. The people I sing with are also friendly and warm. My emotional well being is overall great! I feel like a human being.
We look forward to continuing delivering this project and bringing some joy to Sherard Road!