​We’re a friendly group of guys, but if you’re wondering what we get up to at the weekly practices, here’s the breakdown.
 
7.15-7.30pm
Say hello! Come to the Grimshaw Room, off Shadwell Street. There’s a free car park and it’s directly behind St Chad’s Cathedral. You’ll be greeted by one of our choristers who’ll introduce you to other members including Steve, our musical director.

​7.30pm
Our conductor brings our rowdy rabble to order! And we take our seats.
You’re welcome to just sit and listen if you like, or do feel free to get stuck in straight away. We kick off with 10 minutes of warm up exercises to get our voices eased up and then we start practising songs.

​We do use sheet music, but don’t worry! You’ll be teamed up with a mentor buddy - an established choir member - who’ll help you with anything you don’t understand and who’ll be your go-to person in future weeks as you settle in.

8.30pm
It’s thirsty work singing, so we take a tea-break and this is a great opportunity to catch up with others in the choir, as well as to meet new people! At this point, either on your first or subsequent weeks, Steve will grab you and ask if you’d like to run through a few singing exercises, so he can work out which voice part is most suited to your range.  He’ll then suggest you join one of the four voice lines we have (either one of the two tenor sections or two bass groups).

8.45pm
Finishing up our drinks, we head back to sing. Sometimes we break into two sections to rehearse, other times we stay together to go through the four-parts at once. 

9.40pm
After a rousing song to finish, we end for the evening, and we’ll send you off with all the music you need, and arrange to send you the voice line recording for your section so you can practice at home if it helps. We also have a simple guide to music notation too so you can get a grasp of it even if you’ve had no prior experience.
 
Some weeks are more focused on preparing for concerts, others we all learn new material together. But every week is good fun! We would be delighted to welcome you and show you why we all love it so much!

If you would like any further information about the practices, please do contact our chairman Meirion Bowen on 0121 3581740.

​The English Association of Male Voice Choirs’ 2016 concert took place in the splendour of Worcester Cathedral this weekend.
 
The resonant setting hosted 220 men amassed from seven male voice choirs around the UK, who all sang together and the sound was absolutely wonderful!
 
This year, the concert was hosted by Worcester Male Voice Choir with guest performances from The Birmingham Horn Sound group, organ recitalist Keith Hearnshaw, and accomplished soprano Claire Bessent.  Lord Digby Jones was the compere and beneficiaries of the night were St Richards Hospice and Acorns Children’s Hospice. We were delighted with the turn out - the audience was full, with all seats taken right down to the back of the building!
 
This year the large EAMVC choir comprised Birmingham Icknield, Cirencester, Cradley Heath, Hadley & District Orpheus, Newport, Warley, and Worcester, and the repertoire on the night ranged from classics such as the rousing Gwahoddiad, to Leonard Cohen’s popular ‘Hallelujah’, to the beautifully soft and gentle arrangements like ‘Softly as I Leave You’ and ‘My Lord What a Morning’.
 
It was a fantastic evening, and we were very proud of our pianist Chris Walk, who accompanied BIMVC’s very own musical director Steve Roche to lead all the choristers in four songs throughout the programme – sharing the baton with Worcester’s MD, Nicholas Wright.
 
We’ll be hosting the next EAMVC concert at The University of Birmingham in 2017 and can’t wait to sing with all the men again. Joining forces and being part of so many voices has definitely got to be one of our annual highlights. If you missed the show, then take a look at the photos from the night. 

2016 sees the national awareness week focus on how men can beat stress – which is particularly pertinent with figures revealed from The Health & Safety Executive, which show that stress accounts for over a third of all work related ill health cases and 43% of all working days lost due to ill health.*
 
There’s clearly something that needs to be done, which is why our new scheme is all about getting men involved in something positive and, as a result, helping them lower their stress levels.
New visitors will be assigned an established choir member, who will help with integration into the choir and who’ll be a friend, and mentor.
 
Many of our men have cited the choir as a massive help in overcoming big issues in their life. We’ve had men who’ve got divorced, men who’ve been bereaved and those dealing with illness and singing is always there to keep them going.
 
Men sometimes find it hard to open up, but we know that if they become part of a positive community it will positively affect their mood. We’re adamant that doctors should be prescribing singing and joining a choir as one of the chief stress-busting medications available to them! Any man who wants to give themselves a mental workout and help kick stress out of their lives should come along!
 
Singing is so much more than just learning songs. It’s one of the best stress-reducing activities there is, and has multiple health benefits too. We’re urging men across Birmingham to come along and sing with us because music has such a healing quality; singing helps your worries slip away and it releases pain relieving endorphins into the blood stream to give a positive boost to mentality.
 
Singing doesn’t just have a positive impact physically, it also increases a person’s self- esteem and confidence. Researchers at a University in Sweden found that when choristers sing together their heartbeats synchronise – giving a calming effect that is just as beneficial to your health as yoga!
 
We are always welcoming new members. Join us on Tuesday evenings from 7.30pm in The Grimshaw Room, behind St. Chad’s Cathedral.
 
* http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress/
Men’s Health Week runs from 13th – 19th June 2016

So the man leading the team is current chairman Meirion, and he’s been with us for nine years.

“I’d recently retired from being a primary school teacher and was looking for something to do,” the first bass explains. “Fate had it that I bumped into an old friend whilst in town one day, and he invited me to come along to the next practice. I duly did, and when they sang Gwahoddiad, I was hooked!”
​
It was the perfect song for native Welsh speaker Meirion who comes from South Wales.

We donned our signature green blazers again on Saturday 14th May, taking the stage at Kingstanding Methodist Church.  It’s a concert venue we regularly visit and enjoy appearing at, and this year nearly 100 family and friends turned out to support us.

Acoustics make a song sound that extra bit impressive, and this north Birmingham church is no exception. Our voices were magnified and all the good bits were emphasised – which is great when we’ve spent hours practising over the past few months!

A definite highlight of the night had to be ‘African Prayer’. It’s such a feel good piece, and we had the audience clapping along too! We even had a past member, Stewart Bissell, join us for a few songs as well. It’s always a great feeling to be joined by old faces, and we love welcoming them back.

Star soloists were Steve O’Malley who sang ‘Summer time’ from Porgy and Bess, and our Assistant Conductor Jack Brookes who took solo lines in Billy Joel’s ‘Longest Time’ and ‘Let There Be Peace on Earth’.
Our three pianists, Jack, Steve and Chris also did two intricate piano trios including arrangements of ‘Nimrod’ by Elgar and ‘The Hall of the Mountain King’ by Grieg – six hands on a piano must be a bit of a squash but they made it look easy! 

We like to make our concerts a little bit different and this one was no exception. Choir member Mark Evetts recited a very funny monologue by Pam Ayres, whilst Jim Banister provided a stand-up comedy slot – there was something for everyone!
​
A great evening enjoyed by all! To stay up to date, take a look at our upcoming concerts. And if you didn’t make it, here’s a short video from the concert