Bedford

Choir (u3a Harmony)

You need to be a member of Bedford u3a to join this group.

Dates for 2024
WEEKLY MEETINGS
Jan 9 th – March 26 th ; April 16 th – July 16 th ; September 10 th – December 10 th

APPEARANCES
Summer Concert, Saturday July 20 th 2pm – 5pm
The annual U3A Christmas Concert date tbc will be a weekday afternoon
Christmas Tree Festival, date tbc but will be a weekday and probably morning

REPORT
2023 SUMMER CONCERT was a lovely event. The choir in fine voice, the recorder group doing a
brilliant “guest appearance”, and a beautiful solo from our (now) award winning Jane, alongside the
raffle and The Best Tea Ladies in the County, a splendid afternoon of music and fun was had by
audience and participants alike. Once again, we raised enough money to keep the choir and
recorder group in music for the year, relieving financial pressure from individuals and the U3A itself.
U3A CHRISTMAS CONCERT
For the first time, the choir and recorder group joined forces to perform Sweet Christmas Bells,
which went so well that we are planning to continue to work together again for one or two numbers
per year.

ACTIVITIES
Our chief aim is to SING. See The Science Bit below for one reason why we do.
We aim to provide a warm and sociable atmosphere for ALL singers. Whether you are an old hand, a complete beginner
or even one of those victims who, told years ago “you can’t sing”*** but is still afraid to attempt a
musical sound in public, we are YOUR CHOIR! The choir as a group does not understand the concept
of “being full” so if you are free on a Tuesday afternoon, come and join us. We try to have a good
range of songs, from madrigals to musicals, folk songs and jazz standards. We generally have a dozen
or so songs in our repertoire each year, with 4 or 5 extras at Christmas.

THE SCIENCE BIT
The benefits of singing have been proved. Singing exercises the brain AND the body, improving
breathing, posture and muscle tension. Singing in a choir has been shown to release neurochemicals
such as b-endorphin, a natural painkiller responsible for the “high” experienced after intense
exercise. It’s possible that music can play a role in sustaining a heathy immune system by reducing
the stress hormone cortisol and boosting the immunoglobin an antibody.

TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY
We all tend to leave choir practice smiling and with a spring in our steps!
No auditions. If you can speak, you can sing.
***No one can sing without learning how and then practising regularly. Like any other musical
instrument, the voice needs to be tutored and guided and enjoyed. NB Only about 4% of the
population is “amusic” (finding pitch of notes hard to hear aka tone deafness)