2 minute read
SCALING THE PANDEMIC
Alex Klineberg catches up with Nick Ford, chair of the Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus
The Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus (BrightonGMC) was founded in 2005. Prior to its foundation, Brighton – of all places – did not have a gay men’s choir. BrightonGMC offers a space to socialise that isn’t a bar or nightclub. You can join without auditioning, so you don’t need pipes like Whitney to be a part of it.
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BrightonGMC meets every Tuesday from 7.30- 10pm in central Brighton. After singing, they head to the pub. It’s a great way to meet new people. There are no age restrictions.
Choirs have become more popular in recent years. What’s more, singing in a choir has been proven to have positive mental and physical health benefits. Singing is a very physical and expressive act. You can find plenty of academic papers on the benefits of singing. Around 2.8 million Britons are thought to be part of a choir, probably a lot more than you imagined.
Singing in a choir is very much a social act. Chair of the 100-strong BrightonGMC, Nick Ford, has spent the past 12 months being optimistic. The chorus, which prides itself on singing, supporting and socialising, unfortunately had no concerts for the whole of 2020, so supporting and socialising came to the fore. There’s a chorus-wide WhatsApp group so that members can keep in touch, there are weekly Zoom rehearsals followed by chorus members going off to a ‘virtual Brighton Tavern’ – the usual post-rehearsal haunt – for drinks and chat afterwards.
The chorus has also managed to recruit new members during this lockdown year – no mean feat.
BrightonGMC also created a couple of videos that were put online last year, a compilation of highlight clips from previous shows, and some original individual member material was presented as a social media advent calendar in the run-up to Christmas. And although singing practice is currently performed remotely with a one-hour Zoom session a week, preparations are underway for when shows can go ahead in 2021, possibly the second the second half of the year.
The chorus’ patron is the legendary June Brown (Dot Cotton herself and Lady Gaga’s spirit animal). BrightonGMC is the largest gay men’s chorus outside of London.
According to Nick: “At the moment we are looking at a late-summer concert for 2021, as opposed to our usual summer concert that coincides with Brighton & Hove Pride. The chorus very much looks forward to welcoming back our audience and singing together once again.”
BrightonGMC does a lot of charity events, including co-organising the annual World AIDS Day Charity Concert in Brighton. You can sponsor it – head over to the website for more details. If you’re looking for new experiences post-lockdown, you can even join. Membership is open to anyone, even if you’ve never sung before. The musical repertoire is huge and all of the arrangements are unique, covering everything from Gloria Gaynor to Beethoven.
