Choirs at Work

© Graeme Braidwood

I left RGS in 2008 and set about fulfilling my life-long dream of training as a classical singer. I spent four years at Birmingham Conservatoire of Music and some time studying at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Lyon before taking up scholarships at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London and with Genesis Sixteen (The Sixteen’s choral training programme for young singers) in 2013.

By Alexandra Wynne (née Bickerton) (06-08)

Lunchtime performance in the grounds of Oxford Saïd Business School

Since 2013 I’ve spent three years building a portfolio career and like a typical musician, I wear lots of different hats. When I’m not running choirs, I’m singing in them or performing as a soloist. I love to teach singing and between my work for the King Edward VI School Foundation and Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, I teach 30 singing lessons a week. I’m passionate about working with young people and I find teaching exceptionally rewarding.

I started running choirs during my undergraduate degree. The first time I took a rehearsal I was terrified but I remember the amazing feeling of being in charge and from that moment on I had the bug. It had never been my intention to set up a choir company, although looking back, with two parents both being business lecturers, it makes sense that it was inside me somewhere. I had been freelancing for two years out of music college, when I heard of the Birmingham Skills for Enterprise and Employability Network (BSEEN) programme which Birmingham City University was running. After a Dragon’s Den style pitch during which I took in a quartet of trained singers (we proceeded to blast the panel off their chairs given that we were in a room the size of a small cupboard). I was awarded business funding and access to business mentors who would help turn my skills as a musician into a business, working with organisations to promote wellbeing through singing.

Choirs at Work Ltd, the company I went on to set up, has been running for two years now and so far I have worked with organisations all over the UK including Oxford Saïd Business School, The Law Society and Macmillan Cancer Support. Some of the choirs meet every week and some are formed for a conference or team build. The idea isn’t that everyone is a brilliant singer, but that they can come together, meet colleagues from other departments and try something new. The choirs are used to promote the organisation, to fundraise and of course, to have fun and unwind. Singing releases endorphins and increases oxygen in the blood so it’s great for both mental and physical wellbeing. Organisations report returning to their desks after an hour of singing with increased productivity and a clear mind which helps them to tackle the day ahead.

My work is always varied –one day I will be singing Handel’s Messiah and the next I will be teaching lawyers to sing Pharrell Williams in four part harmony –it’s certainly different! I run nine choirs a week and all of them require something different from me which is great. I married my husband, conductor David Wynne, in 2013 and we’ve recently moved to a village called Moseley, just outside of Birmingham city centre. We work together on projects a lot and actually met when we were both booked to sing for the Pope during his visit to Birmingham in 2010 –our friends think we win the award for the strangest way a couple has ever met!

It seems a lot longer than eight years since leaving RGS and a lot has happened in that time. Looking back, I was fortunate to be part of such a strong school music department with staff such as Gill Blazey (02-16) who always encouraged me to sing and without whom I probably wouldn’t have auditioned for music college. I’m not sure what the next chapter has in store but I’m certainly grateful to be doing what I love and I hope, inspiring my students to do the same.

For more information on Choirs at Work Ltd please visit www.choirsatworkltd.com or email info@choirsatworkltd.com

RGS Community Choir

Do you enjoy singing? The RGS has its own Community Choir. We rehearse on Thursday evenings (term-time only) between 6.30pm and 8pm at the school. We are always looking for new members to join us. No audition required, but singing in pitch desirable. No cost; just lots of fun!

Please email Jane Medcalf at j.medcalf@rgs. newcastle.sch.uk if you are interested.

RGS Community Choir and St George’s Church Choir in a joint Sunday afternoon concert at St George’s Church, Jesmond in June 2016