Singing in a choir is not just about the singing. It is also about cultivating the social aspect. Anna Stivala writes about how the St Paul Choral Society managed to uphold both despite a raging pandemic.

While the COVID-19 pandemic shut down virtually every aspect of society last spring, it threatened to affect singing groups even more severely. One newspaper headline ran: ‘Will COVID-19 silence singers until there’s a vaccine?’

As the weeks rolled by, the general consensus worldwide among choristers, choirmasters and music-makers was more on the lines of: ‘Choir cheaper than hospital and just as essential’, following the premise that singing in a chorus is also social – it is not just about singing but about cultivating the social  aspect of what we do.

If those experiences are absent, singers are losing out on something that has enriched their lives. But how are they to achieve this within the unprecedented situation?

Within a few weeks of the initial lockdown in March 2020, the St Paul Choral Society (SPCS) committee organised Zoom meetings to replace the weekly choir rehearsals as a means of keeping in touch. It was unthinkable that years of meeting every week to sing and enjoy each other’s company could no longer be. 

The meetings at first inevitably began with news of the COVID-19 pandemic straight from the source in the person of the choir director, Dr Hugo Agius Muscat, who leads the data management within the COVID-19 Response Team followed pleasurably by musical excerpts or choir recordings of past concerts selected by him with choristers guessing or knowledgeably supplying the names of the pieces. 

Later choristers were invited to suggest and play their own favourite pieces providing the context where they heard it or why they particularly liked it. 

Another item on the weekly agenda took on the form of quiz questions usually with a musical theme ably compiled by the vet/author/crossword compiler choir member Maurice O’Scanaill.

At one point, it was decided that this wretched pandemic situation would only be given minimal mention as necessary at these meetings, replacing what was on everyone’s mind with all sorts of fun/useful things in our virtual hangouts.

One idea was to invite compelling guests to engage with the choir.  Mezzo-soprano Claire Massa, a long-time guest soloist in our choir concerts, was invited to speak on how to keep up singing practice/training in this most unusual of times.

In the spirit of building bridges with each other while in isolation and finding ways to connect, choir members were invited or coaxed to speak for 10 or so minutes about their own lives and what instigated their joining the choir or what brought them to Malta in the case of foreigners. 

Music lovers are essentially artistic people, but never could one have imagined what a variety of backgrounds and interesting and unexpected lives were revealed.

Just to mention some, we were regaled with a rich tapestry of lives of graduate students’ achievements, a selection of the environmental professor’s extraordinary exotic lecture/ travels with her students, lovely sculpted pieces, the vet/author crossword compiler’s rich experiences in different lands, the speech therapist’s passion for regency dancing and performing far and wide.

We listened to two of the choristers/pianists who gave us piano performances. There were tales of work/beginnings in the States, snippets from the life of a former TV director, persistence in studies/ family business, emigration and back with a stop during the Iran hostage crisis, the CERN engineer, an architect’s life experiences, colourful and harrowing family experiences not least the overnight stint spent in a filthy chip after getting lost on a hike…

A screenshot of St Paul Choral Society during a virtual recording of John Rutter’s The Lord Bless and Keep You.

Myriads of choirs all over the world were adopting the practice of setting up virtual choirs

Around Christmastime, needless to say, a cheerful ‘Christmas party’ was held online with all members sitting in front of a Christmas decoration at home and celebrating with their favourite drink. Past choir members also joined in, which was a lovely surprise.

During the first lockdown phase, myriads of choirs all over the world were adopting the practice of setting up virtual choirs: beautiful and entertaining videos of tiled rows of singers, performing from their own homes, stitched into one choral video started appearing all over the web.

The SPCS were keen to do so as well. These videos are hugely time-consuming and costly to produce, necessitating audio/ video editing skills and  software.

Virtual choirs are created through the process of obtaining individual vocal recordings from every singer, and then editing them together in a video editing platform and requiring time, energy, and significant technical know-how.

The choir director took up the challenge and prepared the necessary materials while choristers prepared their own recording at home. The recordings were then sent to one of the best video engineers on the Island, Alec Massa.

The end result was a virtual recording of John Rutter’s The Lord Bless and Keep You which, when launched on the internet, was dedicated to Malta’s healthcare workers.

For the majority of choristers, the impact of COVID-19 on their choral life has been substantial and a big challenge is keeping singers engaged: each director faces “Zoom fatigue”.

Time to unmute came at last in summer when the first live rehearsal of the pandemic was held at the open-air Greek Theatre in Mosta followed by a number of other fortnightly meetings.  The relief and joy of singing together again was palpable, and a short recording of one of these events was relayed on national television. 

The worldwide choral community had been coming together to figure out how the millions of people who sing in a chorus can do so safely. The simplified version of the findings was that in an outdoor or well-ventilated indoor space – with performers masked and practising social distancing – there was no significant risk of COVID-19 infection.

Companies were inventing face masks specifically to facilitate singing and the SPCS’s seamstress provided one such-like mask for the choristers to use.

Within the parameters of the guidelines for choirs as set out by the Office of the Superintendent for Public Health, a reduced choir of some 16 members sang in masks at the All Saints Day service at St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral on November 1, 2020 and a Christmas concert was held, again with a reduced choir and a very limited spaced-out audience at the National Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy at Naxxar on  December 17, 2020.

With the choral world turned upside down, choruses are getting creative. Despite the pandemic, they are learning new music and planning programmes. At the start of the new year, the SPCS began live traditional rehearsals with a difference. 

The rest of the plan will surely slowly unravel as we hope for a return to some degree of normality in the COVID-free future which everyone longs for…