Sound Waves Community Choir
An early picture of Sound Waves Choir
Singathon 2009
In January 2009, four singing friends met for coffee and explored the idea of creating a new kind of singing opportunity for people in Hastings and the surrounding area.
Madeleine, Davina, Jill and Jan together wrote their mission statement envisioning what they would love to happen. The four cornerstones of this new choir would be that it would be run by its members for the members, attempt to foster a genuine sense of community by being open to all and have fun, raise money for local charities from our performances and find a way to enjoy different styles and genres of music.
This forms the heart of how the Choir is still run today.
For the first seven years Sound Waves operated on the basis of inviting local musicians to direct a series of sessions through the year. The genres experienced classical/opera, jazz/blues, Pop, Sea shanties, Gospel and World music. The dedication of the elected committee ensured the choir became really successful with strong support from members.
By 2015, it was decided that we should appoint an MD who could take the choir forward whilst still embracing the core values of Sound Waves. Debbie was unanimously selected and she has proved to be a talented, dedicated MD who has provided an incredibly wide variety of genres: country, medieval, musical theatre, soul, folk, rock, opera, classical, swing, vocal, plus a spectrum of popular music from the last 100 years. She plans for two amazing concerts each year which are always hugely successful – both musically and as a performance.
Throughout lockdown, Debbie continued to lead the choir on-line, then coming together outside in a community garden and eventually back to our usual venue at the Salvation Army hall.
The choir continues to invite guest MDs for short sessions and workshops. We also, alongside our fund-raising concerts for our chosen charity each year, support community events in other ways – in particular, The Big Sing for St Michael’s hospice and a Butler’s Gap performance during the Old Town carnival week. In 2023, we took part in Hastings Music Festival gaining a very well deserved third place with honours.
We are proud of our choir and how it has developed so successfully over the years. We are equally proud of our fund raising for local charities which to date has totalled over £22,000.
An early picture of Sound Waves Choir
Singathon 2009
In January 2009, four singing friends met for coffee and explored the idea of creating a new kind of singing opportunity for people in Hastings and the surrounding area.
Madeleine, Davina, Jill and Jan together wrote their mission statement envisioning what they would love to happen. The four cornerstones of this new choir would be that it would be run by its members for the members, attempt to foster a genuine sense of community by being open to all and have fun, raise money for local charities from our performances and find a way to enjoy different styles and genres of music.
This forms the heart of how the Choir is still run today.
For the first seven years Sound Waves operated on the basis of inviting local musicians to direct a series of sessions through the year. The genres experienced classical/opera, jazz/blues, Pop, Sea shanties, Gospel and World music. The dedication of the elected committee ensured the choir became really successful with strong support from members.
By 2015, it was decided that we should appoint an MD who could take the choir forward whilst still embracing the core values of Sound Waves. Debbie was unanimously selected and she has proved to be a talented, dedicated MD who has provided an incredibly wide variety of genres: country, medieval, musical theatre, soul, folk, rock, opera, classical, swing, vocal, plus a spectrum of popular music from the last 100 years. She plans for two amazing concerts each year which are always hugely successful – both musically and as a performance.
Throughout lockdown, Debbie continued to lead the choir on-line, then coming together outside in a community garden and eventually back to our usual venue at the Salvation Army hall.
The choir continues to invite guest MDs for short sessions and workshops. We also, alongside our fund-raising concerts for our chosen charity each year, support community events in other ways – in particular, The Big Sing for St Michael’s hospice and a Butler’s Gap performance during the Old Town carnival week. In 2023, we took part in Hastings Music Festival gaining a very well deserved third place with honours.
We are proud of our choir and how it has developed so successfully over the years. We are equally proud of our fund raising for local charities which to date has totalled over £22,000.
