+ Find out a little more about ORA's commissioning

ORA Singers is a group that explores music across history, from the Renaissance period (c. 1400- 1600) to Contemporary choral works (the music of today!). We believe both of these time periods have created some of the best choral music in the world, and so we perform music from both of these periods alongside each other; a presentation of the old vs. the new in our concerts and album recordings. If you've not yet listened to much choral music, why not start with the early composers, like William Byrd, Thomas Tallis and Palestrina, and explore the more unusual and daring composers such as Gesualdo or Lobo. There are some excellent playlists out there, or if you're looking to start right now, why not enjoy these ones we've handpicked for you below.

+ Find out more about live music near you

Going to see your favourite band live is so much better than listening to their album at home. It’s the experience of being there, having a shared experience with the people around you, hearing the music there and then, in that moment. Listening to live music is a really important experience!

Concerts near you:

• Check out the local venues and make a note of when bands/groups/orchestras are performing.

• Try sites such as Concert Diary which list upcoming concerts and their location, some of which are free.

• Sign up to the newsletters of your favourite groups and Artists- they often post about ticket discounts, open rehearsals or free ticket promotions in here.

• If you don’t like anywhere near a concert venue, try live streaming. Lots of Artists stream live through Facebook or Youtube, but also try out platforms such as the Berliner Philarharmoniker Digital Concert Hall, Exit Live , The BBC Proms season on TV each summer, or the London Symphony Orchestra’s live streamed concerts.

+ Find out more

• Is there a local church where you can visit to hear rehearsals, evensong, or even the organist rehearse?

• Do your neighbours play an instrument, perhaps you could ask to listen whilst they practise?

• Are there any gig venues nearby where you could watch the bands rehearse?

• Could you form a group together with some friends and have a go at singing?

• Could you ask your school teacher about joining or starting a new club or ensemble?

• Or even spend a day on youtube watching videos of concerts from around the globe!

If you’re reading this and you’d love to get more involved with music making, don’t be discouraged if some doors are shut for you. There may be some hurdles in the way: your local orchestra may need you to audition, or there may not be a music teacher at your school for you to ask about, or you might just have no idea where to start.

Why not check out our friends over at Making Music, a national charity aimed at engaging more people in amateur music making, who have a tonne of information on their website under 'Get involved'. In particular, you might find useful their sections on 'Finding a group' and 'Opportunities' to find out more about music making in your local area.

+ Learn more about the significance and importance of singing.

• Singing different parts in a choir awakens your harmonic muscles

Writing music from scratch can be tricky. When you sing music regularly, you are constantly learning from the composers whose works you perform. Perhaps you loved that cadence that you sang last week, and thought it was really clever how the altos resolved the suspension, or how the basses consistent pedal created a beautiful effect when the other voices changed note. Drawing from this inspiration is vital in terms of feeding your compositional appetite. Nearly all of musical composition is remixing other's ideas, collating different sources of inspiration, deciding how to rework them and producing a 'new' product. Singing regularly gives you lots of new ideas, even if it's just working out how you don't want to compose!

• Knowing your voice gives you realistic insight into composing for the voice

When you know how to sing, this really informs your choral composing. You learn what is difficult, what is enjoyable to sing, and what kind of writing really puts you off! This helps you relate to the performers who will sing your work and empathise with what they do. It will also leave you with a huge sense of appreciation for their talent- when you realise how difficult certain aspects of singing can be, and how well they still pull it off! The more you sing, the more this will stop you making huge compositional mistakes, and enable you to write feasible but challenging new works. Just because someone can sing does not mean they can automatically compose, but knowing your instrument well certainly improve the writing. Think of all the work actors do when taking on a new role! They have to look into terminology related to their characters and their professions, perhaps learn a new accent, interview people who can offer insight into their characters, or even take up the job of their character in order to experience what it might be like working in that role! If you're desperate to write for voice, but not a keen singer yourself, look at this as research into your new role and become immersed in the culture...

• Singing is the easiest way to get involved with music making

Musical instruments are expensive, but guess what... your voice is free! Singing is also really fun, and lots of studies say that joining a local choir can really boost your happiness, sense of community, and means making a whole new group of friends. Music should be for the masses, and is something we all enjoy listening to. Have you ever met someone who said 'I don't like music'? Get involved in making some music yourself, gain confidence and get to grips with learning a new skill.

+ Here are just a few other ways for you join in

• Raid charity shops

Charity shops are often full of abandoned instruments, sheet music, and cheap solutions to music making. If you still own a CD player, you can buy albums of incredible music for a very low cost. Perhaps you might find a recorder and beginner books there, which you could buy and see if you can teach yourself the basics? There are often lots of piano scores in charity shops too, why not buy a few and have a go at looking at the ways in which the composers were writing, or take a snippet of melody and write your own accompaniment?

• Talk with musicians

Musicians have a wealth of knowledge that they are able to share with you. If you want to write a new piece of music, the best thing you can do is speak to someone who plays that instrument! Mozart wrote for the whole orchestra but only played a select few instruments; this means he had to research how to write for those other instruments. You can learn a lot by talking to musicians about the challenges of their instrument and by asking them what their favourite pieces of compositional writing are. Don’t be afraid to approach any musicians you might know, music teachers, performers at the end of a concert, or even write a comment in your favourite Youtube video!

• Look at scores

There are lots of free resources online, including access to scores. Seeing how other composers write gives you invaluable insight into their compositional expertise. It also provides you with a framework about how to present your scores, as the music needs to be readable by the performer! Music publishers such as Edition Peters allow you to preview the start of the score before you buy, or websites such as the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP) give you access to thousands of parts, scores and compositions currently out of copyright.

• Be the stage manager, sort out the music, make the tea!

There are other aspects to music making outside of performing. You can learn a lot about how music groups work by taking part in an administrative role for an organisation, and spending time around all that music making and other musicians will often help you to develop as a musician yourself. If you’ve never learnt an instrument or composed before, this is a great way for you to take your first steps in the world of music making.

+ Read some more on writing exercises!

Writing exercises are like practise runs. Just like a painter might do a study before they embark on a major painting, or a whole series of studies, a composer might do some sample sketches of ideas before they think about writing a new piece. Particularly when you are starting out, don’t be afraid to try out new ideas in melody, rhythm and harmony, and structure/design or concept. When you write a melody, ask yourself whether you need to write a rhythm, or can you pick out a series of notes you’d like? Or you might focus on rhythmic writing, and later add in the melody. Here are some different ways you could explore having a go at starting a composition…

• Melody, tune or line - Why not have a go at coming up with a short melody? It’s always great to write something down in pencil so that you can explore and change ideas. Music software often locks you into a time signature and key signature, and then stops you thinking creatively. Instead why not go for a walk, or sit at the piano and try a few things out. Perhaps then look at your simple melody and try writing an accompanying line. It's likely your melody line is written for a soprano, so maybe work out what the alto might do alongside it? You'll find once you have two lines working then the other voices are much easier to slot in. Play around with different textures, or perhaps rewrite your melody into the relative key (major or minor) or change the time signature. Alter the speed, or dot the rhythms so it sounds more like a dance, or slow the melody line down into long semibreves and write an interesting bass line underneath. There are so many ways to write interesting music from a single source of inspiration- your original melody!
  
  

• Rhythm- Why not have a go at tapping out a series of different rhythms, or writing a series of notes and then assign them different length notes. Play around with this to see what sorts of different effects you can create.
  
  

• Pulse- When you vary the speed it totally changes the feel of the piece. Have you ever sung ‘Happy Birthday’ really, really slowly? It changes from the mood of celebratory to sombre. Think about changing the pulse to see which how whether fast or slow would work best for your composition. Some melodies might be too tricky to perform at a very fast speed, or at a really slow speed there would need to be space for breaths. Have a go at trying out lots of different pulses.
  
  

• Harmony- We often feel like harmony operates by lots of ‘rules’ and set guidelines, but harmony is essentially how different notes sound when played together. Why not try putting notes together 2 notes, and then 3 notes, and 4 and 5, and see what sounds you like. What does it sound like? Is is positive, withdrawn, angry, bright, scary? Experiment with the different effects you can get. Perhaps then change one of the notes- how has this impacted on the sound world?