Photo by Colin Tennant
Congratulations to SoundSational Community Music who won the Milestone Award category. We asked them the following questions.
Tell us more about the choir
SoundSational Community Music is a non profit community arts organisation. We have around 450 per week through our doors and we work with another 200 offsite each week. Our aim is to bring the whole community together through music and arts. We believe that if you can talk, you can sing and that music should be accessible to all walks of life regardless of age, creed, gender, background, race or sexuality. Everyone is welcome at SoundSational Community Music and we are known as the ‘Soul of the Community’. Our current age range at SoundSational is 5 to 82.
At SoundSational, we are more than just a choir, we are a family that looks after one another. Our doors are open 7 days a week, 10am till 10pm. SoundSational works closely with the NHS, See Me, SAMH and many other organisations to help tackle the stigma of mental health, a topic which is very close to our hearts and is the sole reason why SoundSational exists. Many members use our centre as a safe place to be and as a drop in centre. We have our own Youth Forum, which highlights any issues that young people having – not limited to music! – and we act upon these issues to make sure they are getting the help and support with whatever they are experiencing.
We also have a committee of 30 volunteers of all ages, who organise fundraisers and help with the running of our centre. Our old centre was the very first purpose built choir centre in Scotland. It was built by the people who used it, every wall that was painted, every piece of flooring that was laid was done by our members. Amazingly we have now outgrown that building and have just moved to new premises in a new area.
How long has the choir been singing together?
SoundSational Community Music recently just turned 5 years old.
What have has the choir got planned in the next 12 months?
Our plan is to build the choir up even more in the new premises and to record volume 2 of our album. Common Ground Vol 1 is currently available to buy on iTunes!
What has been the highlight of the choir’s singing journey?
Our choir’s biggest achievements to date are being the very first act EVER to open the SSE Hydro! We have many other huge achievements and milestones to be proud of such as performing on the Kings Theatre stage with Michelle McManus, working with real radio, opening the Scottish Charity Awards ceremony and helping raise over £250,000 for other charities through performances and fund raisers. We were finalists in the BBC’s Sport Relief does Glee competition, worked with STV and shared stages with Deacon Blue, The Proclaimers, Edward Reid and many more!
What got the choir first start singing together?
The choir initially started when our Musical Director Tommy out out a Facebook post enquiring if anyone wanted to help start up a choir, 12 people turned up and 5 years on we now have over 140 members.
How does it feel to be the first winner of the award?
We are very proud to be the winner of the milestone award -it is a huge achievement for us. We are delighted to have hit our 5 year anniversary still going strong. Our aim is to get bigger and better and help more people through the power of music.
What are the choir’s favourite songs?
The choir love performing Feel The Spirit. Whether you are religious or not, everyone seems to have an emotional powerful connection with the song. It gets great audience feedback every time the choir performs it as it’s so uplifiting.
What styles of singing do the choir enjoy most?
As we are a multi generational choir it’s important that we cover a wide variety of music. We love singing Italian Opera, timeless classics such as Moon River, gospel and Motown standards Joyful Joyful/Ain’t No Mountain High Enough as well as modern pop numbers like Don’t You Worry Child and Without You.
Read more about SoundSational Community Music at their website
http://www.soundsationalmusic.co.uk
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