My new singing teacher has pretty much ordered me to find a choir to join, which is annoying because of the time it takes up, but also probably good for my singing.

I was wondering whether other singing students have joined choirs and what your experience was like? Did you find it helped with sight-reading? What about choirs that don't sing a classical repetiore? Are there benefits to a church choir vs a university choir vs a community choir?

There's loads of choirs in Edinburgh, so if I don't get the choral scholarship I've applied for I'm a little overwhelmed with knowing which would be a good one to try to join.

I think it depends on what your aim is in singing - if you want to be a choral singer, then choir is a great way of getting more feeling for harmony and uniformity of sound.

If you want to be a soloist, then choir could be more damaging than helpful - constantly modifying your tone to blend in will do you no favours in the long run.

Are you (will you be?) going to uni in Edinburgh? If so there will almost certainly be a large uni choral soc, and various smaller sized uni run choirs of differing sizes, abilities and snobbishness!

In addition there are bound to be community based ones as well. So what are you aiming at?

I'm in the University of Essex choir. It's a really good choir, under the same conductor as the Royal Choral Society. I find it really good for my sightreading, and it's really fun too! We sing classical repertoire. In terms of being difficult to adapt your tone for singing in choirs, I tend to keep my choral singing and solo practice very separate, almost like learning two separate instruments.

Really you should join as many as you can cope with, as you will get exposed to different styles, different abilities around you, different types of conducting extra sight reading practice, which you can enhance by gently singing/humming along to other parts that are in your range, also doing that really helps you to learn the music as you understand what each different part is doing, it also means that come concert time if one part is short you can chuck in a few essential bars if need be.

I have a place at Edinburgh for September, and yes, they have four choirs of varying sizes and types. There's also a number of other choirs.

I don't really know what I'm aiming at. Something that'll keep my voice in shape, and help with my sightreading. I prefer solo work to choirs, but there's something to be said for starting out in the corp de ballet before graduating to prima ballerina, I think.

Ultimately, I'm aiming to become a singing teacher, so some choral experience will be good for that, I think.

I've been looking at choirs in Manchester ...

for me, a lot depends on how I feel about the way the conductor works with the people. I want to sing, I don't want to spend too long having to listen to people being taught the right notes - I hope they'll read most of them correctly most of the time, I want to learn stuff along the way, I want to be able to SEE where the beats in the bar are likely to come by watching, I want to have fun.

But all this depends on the person at the front with the score.

Lots of choirs have Singing Days so this is a good way to explore without commitment.

I disagree and I think many other professional performers will back me up on this. I try to avoid singing choral stuff wherever possible because it's a different sound entirely, produced in a different way (no use of formant, for a start) - it's not a case of starting off with the basics and then progressing to solo later - many excellent choral voices will never sing solo (primarily because of timbre and formant - or lack thereof) and many excellent soloists will never sing choral, because their voices don't blend.

I'm not saying I'd never do it, but only if someone was desperate for a tenor and it wasn't an ongoing thing.

I do think it's a mistake to consider choral singing as a simplified version of solo singing - the two are quite different beasts.

The best choirs I've worked with have been with conductors who let the singers 'be themselves' - no modifying of tone or blending of soloist-type voices.

Sight-singing comes on in leaps and bounds when you sing in a group, and you can make lots of useful contacts if you're in a higher standard choir.

I know plenty of professional singers find choral singing an essential part of their musical life!

So, for me, it's all in the music director. High quality music directors who understand the voice will attract good singers, which makes for fantastic music-making and unforgettable experiences!

I sort of agree, but I would modify it slightly:

A trained voice should better not sing with any type of amateur choir with mainly untrained voices, because, as you quite rightly say, the voice won't blend in. And it is as bad to hold back than to try too much ...

But: A trained voice can surely sing in a professional choir, and every professional opera (or oratorio) choir consists of fully trained singers who very well know what a formant is and also make use of it (although not that heavily).

Choral and ensemble work is also a major part of every classical singer's studies, and sometimes people even decide that they would rather do this type of work (because the chances for employment are slightly better than for soloists and the income is more reliable). But the degree courses are not different in any way, whether you are trying to be a professional classical soloist or aiming for work in a pro-choir.

So I would not see it that black & white, but you are surely right that a soloist always has to take care with choral work, especially when it is an amateur choir and a (at least semi-) professional voice.

P.S.: Most choirs ARE desperate for (good!) tenors, amateur and professional alike

Don't I know it! Local choirs here are desperate for tenors - I've even been offered a full-time place at the local opera house based on one concert (no audition necessary) - they're really short.

But between teaching and my current performing schedule (major Irish music show at least twice a month and smaller concerts in between) - I just don't have the time.

I do miss classical performance though, and have accepted a couple of engagements as a soloist with a local choir to get my fix!

How female singers wish this would also apply to them, but sadly there's no shortage at all (unless you're a really low alto)

I also know the problem of starting to miss the one thing as soon as I do the other. When I was mainly doing classical work, I wanted to do musical theatre. When I worked in shows, I started missing the classical stuff. Ach well

My singing teacher thought it was detrimental to my singing being in a choir. She told me that generally people become lazy and get into bad habits through this type of singing.

However I've since gone on to join a very good choir where we receive some vocal tuition and always get warmed-up, etc. The choir is full of amazing singers (I have to try damn hard to keep up!) and everyone is very dedicated and I think this effects whether people become lazy or not. Everyone (including our conductor) cares about their voice.

So perhaps it depends somewhat on the choir you join.

If you live in Edinburgh I would highly recommend the Edinburgh Festival Chorus! Christopher Bell (The Chorus Master) also directs the Belfast Philharmonic Choir over here in N.I. and he is amazing to work with! I could not recommend it more! I also know of a member of the Philharmonic over here in N.I who is moving to Scotland and will be joining the festival chorus Once you have experienced a rehearsal with Christopher you will be surprised at how fast time passes as he is funny but also gets a lot of work done to achieve high standards

Some choral societies may also possibly offer 'Open Rehearsals' which allows you to experience a rehearsal before committing to an audition or membership. If any in Edinburgh do so it may be interesting to attend these to see if singing in choral societies is really for yourself, or to see which society you feel you will fit into more