Cheddington’s St Giles Festival Choir ‘amazed’ by online success of music videos

Like many clubs that have been affected by the pandemic, the choir had to move its sessions on to Zoom to allow practice to continue. But when members experienced a multitude of technological hiccups, it provided some amusing inspiration for a new song.

Choir director Julie Stanley composed ‘The Birth of the Virtual Choir’ and the humorous music video has attracted nearly 150,000 views, boasting fans as far away as India and Australia, and a re-Tweet from television choirmaster, Gareth Malone.

Choir member Sophia Razak, said: “One of our choir members sent a funny email documenting all the problems she’d had and Julie said ‘I’m going to make it into a song!’ We gave her a list and she had written it the next day.

“Thank you to Julie because it was her amazing creativity; her talent and enthusiam are what keeps us all rehearsing every Tuesday.”

The group was also thrilled to receive thousands of views for its beauitful pieces Panis Angelicus, Lamb of God, Alleluia, Bridge over Troubled Water, and Song of Hope, with the latter played on BBC Three Counties Radio.

The videos were cleverly edited together by Sophia and her brother Alistair, who have also worked on a piece called ‘The Virtual Student Ensemble’ with pupils in Buckinghamshire.

Commenting on the St Giles Festival Choir Zoom sessions, Sophia added: “It was really important to keep practising and even though we’ve not been together everyone’s gained more confidence and become closer.

“The Birth of the Virtual Choir brought out other talents and acting skills that we didn’t know people had!”