Sing Out Bristol Choir Group

Who We Are
A Choir | A Charity | A Community Group | A Performance Group | A Family

What We Do

We sing!  Rehearsals provide a safe, non-judgemental, welcoming place for members to come together on a regular basis to sing for pleasure in a relaxed learning environment. We welcome people at all levels of singing ability and we don’t audition.  So whether you’ve literally never sung before, or you’re a seasoned performer, you’ll be welcomed in with the firm belief that together we sound amazing!

We perform regularly, both at our own Concerts, and at community events that match our aims and objectives. While performing is completely optional, our rehearsals are naturally geared towards learning songs for these events – we want to sound our best in public!  We sometimes include ‘moves’ in our more up-tempo songs. It’s something we like to call choralography, and it involves simple, but effective step and arm movements, that are easily learned but can really enhance our performances.  We are also proud to have a BSL Interpreter on stage with us who signs every word of our annual concerts.  As well as the main choir, in recent years, we have created a smaller choir, Little Sing Out (for which we do hold auditions) to perform at paid gigs, helping support choir funds.

We support the LGBT Community in a variety of ways – by donating performances to Community Events across the South-West, by donating a percentage of any money we make from performances to our chosen charities, and by representing the LGBT Community to the wider public across the South-West UK and beyond.  We were honoured to be asked to perform at the vigil in College Green, Bristol, for victims of the Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre, in 2016 and we have been the opening act at Bristol Pride every year, since 2009.

We support each other – collectively, we’re much more than just singers, we’re a community in and of ourselves, encouraging each other to grow and develop as people, to form friendships, networks and social groups, and to grow in confidence and ability.  We currently have a small number of refugee members, who came to the UK to escape persecution and have found a safe place and enjoyed new experiences with us.

We constantly develop.  As the choir has grown and expanded, we have continued to develop as an organisation.  Our charity status gives opportunities and responsibilities that we take very seriously.  Members are encouraged to get involved in the development of the choir by joining the 12 person strong committee that oversees this, or one of the many groups that contribute to the day to day running and development of the choir.  These range from the amazing Music Direction (MD) team, Choreography team, Creative team (who plan our performances), Communications team, Outreach team, and occasional groups that are formed for specific tasks, such as developing our strategy or creating new policies.  We rely entirely on volunteers (although there is remuneration to reflect the work the MD puts in), and as such there are other ways to contribute to the choir from helping to set up equipment to buying the tea and coffee.  We really are a family that is greater than the sum of its parts!

Where We Meet

We rehearse every Tuesday evening, at an accessible venue in the centre of Bristol each week. In the run up to major performances, we also hold regular section rehearsals in other venues.

Three times a year, we open our doors to hold New Members Evenings, where anyone is welcome to come along (with prior notice) to experience how we operate.  As mentioned, there is no audition, but if you come along, you can expect a very warm welcome, with tea and cake, along with a short performance of some of our more recent songs, and a demonstration of how we learn to sing together.   For more information, visit our links below.

We also meet socially on a regular basis too, both with family friendly events organised by the choir’s Social Team, and more informally for smaller events organised within the membership.  Among our regular events are an annual quiz night, where each section in the choir competes for the coveted Sing Out Trophy, a Summer Picnic on The Downs, Treasure Hunts, Karaoke Nights, 10 Pin Bowling and other informal social evenings.  There is no expectation for members to attend these events, but they are there for those who want them.

We’d love to see you at our next New Members Evening, or at one of our performances…!