THE LONDON WELSH MALE VOICE CHOIR

By Ian Edwards

We love to sing.

How?  In four-part harmony and in tune (when we’re in the mood). Also, we choose to sing without a musical score, which means that all the hymns and arias have to be learned by heart. This takes time, sometimes years, and often demands dedicated, painstaking rehearsals in a variety of clubs, pubs and bars to achieve the required standard. (Some of us have been known to sing in the bath, but it’s not quite the same on your own). Without such rehearsal, how could we dare to perform in front of a paying audience in some of the world’s most renowned concert halls, chapels, churches and even cathedrals? Come to think of it, singing without the accompaniment of a musical instrument, a band or an orchestra, is often the most effective, natural, and spiritual of all male voice choir expression.

Why?  We sing for selfish reasons. Not for praise and not for money, but for the sheer pleasure and fun, the hwyl of it. The unique sound quality of a male voice choir is to be enjoyed for its own sake. The American poet Wallace Stevens summed it up neatly when he said: “Music is feeling, then, not sound.” There are moments in rehearsal, and sometimes in performance, when powerful feelings are felt deeply – not often, perhaps, but they do occur, and when they do, we crave more of these rare moments that vibrate in the memory. We can lose ourselves completely in the combination of the melody, the words and the harmony, and it is probably why the London Welsh Male Voice Choir is more than a hundred years old. If we manage to entertain an audience in the process, so much the better.

Where?  We will sing anywhere, from a local church or chapel to Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. We have also been privileged to sing in many of the great cathedrals of the land, where the echo is longer, providing a deeper and more thrilling experience. It brings us closer to musical heaven. It all stems, however, from the London Welsh Centre in London’s Gray’s Inn Road, where we receive our weekly injection of hymns and arias. It’s in the blood, you see, but from time to time we need the occasional transfusion of inspiration, and favourite places like the Royal Albert Hall and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium provide the required mix of red - and green - blood cells. No wonder that hymn singing was such a fundamental part of the Nonconformist Revivals.

When?  A rehearsal once a week at the London Welsh Centre, a concert on average once a month, the occasional trip to France, Italy, the USA or to Cardiff to support the Welsh rugby team, and the phenomenon of “The Après”. The choir has dignified the French adverb by turning it into a noun, to describe the event that invariably follows a concert. “The Après” fulfils the needs of those of us for whom the demands of a concert performance are never enough. It feeds on a pint or three of bitter in a tolerant hostelry, and by definition seldom takes more than ten minutes before spontaneous inspiration takes over, and all the hymns that should have been sung at the concert, but weren’t chosen by the Music Committee, are given can belto. (Look it up, or better still, come and sing with us at the London Welsh Centre every Thursday. You don’t have to be Welsh, but it helps.)

February 2010