Press articles regularly feature complaints about the poor coverage of music on television. You can see the point when the BBC even treats its own Choir of the Year competition so meanly, squeezing a pre-recorded and edited version of the final into a 90 minute slot on BBC 4. When acres of screen time, and radical restructurings of primetime schedules, are devoted to so-called ‘sports’ like snooker or darts, it’s depressing to feel that this is a demonstration of what the BBC thinks of its audience’s priorities.

Winners The Wellensian Consort (photo: Choir of the Year)

After all, choral singing has rarely been so popular, partly thanks to the ‘Glee’ phenomenon. Over 125,000 singers from more than two thousand choirs took part in this year’s competition. And, even in its truncated and non-live format, the final was as inspiring and uplifting as ever. You can take it for granted that the technical accomplishment and the musicianship will both be of a very high order. What was fascinating was the youth of so many of the members of the final six choirs, the huge social, demographic and geographic range that they represented, and the fact that many of those finalist choirs had formed very recently, with less than two years of working together to reach such an extraordinary high standard.

Of course, there’s a very strong choral tradition in the Highlands and Islands, especially in the Gaelic world, but also through a host of local choral societies. Think of the St Magnus Choral Society which, under Glenys Hughes’ direction, brings together a remarkable body of singers from a total Orkney population of just 20,000. But is enough being done, across the area, to ensure that young people get the chance to become involved in singing, and will funding cuts further reduce the opportunities for singing in schools? Although they didn’t win, for me the most impressive choir in the final of Choir of the Year was the Warwickshire Schools Boys Choir, which fielded no less than sixty incredibly disciplined and enthusiastic young lads, with a director who clearly deserves an OBE in the next Honours list.

Mind you, age is no barrier to singing. There’s a wonderfully eccentric and touching Norwegian film called ‘Cool and Crazy’ which tells the true story of how a male voice choir is the one factor which holds together a small community in the far north of the country, where the fishing industry has collapsed. At least two members of that choir were, at the time of filming, in their 80s.

And I’ve returned to singing myself, for the first time since 1972, when I was the Pirate King in my school’s end-of -term production of ‘The Pirates of Penzance’. I’ve been taking lessons with opera singer Reno Troilus, and it’s been a fascinating and scary experience, as within just a few weeks of starting he had me tackling arias by Bach and Handel which I’ve loved for most of my life, but never thought I’d be able to sing. Not that I’m quite ready for any public appearances yet…

So, come on BBC, give music its proper due and don’t be ashamed of the wonderful projects that the Corporation actually supports! After all, if we’re all supposed to be active members of the Big Society, what better model could there be than taking part in amateur, communal music-making, where each participant suppresses their own individuality in the interests of achieving a greater whole? As the Psalmist said, ‘O let the nations be glad, and sing for joy’.

© Robert Livingston, 2010