18/04/2026
A week in the life! 🎹
I’ve always played piano and sung. I did all the ‘proper’ playing and exams etc but always I’d turn to (mostly) songs from the musicals and have a bit of a sing. It was a skill I wouldn’t have managed without when I became a music teacher.
When I sat down and figured out what inTune was going to be 13 years ago, it wasn’t even a discussion in my head - I would lead it from behind the piano and that was that.
It has its limitations, of course. There are some songs I can’t play and put in the ‘too hard’ basket. There are some that I just don’t feel I can do them justice. It is also a giant pain to carry around everywhere but we have even dragged it around the Isles of Scilly and all manner of other places!! I have joked ‘should have been an acapella choir’ but that’s not my bag. Singing and piano are my bag.
It’s also not the best way to direct a choir, let’s be honest. Ideally a director wants to give their full attention to the choir. But, on the occasions that I have muttered ‘perhaps we should move to backing tracks’ I am greeted with a resounding ‘NOOOOOOOO!’ (I am NOT knocking backing tracks. But it’s not ‘us’).
Performing and gigging choirs with a live piano are becoming a bit of a rarer thing though. I am also seeing more and more male choir directors (here in Cornwall anyway) so all in all, a female led choir with live piano seems to me, a little bit special. Let’s not forget the other things that come with it - lessons in singing technique, lovely concerts and gigs, giggles galore, friendships, shared experiences and……a wonderful sense of achievement.
Join us next week for a brand new song that has a particularly lovely piano part!!!!
Amy ###
