Oliver Dowden says: We will remove all remaining restrictions from choirs.
Starting July 19.
Quick update from me on choirs pic.twitter.com/DL2NkxSKUR
— Oliver Dowden (@OliverDowden) July 6, 2021
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Huh. IF my choir in Paris restarts in September (to be seen), it will be with distancing, special singers’ masks, shortened rehearsals and limited numbers actually performing. Many of us are vaccinated, too.
Singing, especially together, gives so much pleasure and satisfaction to so many people.
It is a great boost to well being and is enjoyed by performers and listeners alike.
It will be marvellous to have choirs and choruses return, both professional and amateur.
Singing is one of the great communal experiences and an important social leveller. There are no hierarchies in choirs. But it is in terms of the huge gain to mental health that we should all welcome this announcement. It may be unquantifiable in statistical terms but those close to members of choirs will all notice the difference.
About time too.
From zero to 100mph in one fell swoop! He is a complete footie-obsessed twerp…..
Who wants to pay good money for a ticket to a group of people standing in front of you and spraying viruses everywhere? With all we know now about public health and disease spread – not just COVID but anything droplet-borne – I think restrictions on live concerts should remain. Enjoying choral singing should be something we do from listening to recordings, in the safety of our own homes.
This is one of the saddest comments I have ever read on SlippedDisc.
I think that’s sarcasm.
Really?
I’m giving him/her the benefit of the doubt.
[I think that’s sarcasm.]
Sad sign of the times that it’s so hard to tell.
If you are so risk averse, I trust you never leave your house and never, under any circumstances, drive a car, ride a bicycle, or cross a road.
We’re about to find out.
In any event, professional choirs have been allowed to rehearse and perform. Only amateurs and church choirs have been restricted.
St Albans Abbey was full for a concert by Tenebrae yesterday evening.
So far as ‘the science’ is concerned, last year’s research by Declan Costello established that choral singing is no more dangerous than holding a conversation in a pub. Shame the Government refused to follow it.
How stupid!
Hmm not a lot to do with Dowden if all restrictions end on 19th anyway!
Meanwhile, how about doing something useful in allowing UK organisations to tour in the EU?
Sort out permit free travl, sort out cabotage (a tour truck from the UK can make only 2 stops before returning home – 7 city tour anyone?), sort out carnets, sort out CITES permits for instruments…
Should keep you busy for a bit!
We shouldn’t let the fear of mortality stop our way of life.
The picture shows the secret commons game ‘Who can knock-down a table in one go’ which is often played during voting sessions, to calm the nerves.
This has as much to do with science as my old Aunt Fanny
It looks to me as if Bojo and Dowden are auditioning for a job in the Ministry of Silly Walks. All Amateur Choirs and Orchestras in the whole of the UK should be allowed to restart immediately. We have to stop living in this fear culture and move forward. Vaccines should be made compulsory, then we can all live as near normal lives as we can. We need live music to perform and listen to now even more than we ever have in order to start the healing process. Those of us who regularly play in Choirs and Orchestras or smaller ensembles have been denied the joy of meeting our friends and colleagues for long enough now. Is it assumed that amateur musicians aren’t able to handle this as well as professionals? Our souls need nourishing again. It’s a necessary part of being human. Bring it on, Ollie. We’re ready to go.
“Vaccines should be made compulsory…”
Er. If you have had Covid recently, then the vaccine will do nothing. In any case, you only need to have around 70–80 percent taking the vaccine to get herd immunity. Lastly, even taking the vaccine won’t eliminate Covid; and the immunity provided by the vaccine gradually reduces over time.
We are going to have to learn to live with the vaccine, and accept that some people will die from it (mainly but not exclusively those in poor health, those who are seriously overweight, those who don’t eat healthily, those who are older).
With infections rising steeply and even those who are double jabbed still catching Covid, it is surely reckless for choirs to sing without 2m distancing.
We are going to have to pick a point when we start to open up. Whatever date we choose will not be perfect. We can’t keep “kicking the can down the road”.