Voices Weaving project celebrate music in the north of England | Making Music

Voices Weaving project celebrate music in the north of England

Creative producer Holly Hunter and composer Michael Betteridge reflect on their music co-creation project Voices Weaving.

This project brought together eight choirs to take part in a series of workshops with the aim of writing their own lyrics and setting them to music. Besides collaborating with composer Michael Betteridge, each choir worked with a poet and movement director: the result is a unique performance video, to be watched alongside a filmed recitation of the poem.

The aim of the project was to equip leisure-time musicians with the skills and confidence to create their own music with others, and celebrate the joy of singing with others.

'We launched Voices Weaving after the pandemic, to encourage people to come together again and process their feelings of isolation and sadness after the lockdowns, and we were bowled over by the response: now, in 2024-5, there is still so much value in coming together as a community to express our identity through music and poetry. Facilitating a co-creation project like Voices Weaving allows every choir member to have an input and express themselves creatively, and in turn rebalances some of the hierarchical structures that exist in many traditional choral music projects in the UK.' - Holly Hunter, producer

'Projects like Voices Weaving encourage people to venture out of their comfort zone and even those who don't consider themselves to be 'composers' can write music, create poetry, and work together to share powerful art. These eight music videos, and eight poetry films, represent the true diversity of choirs and singing groups across England today. It's been a joy to work with them to bring their stories and ideas to life.' - Michael Betteridge, composer

The newly-composed songs are available to download from the Voices Weaving website, with the aim that choirs across the country will have access to these unique pieces, alongside resources created by Michael Betteridge to help singers learn the music.

The project centres choirs which have an emphasis on community cohesion and well being, and celebrates different groups of singers of all ages and backgrounds including a youth choir (Rochdale Music Service Youth Choir), a choir of LGBTQ+ singers (Electric Pink Voices), and choirs offering friendship and support to asylum seekers (Asylum Link Merseyside and Bradford Friendship Choir).

Electric Pink Voices performing 'built of floating seeds'

Mandla performing 'built of floating seeds'

The full list of choirs who took part (click through to see their music videos) and the poets and spoken word artists they were matched with are:

Voices Weaving was funded by Arts Council England, with project partners Making Music and Poetry Society.

Find out more about Voices Weaving on their website and follow them on YouTube and Instagram; follow composer Michael Betteridge on Instagram

Find out more about the choirs and follow them on social media:

Find out more about the poets and follow them on social media:

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