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A Bristol conductor has set up the a ‘Quarantine Choir’ so people affected by the coronavirus outbreak can continue to enjoy singing.

Ben England is a choral conductor and orchestral director for a number of choirs and orchestras across the Bristol area including Nailsea and Thornbury, working with hundreds of singers each week.

But after rehearsals were cancelled due to coronavirus, Ben, 43, from Patchway, developed a novel way of keeping people singing – by launching a Quarantine Choir.

“When I saw that so many rehearsals were being cancelled I wanted to do something to keep people singing,” said Ben.

“Many of those in the choirs are older people who would perhaps be on their own if they weren’t at rehearsals, or perhaps they are carers for disabled spouses or children and the rehearsals are their only time out of the house.

“One of the ladies in my Nailsea choir sent me a Christmas card, and she just wrote on the envelope “Wednesday afternoons have become a lifeline".

“I just couldn’t have these friends of mine sitting on their own, feeling isolated.”

Ben has set up a YouTube channel where he has recorded tutorials, warm up sessions, games and advice on singing techniques for people to enjoy.

People logging onto the Quarantine Choir are invited to learn one song per session.

Those taking part are also invited to comment and suggest songs to learn in future weeks.

He is also now planning to create a virtual choir experience where a backing track is uploaded to YouTube and people can record themselves – either a video or a sound file – of them singing along on their phones.

The clips can then be uploaded to the site where Ben will combine them together.

'These are unprecedented times'

“It’s a great way of everyone being able to sing together and to be able seeing so many faces getting involved,” he said.

“These are unprecedented times and this is looking at how we can all enjoy singing in a different way.”

And it is not just locally where the Quarantine Choir is proving popular.

People as far away as Iraq, France and the Netherlands have also been getting involved.

Ben is also planning to set up live streaming on the channel.

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The Quarantine Choir has been set up under the umbrella of HomeChoir, a upcoming project Ben was already working on to offer online choir rehearsals, tutorials and workshops.

“I was working on an idea before the coronavirus,” he said.

“And it’s taken off from there.”

Ben also hopes to develop the idea so HomeChoir can be used in other settings such as care homes and schools.

“We don’t know how long we are going to feel the impacts of the coronavirus for,” he said.

“But this is a way to keep everyone singing and connected with each other during this difficult time.”

To take part in Ben’s choir, you can visit his YouTube channel here.