Hayley answers some questions about The Igloo Choir

Ivan Prothero of The Portsmouth News recently interviewed some choir members about our new song Call The Changes

Who’s idea was it to produce the song?

Dielle had the idea to write the song to celebrate the 900th year of the Wickham church, we had also been discussing writing a song to celebrate Igloos 10 year anniversary so we combined the two by adding the number element

How difficult has the pandemic made the practice & recording?

Being together in person is always wonderful so we have all missed this face to face contact but we are so grateful for the magic of zoom keeping a sense of normality and allowing us to produce some really special things over lockdown

Why did you make the song?

To celebrate the 900th year of St Nicholas church in Wickham, many special celebrations had been planned to celebrate that had be cancelled, am really proud that we have produced something to mark the occasion

How pleased are you with the final version?

I absolutely love the finished version, its hard to believe we all recorded ourselves at homes on our phones, the quality is really good and sounds so good, I’m so proud to have been part of it.

How important was learning and trying to ring the bells to the song?

This was an amazing experience, so much fun but way harder to do than you would imagine. It was great to hear from the bell ringers about the different peels, this became a big part of the song.

Has this project helped people through the lockdown?

It’s such a positive thing to have come out of lockdown and helped us all feel together even when we were forced to be apart. It was something to focus on, learning the song, rehearsing it and recording.

Who’s idea was it to use a virtual background?

It was Dielle’s idea to use the virtual backgrounds, which was a learning curve for all of us having not used them before. I think changing the background throughout the song really works well, and using photos of the church is a lovely touch. Another bonus was that I got to dig out my wedding dress and by the magic of camera it looks like its too big for me when in actual fact having not worn it for 14 years it was a little difficult to squeeze into!!!

Categorised in: Choir, Singing, Song Writing