Conductor's secret? Humour re-choired

LAUGH A MINUTE: Angela Cook (left), with Sally Chamberlain, puts her success down to telling jokes.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

One conductor's sense of humour could be the reason Masterton-based choir Wairarapa Singers is thriving.

Having never conducted before, Angela Cook joined the group in 2012 and puts her success at the role down to not being a professional.

Mrs Cook said the choir were a "neat bunch" of people but mainly she liked working with them because they laughed at her jokes.

"I filled in while the old conductor was away and I think the choir thought I was quite funny."

Wairarapa Singers president Sally Chamberlain said since Mrs Cook had taken on the choir the energy of the group had become more vibrant.

"We love her sense of humour, that's what hooked us in, we wanted laughter.

"There was a different conductor and a different committee and the whole feel of the choir was completely different ... it wasn't a cohesive feel, put it that way."

Mrs Cook said the unified feel the choir now experienced could be down to her unorthodox methods.

"They hadn't had that experience before that the conductor should mingle in the break and contact people between rehearsals to go out for coffee ... you can't put yourself on a pedestal and expect people to respond to that because it just doesn't work, well that's my experience.

"You have got to get alongside people and walk with them and not try to direct them from above."

As well as preparing for and running the choir rehearsals, Mrs Cook is heavily involved with her church and is a full-time piano and voice coach.

"I've got my finger in a lot of pies," she said.

Originally from Manchester, England, Mrs Cook and her family migrated to New Zealand in 1993, first living in Palmerston North and then moving to Masterton seven years ago.

Mrs Cook and her husband David, a specialist working at Wairarapa Hospital, have four children and "lots of grandchildren".

Despite living in Masterton, the music teacher still splits her time with Palmerston North as her students refused to let her desert them when she told them she was moving south.

Mrs Cook said she had been persistently talked into the conducting role by choir member and doctor Owen Prior, who belonged to the same church as her.

When it comes to the group's weekly rehearsal Mrs Cook runs a tight ship.

"We take it seriously but with a light-hearted touch," she said. Mrs Cook had introduced an extended tea break specifically for joking around.

"As soon as we start rehearsals there's no chatting."

Mrs Chamberlain said she loved the companionship and the strong bond between choir members.

"We have got people in our choir who have had strokes, who find when they have come to rehearsal and have done some singing they feel so different afterwards ... more alert, vibrant and positive."

Mrs Cook thinks "every single person in the world should do something musical".

"What music does, because it uses a different section of the brain, it can actually re-energise you. When you re-energise one side of the brain it gives the other side a proper rest.

"It's been scientifically proven that it is absolutely impossible to be miserable when you're singing."

Wairarapa Singers are currently rehearsing for a Proms concert, which will be performed with the Masterton District Brass Band.

Anybody interested in joining Wairarapa Singers has until the end of the month to sign up if they want to be part of the November show.

"We're always looking for more men - we have got lots of women, alto and soprano but [need] tenor and bass.

"If there's any men out there who want to meet some other men who like singing and lots of ladies then our choir is the place."