To take uplifting, inspirational and motivational music out into the community to all vulnerable groups of children and adults to bring them the joy of singing together regardless of age, race, culture, religion, financial constraint or disadvantage.
Gemma and Howard Francis - founders and Directors of The BIG Sing and The BIG Sing SOUL Charity.
Please HELP US to fund FREE singing opportunities to use the POWER of music to increase self esteem, improve wellbeing, reduce isolation and bring our communities together.
Here's WHAT we would love to do:
1. SET UP 8 FREE DAYTIME CHOIRS IN 8 COMMUNITIES FOR VULNERABLE ADULTS - but we need £10,000 to keep eight daytime choirs going for a year
2. HOST THREE SCHOOL CONCERTS TO UNITE PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN ACROSS THREE COUNTIES - but we need £12,000 to make this happen
3. PROVIDE FREE INTERGENERATIONAL SINGING WORKSHOPS UNITING NURSERIES & CARE HOMES TOGETHER TO SING - but we need £3,000 to fund 24 projects
And here's HOW we will do it:
1. FREE DAYTIME CHOIRS IN 8 COMMUNITIES FOR VULNERABLE ADULTS
FREE daytime choir rehearsals for vulnerable groups of adults to unite with their community to build confidence, improve their wellbeing, reduce isolation, promote happiness and have some ME time.
The choirs are created using pre recorded rehearsals led by the founders of The BIG Sing Gemma and Howard Francis and will enable us to reach all vulnerable groups in two unique ways:
DAYTIME CHOIRS
Open to everyone ...
- Shift workers who can’t get to an evening choir?
- Adults with a physical disability and find evening transport tricky or fear of the dark and need daytime activities?
- Parents who cannot leave their children at night but can spare a few hours in the day to be THEMSELVES not mum or dad! The children are welcome too as there is space for babies and tots with musical instruments so they can join in.
- Retired and looking for things to do during the day that will keep them connected in the community and create new friendships.
- Whatever their reason our daytime choirs welcome everyone in the community age 16+
We already have two daytime choirs in Essex and we want to introduce many more, creating 'A Community project for the Community'. Listen here to how they Love It!
2. HOST 3 CONCERTS FOR SCHOOLS
Create 3 unique performance opportunities for Primary Schools to unite with The BIG Sing community choirs.
Throughout the pandemic we have provided FREE online School Resources to over 800 schools across the UK and around the world!
Due to their success we are planning THREE regional concerts to get the children united in person singing all of our songs that they learnt online. What a dream it will be to hear their voices as one! We need £12,000 to book three venues and make this happen in Warwickshire, Kent and Essex
Find out about our FREE resources here:
The music resources are pre recorded videos led by expert tutors and provide a valuable tool to use in the classroom or at home to teach singing, movement, body percussion and Makaton all of which come with ready made lesson plans and lyrics. FREE to use when they want, as often as they want and a product to keep year after year creating sustainable resources.
See an example of our resources here:
In today’s climate pop music is becoming darker with more and more lyrics about sex, materialism and greed. We use upbeat pop songs and write our own songs which have motivational and inspirational lyrics to get the children singing happy, positive messages to improve their wellbeing.
We aim to host concerts to unite the children with the BIG Sing Community Choirs to perform together what they have learnt to their families, friends and the wider community.
How wonderful to hear these children perform a song having used our resources!
3. FREE INTERGENERATIONAL SINGING WORKSHOPS
FREE music workshops in nurseries/pre-schools and then take the children to sing with the residents of their local care home to bridge the gap between generations and unite the community to build confidence, improve wellbeing and promote happiness.
We want to re-introduce our face to face workshops where expert led tutors aim to give children activities that encourage marching, rolling, tapping, clapping and moving to the beat. We sing songs that go with simple hand motions or dance moves, including jazzed-up nursery rhymes, modern pop tunes and our own funky self-penned songs.
The children will learn about keeping a steady beat and making coordinated movements; skills that are critical to maths and reading later on. This project benefits children using music/actions to encourage communication/language development, physical development, expressive art and increase their social/emotional development which underpin Early Years Foundation Stage.
See them in action here:
By taking the children to their local care home and singing together with the elderly it improves their social bonding. For the residents it forms friendships, eases loneliness, depression, grief and illness, improves their memory recall to bring joy a smile and make them feel happier.
Watch one of our Intergenerational Workshops here:
Rewards
By supporting this campaign as an extra thank you, we've lined up a range of optional rewards. But the biggest is of course that you get to be part of bringing singing and joy to so many others in your community
Partners
We have received support for our charity from a number of organisations - can you help us? We'd love to talk to you about a possible partnership.