Did anyone watch the start of Gareth Malones new 'Choir' series on Mondays ? Once again he showed himself to be the archtypical 'Mr Motivator' , and thought he did pretty well with them in short space of time.
I am going to start a separate thread on the chapel organ there.

Yup - Watched it last night.

I think I got a particular buzz out of it being a female choir - round here it's mostly male voice - which sounds lovely, but it was great to see the ladies get a turn.

I hope they show a bit more of rehearsals in future episodes. The impression I'm sure a lot of people would get is that you can get to be pretty good and sing in a concert on about 2 rehearsals, having never sung as a choir before. I enjoyed it, loved the piece they sang in the pannier market.

I run a 'happy, amateur, no-audition' women's choir and so loved seeing how the women coped with suddenly singing in a choir and all the personality foibles which can often be so important in a choir.

The 'military wives' side of it was very moving too . . .

Blast - I missed it!

I imagine its on again on Monday

Part two (of three) is on on Monday. Part one will be on iplayer

I watched it midweek on iplayer (via www.bbc.co.uk) and I think it was going to be available for three weeks rather than the usual one. Well worth watching. If you've never thought what it would be like to be married to a man on active military service this is an eye and ear-opener. Gareth Malone is doing a great job. I hope every MP who thinks music doesn't matter will see it.

finally caught up with this yesterday, enjoyed the previous series of this and am going to enjoy this one too. Very moving first episode.

Another great program last night. First he combines Chivenor with the Plymouth ladies, then gets to perform at the passing out parade at Sandhurst ! One program left I think next Monday.
(oops, I nearly did a Sgt Crabtree with 'passing out parade' )

Morning everybody

Does anyone know what the theme music to this show is? I think its great and would like to get it for my iPod.

I'm loving this programme! It's very moving and made me cry! I love that he's using singing to bring these ladies together at such a difficult time. The lady who sang a solo at Sandhurst this week was very brave! She went from not even being able to sing in front of Gareth, to singing in front of lots of officers!

Last Episode tonight 9pm

My daughter reminded me about this with great excitement this morning. We don't watch much TV, but this is one programme that she is prepared to stop Facebooking, Twittering etc for so we can watch together.(Mind you, we will probably have to watch it on iplayer as I will be out recorder playing tonight.)

Wonderful final programme. And very moving too, even for a well worn fellow like me.
There just nothing else to add!

This was a set of programmes that I was prepared to sit in my upstairs office and watch on the PC (BBC iplayer).
The time was well spent - super subject, well edited and presented, and some pretty good singing to boot!

When I got home from recorders I found she was already settled down in front of the TV and watching without me and I'd missed the first 20 minutes (now caught up on iPlayer). I really enjoyed the series, but would be interested to know if and how the choir kept going after Gareth left.

I thought it was brilliant and don't mind admitting it brought tears to my eyes. Reports are that there is going to be record out in the next few days of the choir performing the song they sang in the Albert Hall - a certain number one hit for Xmas no doubt. I hope it raises thousands of pounds for Help the Heroes or whatever charity they choose.
The choir will inevitably be pretty busy with guest appearances etc over the next few weeks!

My choirmaster led the group's tribute to Gareth, "Thank you for the music".

Halka, they only recorded that show a few weeks ago so it's too early to say whether the choir kept going. I'm sure they will.

Yes. The choice of tenses in my previous post wasn't good. Nevertheless, I wonder about this kind of programme where charismatic character breezes in, changes lives, and breezes out again leaving an almighty gap to fill, and everyone feeling - after all the excitement - rather flat (I imagine). Is your choirmaster going to take over Gareth's role?

Next Mon on BBC2 - The Choir:Unsung Town Revisited, in which Gareth returns to South Oxhey. At the end of the previous series ( 2009?) they asked him to stay on as choir master, and I think he agreed. It'll be interesting to catch up, anyhow. The man needs a clone. ( Or maybe.....?)

Thanks for that reminder.

I too found the programme incredibly moving. It even made me think for a split second about joining a choir.....

I don't know what happened to the Chivenor and Plymouth military wives choir, but Gareth's program has inspired the formation of more military wives choirs in the south west.