Christmas carols and the sorry state of British singing

At my local carol concert this week, I couldn’t help but despair at the state of the singing. It was just so dire. And it got me thinking: is the same dreadful crooning taking place at churches and carol concerts up and down the country? Are the tone-deaf spoiling age-old songs elsewhere too? If so, it’s a worrying indictment of just how bad British singing has become.

Fortunately, when I was growing up I was always in choirs. Being in the Gluck glitterati, I lived a sheltered life, hidden from the tone deaf and silent myriad. There was never a sermon too dull, or wedding too icky, when I was exposed to the hymn belters. But not any longer; now in the pews, I feel cold and afraid – perhaps because I am without a cassock, but also because others just don’t know how to sing. Or worse, they don’t even try. It seems that many Brits are so wimpy about the whole business of singing.