Choirs Against Cancer

Crowdfunder Page

#ChoirsAgainstCancer is a project that invites the whole choral singing community to join together during the festive period to support Macmillan Cancer Care. We are making a brand new choral piece by Jamie W. Hall available for free and without any limitations to choirs everywhere who will then use their performances to support the work of this fantastic charity.
A cancer diagnosis is among the darkest of life’s moments, and the following months and years of treatment can be incredibly tough. As choral singers, we KNOW the incredible power of community singing to bring light and relief in these moments.
O Nata Lux is a brand new choral piece in versions for SATB, SAB (for limited numbers of low voices or a cambiata part), SA, SSAA, and ATBarB, so you can choose a version which works best for your choir, and since this text is not just for Christmas, you can perform the piece at any time between now and Candlemas (February 2024) when the project ends.
Using this piece you can raise funds in whatever way is best for you and there is no minimum donation but we’d obviously like you to be as generous as you can. From a simple donation, a choir whip-round, a retiring collection, a percentage of ticket sales, or simply asking your online followers to support the cause – there are many ways that you can take part.
Singing new music is an exciting part of every choir’s experience and well worth the small cost of buying copies, but here the music is free so that you can support this fantastic charity at no extra cost to you or your choir, and that means more money for Macmillan! Visit their website to learn more about the work they do. http://www.macmillan.org.uk/
So what next? Simply download the PDF of the carol and the rest is up to you. There’s no sign-up, no conditions, no rules… We just want you to enjoy singing it and get on with raising those all-important funds.

Click Here to view, download and print a pdf of the score.

To view our progress and to make your donations, visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/choirsagainstcancer

BREAKING NEWS

Jamie is also teaming up with digital choir Homechoir to give everyone worldwide the chance to sing his beautiful O Nata Lux for Choirs Against Cancer. Those who are isolated through geography, practicality or health issues can learn and record the piece from home, with a particular focus on those living with cancer who may feel too ill or be too immunocompromised to go to choir rehearsals in person.
Homechoir is open to everybody worldwide and so if you would like to take part, all you need to do is learn O Nata Lux with Homechoir’s Musical Director Ben England, follow his easy instructions to record yourself singing it, and send your recording to Homechoir by Wednesday 25 October 2023 at 11.55pm UK time. Their amazing sound engineers will mix everyone’s recordings together and Ben will play the final international recording of O Nata Lux in December! All of the information and resources you need are available on Homechoir’s website at: https://homechoir.org/sing-and-send/choirsagainstcancer
Homechoir’s O Nata Lux ‘Sing & Send’ project is free, although Ben and Jamie would be very grateful if those who take part could donate to the Choirs Against Cancer Crowdfunder page.

Jamie would love to hear about your performances through his Twitter feed [@JWHallBaritone], and you can make donations via the Crowdfunder page at any time up to February 5th 2024 or afterwards direct to Macmillan.

A WORD FROM JAMIE “Back in 2016 something amazing happened. I offered a new carol to choirs, for free, hoping that we might raise a little bit of money for a good cause – and people just ran with the idea. So many choirs took part, and together we raised over £17,000!
Since then the world has become a much darker place – political uncertainty, civil unrest, a global pandemic, the decimation of the arts industry, war in Europe – and still people live with the devastating effects of cancer. My O Nata Lux is all about light shining in the darkness and I hope that we, together, can recreate the magic from 2016 to bring light to people who are experiencing one of life’s darkest moments.”


History

Dancing Day was a project for Christmas 2016 which made a brand new Christmas carol by Jamie W. Hall available for free and without any limitations to choirs everywhere who could then use their performances to support the amazing work of Macmillan Cancer Support.

Sleep, my Jesu is an accessible and beautiful Christmas lullaby for unaccompanied SATB and is available for SSAA or in transposition for ATBarB, as well as in a version for unison voices with piano or organ accompaniment.

CLICK HERE to see the score, HERE for the SSAA version, HERE for the ATBarB version, HERE for the TTBB version, HERE for the unison/accompanied version in the original key, or HERE for the same version transposed down a whole tone in D flat.

Hear a fantastic performance here from The Queen’s Six.

 Sleep, my Jesu, sleep – Safe in thy manger bed,

Mother her watch to keep, Cattle to warm the shed.

Shepherds gazing wonderingly – Angels singing joyfully,

Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Mother’s arms to cradle you, Mother’s voice singing…

Sleep, my Jesu, sleep – safe from all thoughts of the grave,

Mother to watch and to weep, all of mankind to save.

Washed our souls of Adam’s stain – Angels sing their glad refrain,

Gloria, Gloria in excelsis Deo.

Mother’s arms to cradle you, Mother’s voice singing Lully Lulla.


SEE A LIST OF 2016 PERFORMANCES


Here’s where the idea for Dancing Day came from.

“Last year I found myself having a text conversation with a friend whose mother – a delightful nonagenarian with severe dementia – was in hospital in a really very serious condition. I remembered meeting her some time before that and her repeatedly telling me how much she loves to dance, and I found the famous Christmas carol text Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day going round and round my head – So much so that I set to writing my own version.

          With my finished ditty in hand it didn’t feel right to simply publish it in the usual way so, on a whim and with no real plan in mind, I offered it to a few choirs for free, suggesting they might like to donate to Dementia UK in honour of my friend’s mum.

          I was both stunned and gratified when the piece not only received several performances and even a radio broadcast on Christmas Day, but more importantly that it raised several hundred pounds for a deserving charity.

          So when I found myself putting pen to paper again in the wake of the sudden loss of a member of my own choral society to prostate cancer, I decided once again to allow my carol to be printed and performed for free, this time in support of Macmillan Cancer Support.

So now I need your help. I am asking choirs to pledge a performance of my new carol Sleep, My Jesu, as part of a concert, a church service, carol singing at the hospital or even down the pub, or even just an informal performance as part of your usual rehearsal session, but the important thing is that you then make a donation to this brilliant charity through my Just Giving page.

Whether it be a share of your ticket sales, a bucket collection, an informal whip-round amongst choir members or just an individual donation, however large or small, every penny will help the work of Macmillan Cancer Support and – I hope – make this Christmas just a little bit brighter for people going through the trauma of cancer.

We all love singing together, especially at Christmas. How wonderful if this year our singing helps give a very real gift to a person at their time of greatest need. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

So please take this carol and use it however you like this Christmas, remembering to visit the Just Giving page, our Twitter feed and our Facebook page.”

Happy Singing! Jamie x

VISIT www.justgiving.com/dancingday TO MAKE YOUR DONATION