Drawing on their professional backgrounds as trained singers and their personal experiences with young families, Louise and Eleanor have created a relaxed, supportive space where parents can rediscover their voices, build friendships and support their wellbeing, all while embracing the joyful chaos that comes with little ones in tow. Crib Notes Choir is a friendly, daytime, non-auditioned community choir created especially for parents, particularly those with young children, based in South London, where all parents are welcome and no singing experience is required. Here, they talk to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind Crib Notes Choir, the challenges they have overcome, the pros and cons of running their own business, and their hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
We were lucky enough to get involved in earlier iterations of what has now become Crib Notes Choir. We love the aim of parents doing something to support their own wellbeing – which of course translates down the line into their little one’s wellbeing too, and a happier baseline for everyone. This includes: helping parents who are missing their evening choirs to keep singing during parental leave; helping people who have never sung – or never sung in a choir – to try something new, find their voice and have a lot of fun in the process; and also facilitate a social network of local parents.
Louise has two young sons, Eleanor has three young nieces and nephews, and we are both trained singers with a solid foundation of teaching experience. So, from our professional training, we understand how to teach music and lead choirs. And from our family experiences, we understand the challenges of looking after young children. We’ve brought these skills and experiences together to create a flexible choir specially for parents where we work in a relaxed way, adapting each rehearsal to the state of our members, the sometimes incredible noise, the beautiful chaos, and learn a range of songs in 3 part harmony while engaging with little ones in the room!
The benefits of singing, and particularly singing in a group, are now well-documented and better understood, and it’s joyful to be able to bring these benefits – and many more! – to parents across London.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
We were both involved as Directors and Facilitators in the previous iteration of the choir. When the other two Directors decided to step down, we took over the existing groups and venues, made a few minor changes and opened some new clubs! The core values of a safe and supportive atmosphere, creating a social space as well as a musical one, welcoming people of all singing experience and ability levels and being very community-orientated have remained the same.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
Switching to a membership system with monthly direct debit that covers everything has been our biggest breakthrough. This has created a much stronger and more committed choir group, removed a lot of annoying admin for us and created a much simpler process for members. And, most importantly, it has allowed us to concentrate more on expanding what we offer our members in terms of additional clubs, rehearsal options, socials, performances and resources. It provides stability all round and allows longer term planning.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Our clubs run roughly in line with school term times and our regular rehearsals in all clubs are on weekdays and during the daytime. This allows us to concentrate our work to times when our children/nieces/nephews are at school and nursery and to be more available for family during school holidays. We take it in turns to look after communication and admin during the breaks so we both get some proper time away from work. And, because Crib Notes Choir is a choir intended for parents and which welcomes little ones along, family members can always join in rehearsals and performances and indeed have done so on many occasions!
