Choir: Gareth Malone [Hardcover]

First and foremost, this book isn't Gareth Malone's autobiography. The first twenty-nine and a half years of his life (Gareth's 37 in 2012) are done and dusted within three pages. The book focuses around the last seven years of Gareth's life and his development of choral singing in a wide variety of environments, with all the processes, the 'tears, triumphs and transformations' of the subtitle being captured in award winning television programmes.
On his website, Gareth describes himself as an 'choral animateur'. An animateur is someone who brings something theatrical to life, who makes it happen. A perfect description of Gareth.

It's unlikely that anyone would pick up this book without having some knowledge of what Gareth has done, although a sizeable number will probably only have noticed Gareth when the Military Wives choir took off and beat The X-Factor to the top of the UK's music chart at Christmas 2011. That period is well covered with contributions from some of the women featured in the programme, particularly the very talented Nicky Scott and Sam Stevenson, two of the Chivenor choir soloists.

What wasn't made clear in the programme was that Gareth's move to a remote part of North Devon to develop the choir was made just a few months after his wife Becky had given birth. Becky and Gareth's new daughter made the move too, and this uprooting from all that is familiar, so much part of the pattern of life in the Services, no doubt helped forge real links with the women of the choir.
Gareth is a superb 'people person' and in this environment his skills really came to the fore, as he dealt with the intense swirl of emotions caused by the husbands and partners of the choir being in 'Afghan.'

Before the Military Wives choir, there were of course other programmes and other choirs. Firstly the Phoenix Choir schoolchildren from Northolt who went to China to sing in world competition. The account of how Gareth engaged this group and got them to realise that they could sing, and at a higher level than they could have imagined is fascinating. It could so easily have gone horrendously wrong and been car-crash TV.

The success of the first Choir programme smoothed the path for the second with Gareth in another tough teenage environment, Lancaster School, a boys' school in Leicester. He was able to take the boys to King's College, Cambridge and eventually to the Albert Hall; a true triumph. The ups and downs of working with young people will strike a chord with anyone who has ever engaged with them professionally. Gareth reveals the mistakes he made as well as the things he got right - no punches are pulled in self-analysis.

South Oxhey in Hertfordshire was the community that Gareth got singing, the account of his time there opens with him sparring in the boxing ring with community leader and ex-boxer Matty Leonard. Now that's an action that demands respect! Gareth had run the London Community Choir, but this had a different air to it - people needed persuading far more, hence the strenuous efforts to engage with the locals. They didn't sing at the Albert Hall - but they did sing at the famous Abbey Road studios. The choir Gareth set up there is still running, testimony to these efforts.

'Gareth Goes To Glydebourne' returned Gareth to young people, this time around Brighton, with the challenge of taking a new opera to the Glyndebourne Festival and Gareth sipplying the chorus. Being Gareth, his chorus included young offenders, amongst others. The selection process was much, much tougher and many good voices didn't make it. Young people who had engaged with music previously were needed to fill the gaps. However, there were still people there that could never have imagined that they would listen to an opera, never mind sing one.

Following the Glyndebourne series, Nicky Clarke of Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire wrote to tell Gareth of the Wives and Girlfriends' Choir she had set up for women whose partners were in Afghanistan. Gareth was unable to help in North Yorkshire, but the seeds were sown and the Chivenor and Plymouth Choirs followed. Fittingly, the Catterick WAGs did sing for a best-selling album following the TV series and the funds from that compilation helped form a foundation to form 'WAG choirs' nationwide.

The book closes with short chapters on Sing While You Work, Gareth's latest venture (still on TV as I write this) and the Military Wives involvement with Gary Barlow and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Bang up to date!
It's a very well written and readable account, full of behind the scenes insights that make it a fascinating read. It's as much a book for people who like people's stories, as much as being a book for those who enjoy singing, or listening to choirs. Highly recommended, and well done to one of our newer National Treasures. Long may he run.

I love the work of Gareth Malone - his ability to communicate his passion for music and to bring out the best of people is completely endearing and always very watchable. Does that mean he can turn his hand to creating a great book? I am not totally convinced.

Certainly reading this memoir of his time as a TV choir-master, you get a sense of his voice (indeed it is hard not to read it without hearing him speaking the words), However for me, and this may be a very personal reaction, there is a curious feeling of it not being completely authentic. In some ways (and I may be doing him a dis-service) it feels almost as if he sat down with a ghost-writer who basically transcribed and tidied up a series of interviews. I am probably completely wrong in this and he did personally write every word - but that is not how it feels to me as I am reading it.

The story of the creation of his various TV choirs is always engaging, frequently humorous and often quite moving - fans of the shows and the man will find plenty to enjoy getting some great insights into it all.

As I say, I may be totally wrong about this - but it didn't quite feel 100% authentic and for that I cannot give it as high a rating as I would have liked.

Still, it is a fun read and ideal gift-fodder if you have a family member or friend who is a Gareth fan!

This is a delightful book, and If you enjoyed any of the Gareth Malone BBC 2 series The Choir: Boys don't sing, Unsung Town, Military Wives, Glyndbourne and Choir Sing while you work, then this is highly recommended reading.

Gareth tells the tales of each series, beginning with how he first became involved with television, and the Choir in particular. He takes us behind the scenes adding insight into the challenges he and his chorister's faced. The book style is very much how he comes across on the TV, his passion for singing, and subtle humour shines through. Although Gareth talks a little about his background and personal life. this is not his autobiography. The Sing while you work programme is at the time of writing part way through the series, but fear not Gareth does not give the end result away.!

A hard back version of the book have been reviewed which is ~300 pages long, and includes a small section of coloured photos of the various choirs. This does not do justice to Mr Malone's jumper collection - you need to watch the TV series to fully appreciate his wardrobe! I'd seen some but not all of the Choir series and found it just as interesting to read about programmes I'd seem as those I'd not. Mr Malone brings his choirs a long way and he and his trainees are often moved to tears by the time they get to their end of series performance. Readers may well find they too are sniffing at various points of the book; I fully expect this to be advertised by Amazon with `Customers who bought this item also bought large packs of tissues'.

Never heard of Gareth Malone or his singing escapades? Well he inspires adults and children, who don't have choir culture in their communities to get together and sing. Gareth is a considered individual, mindful of his critics, always looking for a challenge, and new ways to attract participants. He understands that singing in front of an audience takes many people outside of their comfort zone, and hence he tries out his participants hobbies/activities which are new to him. For example Gareth is of slim build, he's not your typical alpha male, but still tries high rope level courses, boxing and military training exercises and although he enjoys a pint, finds keeping up with military wives in the bar a tall order! His choirs as they progress develop confidence, friendships between individuals who might not otherwise meet, and promote community pride. Singing becomes a habit for the choir members- like chocolate but without the calories or dental caries. Simply brilliant.