'Singing Saved My Life' is a series of uplifting five-minute podcasts for the Waterloo Festival. These real-life stories recorded remotely in lockdown show how singing has helped people return to hope after a period of despair, or in other words ‘respair’, the theme of this year’s festival.
“Singing has helped me through difficult times in my life and lockdown was no different. When it first happened, I didn’t think my community choir would carry on, so when Coin Street got in touch to say that the Community Singers were going online, I thought why not, let’s try it. At first it was a bit clunky, but as we all got used to it, we started to relax and enjoy it. Then in September I started an MA Radio at Goldsmiths and our first audio assignment was to produce a five-minute audio piece, so of course I chose singing.”
Producer Abigail Tripp
Abigail set out to see if singing had helped save other people’s lives:
For Bethany Van Drie, tutor for Coin Street Community Singers, singing helped her overcome an eating disorder.
Annie describes the joy of discovering her voice and confidence later in life and now nothing can stop her singing and performing.
Peter reveals that music and singing have made retirement the best fifteen years of his life.
Three members of Coin Street Community Singers, Annette, Andrew and Terry, talk about how singing has helped them through bereavement, estrangement from a partner and to meet new friends.
Podcast series produced by Abigail Tripp, Trickle Productions for Waterloo Festival 2021 and published on Morley Radio.
