Constituent letter to MP: DCMS announced non-professional singing indoors limited to six people

Dear Dr Murrison,

I'm absolutely livid at the Department of "Culture" Media and Sport! As my MP, I hope that you can bring your influence to bear on this issue.

The Government announced in Parliament on 27th April that they intended to allow non-professional choral singing under Step 3 (and promised that "further guidance will be provided in advance of step 3"), and confirmed on 10th May that Step 3 would indeed go ahead on 17th May. Many amateur choirs have therefore invested a considerable amount of work on planning to resume this week, with a thorough risk assessment. Many participants will now have had their second jab, and the huge majority will have had at least one; singers would have been at 2m distance in all directions, and choirs have made sure that they would be rehearsing in large and well-ventilated buildings, often having to change their normal venue. Some choirs even started back last night. Apart from the huge disappointment (and possibly even the threat to their mental health) for the many people who had expected to return to their main leisure activity this week, many after a break of 14 months, there are also countless professional musicians who are employed as Directors or accompanists of amateur choirs, who had expected to return to earning this income this week (and thus reduce their reliance on furlough or SEISS payments - assuming that they were eligible for either of these).

Just this lunchtime, 18th May, eight days after Step 3 was given the go-ahead, the DCMS have announced that non-professional singing indoors, singled out from all other organised activities, should be limited to six people. Spin classes, sweaty gyms (where clips on TV have shown there is a tremendous amount of shouting going on - and that not just by the teachers), and people shouting across a crowded pub are all allowed. Even non-professional drama is allowed to have multiple groups of 6 people shouting across the room at each other!

This is in addition to the guidance on singing in Places of Worship published last Friday, which also introduces a limit of 6 "amateur" singers, whilst allowing an unlimited number of "professional" singers (providing the now-usual social distancing etc is adhered to) . This is actually MORE restrictive than the rules that have been in place since 29th March, which allowed a "small choir", with the definition of "small" being left to the local risk assessment. Whilst a limit of 6 singers in the "small choir" is perfectly reasonable for a small village church building such as East Knoyle, by contrast in a large airy building such as Sherborne Abbey we have been taking turns since 29th March on a weekly rota to sing in a group of 9 singers, all spaced out at least 2m in every direction, without any problems - but now it seems we are limited to 6.

Why is the DCMS so biased against singing? The PERFORM research by Declan Costello and others published in a Government report last August showed that:

4.4.1. Singing and speaking at a low or medium loudness does not produce significantly more aerosol than breathing

whereas shouting and coughing are much more dangerous. Moreover, singing is all about controlling the breath and not pushing it out with force. From the same report:

5.6. Analysis has been carried out predominantly for professional singers and musicians. There is no known reason why there should be a substantial difference in aerosol and droplet generation between amateur and professional musicians.

The new "guidance" from DCMS reintroduces the failed theory that all "amateur" singers, i.e. those who do not get paid to sing, sing in a more dangerous way than "professional" singers. Many amateur singers have had a considerable amount of professional training, they just choose to earn their living in another field. The singers of King's College Cambridge are "amateurs" but no-one would claim that they cannot sing in an expert and controlled manner! Even in a large choral society, one of the important roles of the Director is to train the singers to sing well. Personally, as a amateur singer from a family of professional musicians, I believe that I am able sing to a high level of competence, and in normal times I probably spent nearly as much of my time singing as I did working in other fields.

Finally, there is no published evidence that the controlled singing in choirs allowed in England for a short period last autumn caused any problems over Covid transmission. There is no reason to single out singing amongst all the other activities that have been allowed to cautiously re-start this week.

Could you please make representations to DCMS to change their guidance urgently?

Yours sincerely
SWWilts Constituent (name removed)