Of course not being able to read music shouldn’t stop anybody from joining a choir or learning to sing. You will have to rely on your memory to be able to remember when to come in and whether the melody goes up or down, how long to sing a note and when to stop singing. Learning music this way has the advantage of relying on your hearing and memory and that of course can only be good. You will need to find your own way of notating the lyrics sheet you will have been given unless of course you have excellent memory.
It is much easier to look at music to help you with the melody line and to look at the counts you have before you come in as well as how long to hold on a note. Yes, watching the MD is a help and sometimes they forget to bring you, or stop you or indicate how loud and softly to sing. Therefore it makes more sense to take responsibly for your singing and know what you have to do in advance. Everything you need to know is in the sheet music unless of course your MD decides to change some dynamics or text. What you really have to look for is how long to hold on to a note, when there is a pause and how much slowing down the MD wants at the end of a section or end of the piece.
You do not need to be an expert in music theory but basic music theory is helpful and to this end MerseyWave has a music theory for choirs on the website. This booklet explains it as simply as possible and who knows you might become interested in theory and want to look into it a bit deeper.
Exercise
Go to merseywavemusic.uk/About us/tuition/music theory tuition/
and take a look at the “Music theory for choirs” pdf.
