It’s autumn 2024, and I’ve just led the 39th Better Than Therapy evening for a group of super-keen amateur singers in North London!
Since 2015, I’ve been Musical-Director-at-the-piano for these song nights, leading the singers through a carefully-curated list of songs, all based around a particular theme. I always make sure to play the songs in user-friendly keys, which are not necessarily the songs the original artists used. This allows the singers to really go for it and make a joyful noise!
Covering 15-20 songs on each song night, we’ve rattled through a very large amount of repertoire in our 39 sessions to date – there’s been ABBA, the Beatles, pop divas, Elton John, Billy Joel, hymns, carols, the singer/songwriters, songs to a theme (locations, colours, whatever), and so on and so on. For session 39, our fabulous organiser Leonie conjured up a list of ‘Songs of hope and courage’ – a well-needed tonic in our current world. We definitely finished the evening on a high. Question is – what shall we choose for our song night number 40?
