The art and business of choir leading: Caroline Sharpe’s Story

Caroline Sharpe didn’t set out to become the entrepreneurial MD behind multiple choirs across Leicestershire; it happened organically, one opportunity at a time. ‘I’ve always sung… I’ve been teaching singing for about 25 years,’ she recalls, after vocal studies at Birmingham Conservatoire and early experience leading a regional Stagecoach choir. Her first ensemble under her own banner, the Caroline Sharpe Singers, grew ‘completely accidentally’ from teenage pupils and their parents around fifteen years ago. 

Today, her portfolio spans five Charnwood Community Singers groups, the Caroline Sharpe Singers, the Belvoir Wassailers (a male voice choir with proud roots in the Vale of Belvoir), and the Shuttlewood Singers (a singing for wellbeing group connected to the Shuttlewood Clarke Foundation). It’s a lineup that straddles two distinct models in our sector: MD run choirs, owned and administered by the musical director, and committee or charity run choirs that engage the MD.  

‘Across all my choirs my artistic aims are the same: to give people the opportunity to make a collective sound as well as that group possibly can,’ Caroline says. ‘But when it’s my business, I’m also responsible for all the organisation and administration.’

Starting without a grand plan 

Caroline’s route into MD run choirs will be familiar to many: no formal business plan, no budget spreadsheet to begin with, just making things work, one rehearsal and one step at a time. ‘It wasn’t so much jumping hurdles as running slap-bang into them,’ she laughs. Room hire, music purchase and licensing, safeguarding policy requests from venues; each revealed that running a choir is ‘not just about making music.’

By the time Caroline took on the Charnwood Community Singers in 2018, she knew what she needed, but the scale was still daunting: five groups meeting across the week in different villages. Now she estimates she sees well over 250 singers regularly, an ecosystem that functions because of clear systems and a lot of communication.  

The administrative reality of an MD run choir 

When you run the show, admin is a significant part of the job. For Caroline, the most time-consuming areas are communication (with members, venues, accompanists and concert partners), finance (monitoring income and outgoings), and music logistics (sourcing, purchasing or licensing, printing, numbering, and tracking copies). Layered on top are compliance tasks, such as insurance, risk assessments, GDPR and codes of conduct, and the practicalities of site visits for new rehearsal or concert venues.  

Caroline keeps it all moving with a membership database, weekly member updates pointing singers to a members’ page on the choir website and a separate choir management platform for other ensembles. A simple, paper-based wall planner sits alongside spreadsheets to avoid clashes: ‘I use a paper diary and a paper calendar so I can see everything laid out, then I know I’ve not got too many things happening in one week.’

Concerts and marketing look a little different in the MD-run choir model. Many performances are hosted by partners such as local charities (a Rotary group, for example) who handle ticketing and publicity for their own fundraising events. As a result, Caroline’s main marketing task is recruitment to keep membership healthy, while she coordinates enough performance opportunities to deliver value to paying members: ‘Part of what I’m offering them is the opportunity to perform.’ Sometimes that means waiving a choir fee for a charity event; other times concert ticket prices cover accompanist and MD costs.  

Collaboration is part of the mix, too: for example, the Caroline Sharpe Singers sharing a programme, and a couple of combined items, with the Loughborough Concert Band, a format that diversifies repertoire and audience.  
 

  
Wearing two hats: engaged MD vs. MD owner 

Caroline’s portfolio includes choirs that engage her: the Belvoir Wassailers (committee run) and the Shuttlewood Singers (within a charity structure). The artistic responsibility feels consistent (‘my responsibility is to the singers’) but there’s an extra layer of accountability to committees, dates and meetings. Importantly, she enjoys repertoire autonomy across all groups; the distinction lies in who carries the organisational burden. When she’s the contractor, ’I don’t get involved at all in [their] administration… unless I’m asked for advice.’  

Caroline’s experience gives her a clear view of how the demands of MD run choirs differ from committee run ones. In a traditional structure, she notes, tasks are naturally divided across roles such as treasurer, membership secretary and concert manager. When you run a choir yourself, ‘you’re covering all those jobs,’ she says, ‘so it’s easy to miss things simply because there’s so much to think about.’ What helps, she emphasises, is not having to figure everything out in isolation: ‘Don’t be on your own… connect with other choir leaders, join organisations, join Making Music, MU, ISM, the Association of British Choral Directors.’ This peer network, she says, is ‘invaluable’ because others are navigating similar questions and challenges. 

Making Music’s role in making it possible 

Caroline is unequivocal about the practical support that keeps an MD run operation safe and sustainable. Making Music’s resources help her tick off the necessities, including risk assessment templates, GDPR guidance, insurance, and PRS reporting. For instance, when the Caroline Sharpe Singers put on their own concert, she finds it simplest to report and pay PRS at her annual Making Music renewal: ’that makes it very simple.’  

The knowledge base and checklists also save time and void potential issues, especially around compliance, which venues rightly expect (safeguarding policies, codes of conduct, fire procedures). When time is short and responsibilities are many, ready to use documents and advice on best practice make the difference between coping and thriving.  

And there’s the community: through conference sessions (Caroline recently spoke on a making Music panel at the ABCD convention) and informal connections where MDs can compare notes to help solve the same problems together: everything from repertoire licensing quirks to volunteer coordination.  

Volunteers, ownership and culture 

A subtle and instructive insight from Caroline concerns volunteering in MD run choirs. She feels a duty to deliver a full service in return for fees and therefore doesn’t expect volunteers. But singers don’t perceive a distinction between MDrun and committeerun models; they’re proud of their choir and want to help. The result is a light touch volunteer structure: people who open up venues, understand fire procedures, or keep things steady if a deputy leads rehearsal. It’s both a safety net and a community builder: ‘It helps them feel it’s their group.’  

That sense of ownership extends to warm, welcoming culture. Caroline prides herself on knowing all the members by name, no small feat across hundreds of singers, and on tailoring the musical experience to what people enjoy without needing regular formal surveys. The social fabric forms naturally around rehearsals (‘the Tuesday morning altos go for coffee beforehand’), and Caroline lets that flourish without micromanaging it.

Heritage and identity 

At one end of Caroline’s spectrum sits the Belvoir Wassailers, with a storied identity that predates her tenure by decades. They began as estate workers connected to Belvoir Castle, and although the formal link no longer exists, the choir still sings at private and public castle events each year. ‘We still have a couple of members from that original lineup,’ she notes, and the choir’s ‘strong personality’ remains a point of pride.  
At the other end are the community and MD run groups, which carry Caroline’s brand of inclusive, adult musicmaking: the very vocation she imagined in college, even if she didn’t yet know what it would look like. ‘I wanted to work with adults who want to sing… and that’s what I get to do every day.’  

Sustainability and succession: planning for change 

MD run choirs are often person dependent. What happens if the MD needs a break? Caroline is refreshingly open-eyed: some groups might pause or close; others could be passed on and would inevitably change, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. ‘The same happened when I took groups on: they’re different now to what they were, and they’ll be different again with someone else.’ The key is accepting evolution while reducing risk through documentation, volunteer support, and clear processes that allow a new person to step in.  

Advice to would be MD entrepreneurs 

Caroline’s headline message is simple: ’Don’t be on your own.’ Connect with other choir leaders; join Making Music; plug into networks where people are tackling the same questions. And artistically, be authentic: ‘Offer what you can in your true self and don’t try to please everybody.’ There are many ways to make music in the leisure time sector; the right singers will find the right leader.

What Making Music can do for MD run choirs 

If you’re building or growing an MD run choir, Making Music can help you: 

• Stay compliant and insured: practical templates and guidance on risk assessments, GDPR, safeguarding, plus insurance tailored for leisure time music groups.
• Handle PRS with confidence: use Making Music’s PRS license to register performances and pay royalties  
• Find a peer network: events and forums where MDs compare tools and tactics, from member databases to rehearsal planning and volunteer roles 
• Amplify your activity: list your concerts on the Making Music website 

Final thoughts

Caroline Sharpe’s story shows what MD run choirs can unlock: agility, a coherent artistic vision across multiple ensembles, and a member experience where the music and the management are managed as one. It also shows what it takes: robust admin, clear communication, sensible compliance, a maybe sprinkle of volunteers, and a willingness to evolve. 

Most of all, it underlines what we hear again and again from MD entrepreneurs in our membership: you don’t have to do it alone. Making Music exists to remove friction, reduce risk and connect you with practical tools and people like you, so you can spend more time doing the thing that started it all: making music with people who love to sing.  
 
With thanks to Caroline Sharpe for the interview. If your MD run choir would like support, resources or to be featured in a future case study, get in touch with the Making Music team.