June 2025

We speak a lot about the benefits of singing. Each week, we try and highlight an incredible way that expressing oneself through song can help the mind and body but within many of us, there is a still a little spark that says “you can’t sing.” This week, we look at the origins of singing in a bid to prove that singing is a deeply ingrained part of us all.

Whilst the first weapons can be found from as far back as 1.7 million years ago, the oldest musical instrument is only 40,000 years old. This is a time when the Neanderthal, a precursor to modern day humans, ruled across Europe. Though there is evidence that they sometimes lived in caves but it seems the idea of cave painting, and art, was a concept only beginning to emerge. By the time Homo Sapiens, us, rose up, cave painting had become in vogue and alongside this new visual art, we may possibly see the origins of music itself.

As humans began exploring carving figurines, so too did they begin carving the earliest known flutes. In southwest Germany, eight flutes can be found from three different sites, indicating that music did indeed exist.

Only one find indicates the Neanderthal may have had music, the Divje Babe Flute, though the intention of this flute is debated, with some suggesting that the holes are little more than coincidental punctures made by animals. At first, this seems like an irrelevant footnote in the evolution of man, however it may be exactly because of music that Homo Sapiens were able to develop society as we know it by using music as a way of bonding. We’ve spoken before about the effect of singing to bond social groups and how we make friends through singing, so is it possible that singing too emerged in this time?

The voice that we know as human today first emerged sometime around 530,000 years ago, and with it, the potential to sing. This has been discovered thanks to a small bone called the hyoid. In modern humans, this is a small, horseshoe-like bone that enables wide range of tongue, pharyngeal and laryngeal movements. In short, it is the bone that allows us to finely control our voices and thus speak.

For many years, it was though that Neanderthal would be unable to produce speech-like sounds but in the early 80s, skeletons of Neanderthals were discovered in Israel featuring fully developed hyoids. This does not prove that Neanderthal could sing as we do not know it’s exact location within the throat but if these Neanderthal could sing, it is likely that even older human ancestors may well have been able to.

A careful look at some skulls dating back 1.8 million years, seems to indicate the presence of a descended voice box. This could mean that early pre-humans already possessed some crude ability to sing.

Darwin proposed that singing in hum ans must have had some advantage, though his research on the subject has fallen out of favour as it cited only male birds singing. We now know that almost three quarters of female songbird species also sing. Instead, we turn to the work of Thomas Geissmann, Geissmann observed the other four singing primates (lemurs, tarsiers, titi monkeys and gibbons) and noted that all four form monogamous relationships. Additionally, duetting amongst songbirds is usually only seen in monogamous species. His work therefore hypothesises that singing may have played a role in the evolution of monogamy in humans.

In the 1990s, Leslie Aiello and Robin Dunbar began looking at the evolution of language and in turn developed a theory that language may have evolved from the use of vocalisation to express emotion, dubbed “vocal grooming”.

Much of this research paints a picture of social bonding and that music played an important role in our evolution of a social species. However, as our ability to study further down the evolutionary line grows, so to does our understanding of music and singing. What can be concluded is that singing is entrenched in us, buried in our bodies as naturally as blinking, so doesn’t it seem a shame to waste it?

It is hot, hot, hot – that can only mean one thing! We are back for a summer term of singing our hearts out and melting in the sunshine (it’s a good job our rehearsals are in the evening)! From now until the end of July BIGMOUTH are back and rehearsing vigorously for a very special occasion. We are featuring for the first time with en Choir at a summer concert on Saturday 22nd July! Tickets are still on sale so grab yours before they run out! As always, feel free to come down to a free trial rehearsal, or contact us with any queries.

Dave the Dog is our ever entertaining mascot! He is with us every week and loves to greet all the choir members before settling down in his bed to watch us sing! Here he is (pictured right) helping Choir Administrator, Elli, to read her music. Would you like to meet Dave and give BIGMOUTH Chorus a try? Come to a free trial rehearsal or contact us with any enquiries.

BIGMOUTH Chorus is moving just down the road to The Old Kent Market, directly opposite Turner Contemporary in Margate. We are really excited! It is only a quarter of a mile along the beach from our previous venue, has a great acoustic and is a real community space at the hub of Margate. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank Andy and Ziggy for accommodating us and cannot wait for our first rehearsal at The Old Kent Market this evening! If you have any questions about BIGMOUTH Chorus, please contact us or show up at 7.30pm on Tuesday nights.

We are proud to announce that we have gained yet another handful of new members. It appears BIGMOUTH Chorus is getting bigger every week! We are also excited to say that from September 2017 we will be permanently located at Dreamland in Margate. In the meantime, we are rehearsing at The Old Kent Market up the road. Would you like to help us grow? Come on down and try BIGMOUTH Chorus or contact us if you have any queries.

Late last week, some of us were joined by other community singers at Turner Contemporary in Margate for a performance of Birds and Other Stories, a composition by choir leader, Emily Peasgood. The notes sung were worked into a drawing known as a graphic score, pictured to the right, and was created by Emily and illustrator, Joe Inkpen. The performance has been dubbed a success with a large audience and we are now left waiting on the edge of our seats to see what Emily does next! Please feel free to contact us with any queries.

Last night’s rehearsal went down a storm continuing with our new new song, Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen. All of us in BIGMOUTH excited about this new addition to our repertoire and we’re looking forward to learning more over the term! If you’d like to try BIGMOUTH then come to a rehearsal or feel free to contact us with any queries.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

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We had a great start to the term with our rehearsal last night! Everyone seemed to have a fantastic time and the vocals were beautiful – especially whilst learning the new arrangement of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, arranged by choir leader Emily. Feel free to turn up if you’d like to sing with us and don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries!

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Exciting news! Last Saturday BIGMOUTH Chorus leader Emily Peasgood was interviewed by Paul Rutters of Academy FM. Emily spoke about how and why BIGMOUTH Chorus is different from ‘traditional’ choirs, a fact we are proud of! Take a listen and if you like what you hear come on down. We always welcome new members – just show up on the night or contact us if you have any questions.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

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Since BIGMOUTH Chorus launched in January 2017 our membership has expanded rapidly. We now have over 50 members signed up and are enjoying singing a great selection of songs. But we want to be even bigger and need more men! Continue reading “BIGMOUTH Chorus are getting bigger!”

If you or anyone you know is interested in trying BIGMOUTH Chorus out, the first session is free for potential new members. We’d love to meet you!

All you have to do for a free taster is come to one of our sessions, or contact us in advance.Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

Hope to see you soon!

Last week on this blog, we spoke about beatboxing. In particular, we were really impressed by the ability to make more than one noise at a time. Imagine if singers could do the same…

This practice is called overtone singing and not only is it an amazing skill, it’s becoming more talked about.

A talented singer is able to produce a two notes (or even more): firstly a low base or fundamental note is sung before a second, whistle-like note appears about two octaves above the base note.

This occurs due to a mix of tongue placement and the shape of the mouth and even though it seems like a magical talent only available to a very few, it’s actually a skill that nearly anyone can learn and it’s all thanks to physics.

Overtone singing is possible thanks to a concept called resonance. Everything is vibrating all the time, and even though this sounds like new age theory, it’s a scientific fact. When the natural frequency of an object is played, the object will begin to vibrate faster and faster as the new sound waves are added to the existing vibrations of the object.

This is exactly how some singers can shatter glass with their voice. They find the natural frequency of the glass and sing that note. The vibrations in the object will build up until there is simply too much energy in the glass and it violently forces itself apart. Don’t worry though, our bodies are much more flexible than a glass so there’s no danger of your voice suddenly disintegrating your body!

Many cultures have drawn on overtone singing, in Mongolia, Southern Siberia and Central Asia. These different cultures have created different variations of the technique but the underlying principles remain the same.
Overtones are produced all the time, in regular speech, but the skill of an overtone singer lies in being able to isolate and amplify those overtones and manipulate them. This is done by manoeuvring the head, throat, mouth and tongue in order to create resonance. In most examples of overtone singing, you will place the tongue against the premolar teeth to create two chambers in the mouth that each resonate differently.

If overtones have piqued your fancy, our fearless leader Emily Peasgood is partnering with Margate’s premier broken folk duo The Lunatraktors to deliver a workshop on overtone singing on Wednesday 3rd April at the en Choir rehearsal in Whitstable.

As it’s the new year and many of us are getting back to the gym, it’s time for us to give you a bit of extra motivation. Exercise is more than about getting beach body ready, regular cardio workouts can improve your singing ability.

Cardio is short for cardiovascular, and refers to any activity that gets the heart rate up and keeps it there, forcing us to to take bigger breaths. By training our breathing, we are able to sing with more power and stamina, two hugely important components of a singer.

Often, people use the phrase “lung capacity” when they talk about the benefits of cardio exercise. Now, this doesn’t mean the physical space of our lungs gets bigger. Most of us don’t take strong enough breathes in daily life, meaning we only half fill our lungs. This is all well and good for regular activities but breathing is fundamental to singing; it’s the fuel to the whole system. Increasing your lung capacity means building the muscles associated with breathing, enabling us to take deeper and fuller breath, which in turn give us more air.

This effect is so natural, it’s easy to overlook it until the next time you need to push yourself.

Building a strong cardio system also relieves pressure on the other parts of your body that you use to sing. The muscles in your neck and your vocal cords are small and cannot generate substantial power on their own for long without injury. Building that cardio base will see you through years of singing.

So what kind of exercise qualifies as cardio? What are the best cardio workouts? Running, swimming and cycling are by far the most popular cardio activities, and they’re all relevantly cheap to get onboard with.

Running is the cheapest and easiest to start but don’t think you have to start by doing full-sprints or High Intensity Interval Training from the get-go. If you have neglected your cardio for a while, try going out on a long walk first. Once that becomes easier, try walking faster, then jogging, then finally running. Only you know how hard you can push yourself so listen to your body, just as you would while singing.

Swimming is great if you feel like your joints wont handle the impact of running too well. Obviously in Thanet, we’re very lucky to have the sea nearby, and groups like Walpole Bay Swimmers are great fun to get involved with (and they’re just down the hill from where we practice). Although, if the sea is a little too cold this time of year for you, there’s always the public swimming pools in Margate and Ramsgate.

If you can’t fit extra cardio into your lifestyle, why not look for extra chances to fit it in daily life? Taking the steps instead of the lift, walking the long way home or getting off the bus a stop early are all great ways to get those extra steps in, and that heart-rate up.

If you already get your cardio in but you’re not seeing results, try throwing in some breath exercises while you work out.

So how about it? Have we convinced you to stick to the gym or to get in an extra session?

“Now throw your hands up in the air! And wave’em around like you just don’t care, and if you wanna party let me hear you yell, ‘Cause we’ve got it goin’ on again!” That’s right everyone, we are back on Tuesday 20th February with more of our melodic grooving. We’ll be hitting the ground running, continuing to work on our challenge of Bohemian Rhapsody but also revisiting some old favourites such as Sweet Child of Mine and True Colours. If you’d like to try out BIGMOUTH Chorus then feel free to pop down to a rehearsal for a free trial or contact us with any queries – see you all there!