When I was a teenager I joined the local Ten Sing choir. This was around mid 80s and Ten Sing was huge in Norway. It was fresh, hip, liberal, social and gave many opportunities the kids would never have been able to experience otherwise:
We would go on Ten Sing weekends (90 teenagers and very young leaders. Imagine the intense social life!), give concerts with lightshows, microphones and mixing unit, smoke machines, impetuous rhythms and loud instruments.
We learned how to read sheet music and those who wanted to play an instrument were taught how to play. We had dancers with choreography and outfits. It was all very new and exciting to us. We enjoyed both listening to and performing music together.
Everybody was welcome, and everybody was encouraged to sing out loud with whatever voice they had.Our Ten Sing choir was one of the biggest in Norway and thinking about it now I have to say I admire those who took charge and the responsibility. The commitment was amazing. Maybe they were too young to realize what they took on, but we were rather successful and quite good too.
Being part of a new concept and run by very young adults situations occurred;
We were threatened to be excluded when we performed Eric Clapton’s Cocaine… it was changed into “krokan” (= almond brittle) but apparently it was not good enough. People suspected it was not the original intention of the song.
I was offered and tasted alcohol for the first time on a weekend we were to practice for our grand tour. I was not the only one, and it was merely a sip or two… not a big deal for anyone other than me, but not good timing and place nevertheless. Thinking about it now alcohol should of course never have been brought to such an event, and it was strictly forbidden, but maybe the setting of people you could trust and who cared was the best possible. Not saying it was ok, just trying to ease my conscience and justify the misbehavior. After all it was a choir founded on Christian values.
At the end of the day it was all very good-natured and including, both ideologically and in practice.
A great many of the active musicians in Norway today have Ten Sing as the starting point of their career.
Highlight of my Ten Sing career was to me, like it was to all the others in our choir, the tour in Germany. Close to 90 teenagers, 2 full busloads of kids, equipment, a nurse, 2 drivers, (those three were also the parents, who were (and still is) usually required as adults in charge) and baggage hit the road and ended up in Germany. We were to promote Ten Sing and get some publicity. We did. We held concerts outdoors and in gyms, at schools and tourist attractions from Köln to Hamburg and Kassel. We had a lot of fun and it was a lifetime experience. We wore ugly (at the time we thought they were cool) light blue sweaters with our logo on it and jeans. Very mid 80s.When introducing a new song, we were always asked if anyone would like to sing solo. Many wanted, and a few more often than others. I never really volunteered, but I was pushed forward ones… maybe because they thought it would be fun to see me fail, I do not know, but in any case I ended up singing a rather, to me, challenging song by Amy Grant, a rocked up, breathless version of Love of Another Kind. Listening to the tape today, I still think I did fairly well. Even my brothers gave me credit for that one, and on our tour I got roaring applause, just like everyone else. I had my minutes of fame and I was part of something important to me. And I have to admit it was sweet.
Today Ten Sing is far from as popular as it was then, I know we have a few choirs left, but nothing compared to what it was like. I wonder how kids get to love and live music today?
