Free Singing Taster in Welwyn Garden City, 8 October 7.30pm

A free singing lesson is being run in Welwyn Garden City next month, and anyone can turn up to it. Musical Melodies Choir is opening one of its evenings to complete beginners on Thursday 8 October, from 7.30pm to 9pm, at Templewood School, Pentley Park, AL8 7SD.

It is part of Learn to Play, the free music-making weekend the charity Music for All runs every autumn. This year it runs across four days, 8 to 11 October. The charity confirmed to Welwyn Online that the Welwyn Garden City choir evening is the only Learn to Play session anywhere in Hertfordshire this year.

There is no charge, and you do not have to book. Music for All told us both pre-booked places and drop-ins are welcome. The choir can be reached on 07947 954121 or at info@musicalmelodieschoir.co.uk.

What actually happens on the night

You sing one song, with everybody else. The choir has picked From Now On, the closing number from The Greatest Showman, and the room learns it together over the ninety minutes.

Rebecca Grant of Musical Melodies Choir put it this way in the charity’s announcement:

“Learn to Play is a brilliant opportunity for people to come along, try something new and experience the joy of making music together. At Musical Melodies Choir, we’ll be welcoming anyone who’d like to join us for a fun, relaxed choir evening, where we’ll all be learning From Now On from The Greatest Showman together. You don’t need any previous choir experience, just bring yourself and be ready to sing!”

One thing worth pinning down, because the charity’s press release did not. That release gave the Hertfordshire session as “Friday 9th and Thursday 8th October”, which reads like two evenings. We asked, and Music for All confirmed a single session: Thursday 8 October, 7.30pm to 9pm. If you were planning to go on the Friday, go on the Thursday instead.

How many people do this

Music for All’s general manager, Sonali Banerjee, told us roughly 2,425 people took part in Learn to Play across the UK last year, children and adults together.

The charity was straight with us about the local picture, which is smaller than the national number suggests. Hertfordshire had one participating venue last year and it sent no feedback back, so nobody knows how many people walked into it. Banerjee also checked the charity’s grant records at our request and said that on last year’s figures Music for All did not support anyone in Hertfordshire. The charity runs a year-round awards programme of cash grants and instruments for people and groups who cannot afford them, so that is a gap rather than a policy.

Why the charity says it matters now

Banerjee set the event against what is happening to music teaching budgets:

“This year’s funding landscape presents a great challenge for the UK arts sector. With performing arts teaching grants having been reduced to zero and specialist training institutions facing cuts of up to 50%, the pipeline of future talent is under real pressure. Music Hubs continue to be impacted by decreased funding for the seventh consecutive year, meaning unavoidable reductions to provision and opportunities.”

Those are the charity’s figures and its reading of them, and we have not checked them against the funding settlements themselves.

We also asked her what she would say to an adult who put an instrument down years ago and assumes the moment has gone. Her answer:

“It’s never too late to pick up an instrument again, there’s no deadline for making music! Pick up your instrument, start where you are, and enjoy learning all over again. You might even be surprised by how much comes back to you!”

The singer-songwriter Kenza Blanca, one of the charity’s ambassadors, said in the announcement:

“I am so proud to be an ambassador for Music for All and support their Learn to Play events whole-heartedly. Learn to Play offers free music lessons for those wanting the opportunity to start an instrument or pick one back up. I’m supporting Learn to Play because music should be available and accessible to everyone, it can help build confidence and bring people together, it’s a real sense of achievement learning to play.”

Music for All’s patron is Jools Holland. The 2026 event is backed by the Richer Sounds Foundation, with partners including Black Lives in Music, Making Music, the Music Industries Association, Music Mark, the Music Teachers Association, Rockschool and Take it Away.

What it means for you

• If you want to sing and have never done it in public, this is the cheapest possible way to find out whether you like it. It costs nothing and it lasts an hour and a half.
• You do not need to book, but a message to the choir first will tell them to expect you.
• It is one evening only in this county. The next nearest Learn to Play venues are outside Hertfordshire, and you would have to check the charity’s venue map for those. Music for All does not handle bookings itself; every venue runs its own.
• If you are an adult returner rather than a beginner, the session is a choir evening, so it is voices rather than instruments.
• Templewood School is in the Handside area of Welwyn Garden City. For other things happening locally, see our guide to things to do in Welwyn Garden City.

Music for All is marking 30 years this year. Anything we could not confirm, we have said so above rather than filled in.