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We love providing a high-quality service to our members. It’s why we work so hard behind the scenes, ahead of time, to get everything scheduled and planned way in advance.

Not only are we actively planning a number of various performance opportunities and events for next year, but our process of creating new song content starts really early on too.

Song Arrangements 🎶

Back in May 2025, we headed to the studio to record our first new song arrangement for 2026. 

Each year, Dan Cooper (Choir Leader) joins forces with Jenni Monday (our session vocalist) to record ten high-quality, brand-new vocal tracks which are used for learning and practising throughout the course of the year. These songs get uploaded to the members’ area after the  songs have been taught for members to access whenever and as regularly as they want.

Each song is carefully crafted and created to bring the Love Soul Choir energy and vibe to life. 

When asked about the process, Dan said: “Ahh, I often get asked about this. It’s so hard to explain, it’s like a feeling. I just know when a song would be right for Love Soul Choir, and the vocal arrangements are such a creative process that I just feel. It’s an energy and feeling that I can’t really explain.”

Dan can’t read sheet music, so he will make the arrangement up on the spot, singing the harmony lines to Jenni so that she can record them. The vocal lines are also double and triple-tracked so that the end product is of a really high quality for our members.

After the actual recording process, the songs get taken into the edit suite. This process takes A LOT of time, but it’s where Dan will edit the vocals to ensure the audio output is to a commercially competitive standard. It means that our members can enjoy listening to the arrangements of the songs that we create.

This year, the process ran from May to September.

BSL Translation 🤙🏼

As part of our ongoing I’m An Ally (IAA) Programme, we have committed to adding British Sign Language (BSL) to the movement of one of our songs each year. Before Dan can think about any movement, he needs to decide which song would be best for the BSL addition. Once this decision has been made, he gets in touch with Lily (our translator) to help with this process. 

BSL is its own language, so the song needed to be translated to make sure it makes sense. The song that has been interpreted for 2026 is basically one big metaphor and therefore was a little more tricky. Lily contacted her deaf friends and mentors to ensure the translation felt right.

Lily then created a video of her signing the song, which was then sent to Dan. Dan then works the sign language in to the movement for the song, ensuring it works with the timing of the vocals and the dance.

Movement Videos 💃🏻

Movement is a big part of what we do at Love Soul Choir. It’s part of our identity when we perform. Creating the dance routines (and videos for members to access) is a mighty task.

Creating the video guides that members eventually have access to takes place in October. Months ahead of time, the studio was booked, and Lydia & Mia (our dancers this year) were booked too. But that’s the first piece of the puzzle.

In the lead-up, Dan needs to create a rough vision of the movement to send to Lydia & Mia ahead of time. This ensures that the filming day can be as efficient as possible. 

When asked about this, Dan said: “I am absolutely not a dancer or choreographer, but I feel like I know what looks and feels right for Love Soul Choir. I essentially make it up and hope for the best. When we get into the rehearsal on filming day, I’m always asking the dancers I work with for feedback and suggestions, which also help some parts of the dance moves evolve.”

Lydia & Mia loved receiving Dan’s guide videos this year and loved the dance moves too.

On filming day, the team have a two-hour rehearsal to run through the moves, tweak anything that needs to be adjusted, and get confident with each song.

They then head to the studio where a team of videographers have a multi-camera set up ready to go. Each song is filmed three or four times to make sure everything is covered. This year, Dan burnt over 2,000 kcal. It’s a big day.

Once the footage has been captured, Dan is then sent all the files (hundreds of GB’s) to start editing. Again, this process takes a long time, ensuring the videos are of a really high standard. 

This is just a brief overview of the process but an exciting part of preparing for the coming year. Our 2026 songs are awesome, members are going to love learning them, and we can’t wait for audiences to see them too. Onwards.