Carol singers for law firms and professional services
Professional services firms book more carol singing than any other sector we work with, and they book it for a specific reason: December is when clients are entertained, and a choir in an atrium is one of the few things at a client event that nobody has to be persuaded to enjoy. This guide covers how those bookings usually work.
Why this sector books carols
Client entertaining in December has a problem: everyone is doing it, the invitations compete, and a drinks party in a City office is much like a drinks party in the office next door. Live singing is a cheap way to be the one people remember, and unlike most differentiators it works on the guests who arrive already tired of Christmas parties.
The second reason is internal. A firm with several floors, several departments and a lot of people who do not meet each other has a real problem making a Christmas event feel like one occasion. A choir in the atrium pulls people out of their floors in a way an email does not.
The third is continuity. Firms rebook the same evening year after year, and after two or three years it stops being an event and becomes a fixture that clients ask about. That is worth more than the sum of the individual evenings.
The events firms book
Client drinks in the office. The most common by far. Singers roaming while guests arrive, a stationary set at the point the senior partner speaks, then roaming again. Our guide to Christmas drinks reception music covers the shape in detail.
The partners’ dinner. A seated dinner, usually with a sung grace and a short set after the meal. Covered in our guide to gala and awards dinner music.
A carol service in a City church. Firms with a long-standing church relationship hire it for an evening, invite clients and families, and want an eight-voice choir and an organist. This is the most formal option and the one that reads best on an invitation.
Atrium or reception carols with no event attached. An hour at lunchtime or at the end of the day, for staff rather than clients, with no speeches. The cheapest thing on this list and the one with the best internal feedback per pound.
Sizing an office building
Modern City offices have good acoustics by accident. Atriums are hard-surfaced with height, glass reflects, and stone or polished concrete floors do the rest. Four voices at the foot of an atrium staircase will reach several floors.
Where it gets harder is a carpeted client-floor reception with a low ceiling, which is acoustically the opposite. Six voices there, or move the singers to the stairwell and let the sound come through.
For a church service, four covers a congregation of 150 and eight covers 400. City churches are small: St Bride’s, St Lawrence Jewry and their neighbours are not cathedrals, and eight voices in one of them is a substantial sound.
A Small Choir of four is £1,150, a Sextet £1,600, and a Full Choir of eight £2,000.
Working with building management
Most City firms do not control their own building. Singing in a shared atrium means clearing it with the managing agent as well as with your own facilities team, and that conversation takes longer in December than anyone plans for.
The questions that come up are always the same: how loud, for how long, does it need power, and does it need a licence. The answers are that it is unamplified, up to ninety minutes including breaks, no power at all, and licensing is the building’s question rather than ours. Nothing needs to be plugged in and there is no stage to build.
Security and access lists matter more here than at other venues. We send names and arrival times once the booking is confirmed, and we would rather do that two weeks out than on the morning.
Client-facing register
All black is the right dress for a client event. It reads as professional rather than as a turn, which matters when the guests are customers and the firm is trying to look like a firm. Concert dress suits a church service or a formal dinner. Christmas jumpers work for a staff-only event and rarely for a client one.
Repertoire follows the same logic. Client drinks want close-harmony Christmas songs and the well-known carols, not the quiet end of the choral repertoire. A church service can go further, because the setting carries it.
The judgement worth making early is whether the event is for clients or for staff. The two want different evenings, and firms that try to do both at once usually produce something that suits neither.
Staff events, and why they are worth doing separately
The internal case for carol singing is different from the client case and often stronger. A firm where people work in silos gets very little from another email about Christmas; an hour of singing in the atrium at five o’clock pulls three floors into one space and costs less than the client event does.
What works is a lunchtime or end-of-day slot with no speeches attached. The moment anyone gives a talk it becomes an occasion people can decline. Sung carols with a song sheet for the last fifteen minutes is the format that gets the most people singing, and it is the part that comes back in engagement surveys.
Trainees and support staff often turn out in bigger numbers than partners, which is worth knowing when you choose the floor. Put the singers where the most people already are rather than where the most senior people sit.
Budgets and how this gets approved
The figure is fixed and quoted in writing, which is the part that matters for anyone putting it through a procurement process. Prices include all taxes, fees and travel within Greater London, and there is no Christmas uplift: December is charged at the same rates as June.
Against the catering bill for a client drinks party, the music is a small line. A four-voice booking at £1,150 for 150 guests is under £8 a head.
We invoice the firm directly and can bill to a cost centre or a purchase order where your finance team needs that. We will also provide the paperwork most firms ask for before a supplier is set up.
The December diary problem
Professional services firms have the same three weeks in their diaries as everyone else, and the middle two weeks of December are the tightest fortnight in our year. The Thursday before the last working week is the single most requested evening.
Most years our December dates are gone by the middle of September. Firms that hold an annual slot should rebook as soon as next year’s date is fixed, which for a lot of our clients means the week after this year’s event.
Later enquiries are always worth making, because the right combination of singers is sometimes still free. Send the date and we will confirm availability the same day. Our guide on when to book Christmas entertainment sets out how the month fills.
What we need from you
The date, the building, the floor or room, the guest count, and whether the event is for clients or staff. If there are speeches, the running order and who is cueing the singers.
Photographs of the space are more useful than dimensions. What we are looking at is the floor surface, the ceiling height, and where the bar will be.
We deal with your facilities team and the building’s managing agent directly once the booking is confirmed, and send you the access and arrival times rather than asking you to relay them.
Frequently asked questions
Where do carol singers perform in a City office?
The atrium, usually at the foot of a staircase or on a mezzanine, because those spaces are hard-surfaced with height and carry sound to several floors. A carpeted client-floor reception with a low ceiling is the hardest room, and either needs six voices or the singers moved to a stairwell.
Do we need permission from the building to have carol singers?
Usually, if you do not control the building. Singing in a shared atrium means clearing it with the managing agent as well as your own facilities team. The performance is unamplified with no power requirement and no stage, which is what the building will want to know.
Is live music worth it for a client Christmas party?
Against a catering bill it is a small line. Four voices at £1,150 for 150 guests is under £8 a head. Firms that book it tend to rebook the same evening annually until it becomes a fixture.
Should a firm run one Christmas event for clients and staff together?
They want different evenings. Client events call for all-black dress and close-harmony repertoire; staff events can be less formal and the feedback is better when they are. Firms that combine the two usually produce something that suits neither.
We sing for law firms, accountants, consultancies and banks across the City and beyond, at client drinks, partners’ dinners and carol services in City churches. We deal with your facilities team and the building direct once the date is agreed.
Information for event managers
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