Hiring a choir for a church carol service
Plenty of churches want a proper carol service and no longer have the singers to do it. A hired choir fills that gap for one evening a year, and the arrangement is more straightforward than most incumbents expect. This guide covers what to book, how it fits alongside whatever musical resources you already have, and what it costs.
Who this suits
Parishes whose choir has shrunk to three or four faithful singers. Churches with a good organ and nobody to sing over it. Schools holding a carol service in a church they have hired. Chaplaincies, colleges and livery companies who use a City church once a year and need it to sound like the building deserves.
In each case the need is the same: one evening where the singing carries the service rather than the congregation having to hold it up on their own.
What we do not do is replace a parish choir. Where there is an existing choir, the usual arrangement is that we sing alongside them, which is covered further down.
What size the church needs
Four voices will lead a congregation of about 150 and cover the standard carol repertoire in full harmony. This is the right answer for most parish churches and it is where our carol bookings start, at £1,150.
Eight covers a church seating 400 with a full congregation, and can split into eight parts for the bigger anthems — the Willcocks arrangements, Howells, the double-choir carols. A Full Choir of eight is £2,000.
Twelve is for cathedral-scale buildings and ticketed concerts, at £3,000. Between those, a Quintet is £1,400 and a Sextet £1,600.
Size to the congregation you expect rather than to the architecture. A large church half full is a resonant space that flatters a small group; the same church full of people in winter coats absorbs a surprising amount of sound.
Working with your own organist
If you have an organist, keep them. They know the instrument, they know the building, and an organ is idiosyncratic enough that familiarity matters more than most clergy realise. We send singers and they play, which is the cheapest and usually the best arrangement.
What the choir needs from your organist is a copy of the hymn and carol list a few weeks out, and agreement on which verses are harmonised, which are in unison, and where any descants fall. Those decisions are quick to make and expensive to improvise on the night.
Where your organist is already committed that week, or the post is vacant, we can provide one at £225 on top of the choir booking. Say early which it is, because December organists go at least as fast as December singers.
Singing alongside an existing parish choir
This works, and it is a common arrangement, but it needs deciding in advance rather than on the night. The two options are that our singers stiffen the existing parts, or that the two choirs sing different items.
Stiffening the parts means our singers sit within the existing choir, one to a line, and hold it up from inside. It is the better option where the parish choir is small but willing, and it tends to be the more generous-feeling arrangement for the people who sing every week.
Splitting the items means the parish choir keeps the carols it knows and our singers take the harder pieces alone. This suits a service where you want two or three anthems the existing choir could not attempt.
Either way, tell your choir before we arrive. A hired choir turning up unannounced at a parish carol service is a pastoral problem, not a musical one, and it is entirely avoidable.
Nine Lessons and Carols, or something shorter
The King’s College pattern — bidding prayer, nine readings, a carol after each, a blessing — runs to about an hour and is what most people mean by a carol service. Our guide to Nine Lessons and Carols sets out the full order.
Nine readings is a lot for a small congregation, and there is no obligation. Five or six readings with carols between them makes a service of about forty-five minutes that holds attention better in a cold church.
Whatever the length, agree early which carols the congregation sings and which the choir takes alone. Six of each is the usual balance for an hour. That single decision shapes the rehearsal, the service sheet, and how the evening feels more than any other choice you will make.
Rehearsal and access
Our singers rehearse before they arrive; what we need at the church is time in the building to balance the sound and to work with the organ. Thirty to forty-five minutes before the doors open is enough for a standard service.
That has to be agreed with whoever holds the keys. Vergers control access, heating and lighting, and in a busy December a church may have something else in it two hours before your service. Once a booking is confirmed we contact the verger and the organist directly and send you the times, rather than asking you to relay messages.
If any liturgy is involved, the incumbent will want to see the order of service. Send it to them before you print it.
Heating, and the cold
Ask what the heating costs to run and how long it needs. Churches take hours to warm and the answer is often a bigger line in the budget than people anticipate.
It matters musically too. Cold air is hard on voices and cold hands turn pages badly, so a church heated from an hour before produces a better service than one heated from twenty minutes before. Somewhere warm for the singers to wait is a request about the sound as much as about comfort.
What it costs, and what is included
The figure quoted covers the singers, the programme planning, the rehearsal, the music, and the coordination with your organist and verger. Prices include all taxes and fees and travel within Greater London; travel beyond that is quoted with the booking.
A standard booking covers the length of a church service. There is no Christmas uplift: December is charged at the same rates as the rest of the year. The exceptions are Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which carry a premium of around 25 per cent, confirmed in writing before you commit.
For a parish weighing this against a year of choir costs, one hired evening is a different kind of spend from maintaining a choir, and it is worth being clear internally which of the two the PCC thinks it is buying.
When to ask
December dates go by the middle of September most years, and the third weekend of December is the tightest window in the calendar. Churches that hold the same slot annually should rebook as soon as the date is fixed.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Can a church hire a choir for one carol service?
Yes, and it is a common booking. Parishes without a choir of their own, or with a choir too small to lead a full congregation, hire singers for a single evening in December. The fee covers the singers, the rehearsal, the music and coordination with your organist and verger.
Will a hired choir sing with our existing parish choir?
Either arrangement works. Our singers can sit within the existing choir to hold up the parts from inside, or the two choirs can split the items so the parish choir keeps the carols it knows and ours take the harder pieces. Decide which in advance, and tell your choir.
Do we need to provide an organist?
Keep yours if you have one, since they know the instrument and the building. If the post is vacant or your organist is committed elsewhere that week, we can provide one from £225 on top of the choir booking. December organists book up as fast as singers, so say early which you need.
How much does it cost for a church to hire a carol service choir?
Four singers is £1,150 and eight is £2,000, inclusive of taxes, fees and travel within Greater London. December is charged at the same rates as the rest of the year, with a premium of around 25 per cent on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day only.
We sing carol services in parish churches, school chapels and City churches across the UK, and we deal with your verger and organist directly once the booking is confirmed.
Talk to us about your carol service
Text us on WhatsApp for the fastest reply, or call us on 07356 042468.