The sopranos

1:00pm Saturday 8th December 2007

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IN my dreams I can sing like Aretha Franklin. In reality I fear my voice is so bad, I only sing in the car and I live in terror of my kids secretly recording me and putting it on YouTube.

Which is a pity because, according to Ali Sharpe, the ebullient founder of the Bournemouth Community Gospel Choir (BC-GC), singing is one of the best things you can do.

"It's one of the most fundamental things, practised by people of all cultures, ages, religions and throughout time," she says.

"In our culture we still celebrate birthdays by singing Happy Birthday and we sing at weddings and funerals. In less sophisticated cultures everybody sings; people sing to make the tedium and pain of their job more bearable. Singing lifts the spirits and gets you breathing better which gives you a sense of well-being. It lifts you above the mundane and the here-and-now."

It also relieves depression, combats asthma and research has proved that children who sing do better at school. No wonder the government has just launched a £10 million initiative to get schoolchildren singing again.

To get me singing again, Ali, a qualified vocal coach who has sung everything from opera to hip-hop, gives me my first ever singing lesson.

"It's all about the breathing," she says, taking a stance like a Power Ranger.

"It's just getting the diaphragm working for you and the breathing. We need a straight spine, as if you'd just stepped away from a wall. Shoulders level, opening out our chest and tilting the pelvis forward, relaxing the tummy, feet slightly apart and chin parallel with the floor."

Phew. This singing lark is going to be even harder than I thought.

We breathe in and then out, make a hissing sound. After ten minutes of hissing and trying to stand correctly, I feel light-headed but now, Ali tells me, I am finally ready to strike my first note.

"Try an E," she says "Eeeeeeeeeee. But when you do it, make the shape with your mouth of an O. When you sing, you want to imagine this kind of cathedral roof effect in your mouth because that's your initial resonating chamber."

I try it. Is that rather fantastic and not too horrendous noise really coming from me? It is! We sing our scales, accompanied by Ali on her grand piano. "Guess what," says Ali. "You can sing in tune." I can hardly believe it.

A few minutes later she looks up again. "Faith, I think you are a soprano." Me? A soprano? It's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me. A few more scales and songs and then we're off to St Alban's Church in Charminster, where BC-GC rehearses every Thursday.

The choir ranges in age from teenage students to octogenarians.

I help Ali's husband Paul to put out the chairs.

"Altos here, tenors at the back and sopranos over there," instructs Paul, as more and more black-clad men and women bounce in.

Even before we've sung a note there is a terrific, cheerful energy in the room.

Everyone is friends. One lady tells me how she joined the choir after becoming a mum. Another member describes how she joined to combat depression. Yet more joined as an interest in retirement. I'm completely absorbed and as Ali shouts that we are going to warm up, I realise I am sitting with the altos and move quickly into soprano central.

Ali strikes the first note and suddenly everyone jumps to their feet and starts singing their scales and the ABC, swaying from side-to-side in true gospel style and belting out the odd hallelujah. It's spine-tingling. And I am part of it.

We go through Jubilate Deo, a samba, and then tackle Ali's own composition, a Christmas song called Star Brightly Shining.

This is quite complicated and several of us get lost in the tune, to much hilarity.

"Star brightly shining," booms Ali, trying to put us errant sopranos back on track. And suddenly, it goes right.

Singing like this is incredible. I feel full of energy and ridiculously happy. And it's not just me. Looking at my fellow choristers, the benefits of community singing are plain to see.

The hour I spend there rushes by, and I've got to get back for the kids. Reluctantly I slip out, the beautiful sound still ringing in my ears.

In the car on the journey home, I sing and sing and sing.

• Bournemouth Community Gospel Choir is available for hire and Ali Sharpe can be contacted at alisharpe.co.uk