Welcome to the WellRehearsed app, developed for abcd and Making Music to help generate statistics on music making activities in the UK.
This free app was developed in volunteer time as a simple-to-use risk management tool for amateur music groups of all kinds, choirs and instrumental groups. It asks two short anonymous questions:
- Has your choir/music group met for a rehearsal in the last week?
- Were any infections subsequently reported by persons attending it?
WellRehearsed has now been running for 10 months and we have had over 8,000 reports – a great result!
With restrictions being withdrawn across all four nations, the volume of reporting is unsurprisingly starting to drop, which means it is becoming increasingly difficult to report on trends in a meaningful way. Therefore, we have now withdrawn the app from the Android and iOS stores and will shortly suspending the collection of data. Over the next few weeks, we will be analysing the data and a final report will be published in due course. We will, however, reinstate WellRehearsed should the need arise again in future.
WellRehearsed has helped abcd and Making Music offer policy makers real-life evidence on the likelihood of Covid transmission in music groups, and help us keep our advice up-to-date. We also know that many music groups have found the live statistics helpful in giving a picture of the overall scene as groups returned to live rehearsals.
We’re grateful to everyone across the amateur music scene who has reported on their rehearsals during the pandemic.
Rachel Greaves, abcd General Secretary, said:
After such a long period of stifling restrictions, it has been really uplifting to see so many music groups of all kinds keen to contribute to the data by reporting each week. It has also demonstrated just how many groups have returned to live music-making after lockdown. The app has enabled us to collect data from real rehearsals and has played a vital role in helping us make the case for singing and music-making generally.
Barbara Eifler, Making Music Chief Executive, said:
This app has been a great example of how we can work together as a community to collect evidence which can help policy makers take the right decisions, and us associations review our guidance in real time. A big thank you is due to all the groups who reported their in-person rehearsals week in week out, whether or not infections subsequently occurred.
WellRehearsed is quick to install, easy to use, and it’s great to know that we can all contribute to collating the data needed to understand Covid and choral singing in real-world situations.