About Dartmouth Rock
Dartmouth Rock was formed on 23rd April 2013 when over 70 people turned up for a taster session in St Clement’s Church Hall at the top of the town. It was set up by Jean Judge and her husband Peter Johnson, who moved to Dartmouth in July 2012. They had hoped to find a choir locally that performed unaccompanied arrangements of pop/rock songs to replace the one they had been singing with back in Oxford, but when it became apparent that no such choir existed they decided the only thing to do was start one!
Jean and Peter have both been involved with music from a very young age. Jean began singing in the Sunday School Choir at the age of six and has hardly stopped since! She went on to sing in competitive music festivals, folk clubs and Am-Dram productions and began singing in
a cappella community choirs over 20 years ago. Peter learned saxophone and clarinet in his early years and played professionally for a while, but didn’t discover the joys of a cappella singing until about 20 years ago. As well as singing in a number of community choirs, he has also spent several years immersed in the very exacting world of Barbershop.
Jean’s choir-leading skills were first tested when the leader of the community choir in which she sang in Oxford was ill one week and she was asked to stand in for her. That baptism of fire led to further stints whenever the leader couldn’t make it and finally to her becoming a co-leader of the choir.
Although it wasn’t Jean’s original intention to lead Dartmouth Rock (she just wanted to sing in it!), she now enjoys it enormously and says starting the choir is one of the best things she has ever done!
Jean and Peter have both been involved with music from a very young age. Jean began singing in the Sunday School Choir at the age of six and has hardly stopped since! She went on to sing in competitive music festivals, folk clubs and Am-Dram productions and began singing in
a cappella community choirs over 20 years ago. Peter learned saxophone and clarinet in his early years and played professionally for a while, but didn’t discover the joys of a cappella singing until about 20 years ago. As well as singing in a number of community choirs, he has also spent several years immersed in the very exacting world of Barbershop.
Jean’s choir-leading skills were first tested when the leader of the community choir in which she sang in Oxford was ill one week and she was asked to stand in for her. That baptism of fire led to further stints whenever the leader couldn’t make it and finally to her becoming a co-leader of the choir.
Although it wasn’t Jean’s original intention to lead Dartmouth Rock (she just wanted to sing in it!), she now enjoys it enormously and says starting the choir is one of the best things she has ever done!