Why audio files in Dropbox didn't work for me

I first discovered my own joy of singing as an adult. In fact, it wasn't until my 30s that I convinced myself I could sing. After some private singing lessons and an audition, I became a chorister in one of Norway's largest pop choirs. And what a door-opener that was!

The choir maintained a relatively high standard and used audio files to facilitate personal practice at home, alongside sheet music. The audio files had various origins; some were recordings made during joint rehearsals, others were pre-recorded by the conductor or purchased from a distributor. And all practice material was shared in a closed Dropbox folder by those responsible in my voice section. Does that sound familiar?

There are many reasons why sharing via Dropbox didn't work particularly well for me, and here are a few:

• Every time I wanted to practice with an audio file while simultaneously viewing the PDF sheet music from the same folder, the audio file stopped playing!
• It took time to find the Dropbox folder every time I wanted to practice on my own. Often, the friction became too great, and the practice session never happened.
• Sharing my own audio files required Dropbox permissions I didn't have, so I had to email the audio files as attachments to a fellow chorister with access instead.
• My Dropbox was already full, so I couldn't save the practice material to my own area.
• It was often confusing when multiple versions of both audio files and sheet music were sometimes posted – which version was the current one?

Far too often, I never even got started with personal practice

Eventually, I scoured the internet for solutions that could replace Dropbox as a more suitable practice tool for choirs, but I couldn't find a good enough product.

With a profession and hobby as a system developer, I therefore took action and built the practice tool I had wished for. The first version was ready at the end of 2019 and was tested among my fellow tenors. The solution made it possible to record audio files in a phone app and easily share them with others in the voice section. Eventually, other voice sections got wind of the app, and suddenly the entire choir wanted to use the solution. Perhaps they had noticed that my voice section mastered the repertoire better than before?

Since then, things have really taken off. Several thousand choristers now use the app, which has grown into a complete service to cover all needs in a choir. After getting to know ChoirMate, many choristers claim they can never imagine going back to audio files in Dropbox.