Birmingham’s singing station clock – a platform for ‘ordinary’ voices

Composer Andy Ingamells (right) is recording 1,092 people of all ages across Birmingham and Solihull for the station clock project. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

“I think your voice would suit an F sharp. So that will be six o’clock,” said composer Andy Ingamells as he listened to my feeble attempts to sing Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5, my go-to karaoke song.

He is in the process of recording the voices of 1,092 ordinary people from across Birmingham and Solihull so they can be immortalised in the chimes of a singing station clock, which will be placed in the centre of the HS2 railway station being built in the city.