Try Couch Choir this week with instructional video by Astrid.
‘So Happy Together’

https://www.couchchoir.com

Firstly, with sadness we will be farewelling Matt soon. With much soul searching he has made the decision to move to Brazil in September and we wish him all the happiness one can have in these strange and extraordinary times.

Astrid has kindly and generously offered to work with us after Matt leaves. So… zoom rehearsals in parts will resume and Astrid has plans fo try out a new videoing recording method with us. Details will be in a future post.

In the meantime- we have enjoyed three Park rehearsals and have two more planned at Laurel Bank Park – Hill Street side. It worked very well with our now ‘portable’ piano and tucked in out of the wind.
Dates: Sunday’s 16th and 23rd August. 3pm-4pm.
See current repertoire- we have been practicing all pieces except ‘Africa’.

Date claimer – Farewell to Matt & sing
Sunday September 13th. 3pm at Linda’s home in Highfields. Details will follow – thank-you to Linda for the kind offer to use her enormous outdoor area so we can safely socially distance.
We also have the offer of this space if the weather is raining for the next two rehearsals and the change will be with a notice posted on the website on Sunday morning.

See you soon.

This Sunday’s rehearsal (9/8) will be again in Laurel Bank Park but move to behind Laurel Bank Hall on the Hill Street side. Bring all current music for an enjoyable sing with Matt. 3pm start.
At 4pm a VOCE meeting will follow our sing to discuss where to next. There are no plans to return to our deMolay evening rehearsals in the near future – so all ideas and suggestions welcome.

cheers Marion

We will meet near the Croquet Club in Laurel bank for a sing Sunday afternoon after 2.30pm for a 3 pm start till 4pm. The weather looks like it will be kind to us this week and masked and unmasked singers welcome!
Bring all your music including Somewhere over the Rainbow to sing in real time together. We plan to have a piano this week 🙂

Hopefully we will enjoy another outdoor rehearsal this Sunday. Great roll up last week! 3pm start at Laurel Bank Park near croquet club. If weather is uncertain, check the website around 2pm. 🙂

This Sunday at Laurel Bank Park. Meet on lawn behind Croquet Club. Bring a coffee or drink @ 2.30pm for a ‘distance’ catch up and 3pm start. Fingers crossed the weather will be good. See Matt’s posts below for music. 🙂

Wondering what is coming up next? VOCE recently meet. Below are notes from our meeting and a plan for park rehearsals… read on

VOCE Meeting (zoom) 22/6/20
Attending: Rob, Gail, Pam, Michael, Matt, Susie, Linda, Marion, (Chris R) Apologies: Catherine, Chrissie, Stuart.

1. Financials – Rob presented the financials which were accepted. Hall hire has been suspended for the moment. 
2. Video project – Thank you to all the participants  for taking the challenge!! And a big thank you to Matt and parts coordinators Chrissie, Susie and Michael for zooming the rehearsals. Sadly we are farewelling Susie who is starting a new job up north and we wish her all the best. 
3. Finalising and Publishing Video – stay posted cause it’s on its way. 
4. Term 3 Rehearsals – while the calendar suggests our Term 3 is starting, we discussed alternatives to our usual Tuesday evening meetings. Matt has confirmed the following:    
   Sunday afternoon Park Rehearsals.        
   Where: Laurel Bank Park.
   Near hall/ car park off Hill Street.                                     Dates: July 19th / 26th August 2nd/ 9th              Time: 3pm – 4pm  bring a coffee at 2.30pm to chat beforehand if you like.                            
   Music – details to follow in Matt’s post. 
5. We will reassess situation after these 4 weeks. Hope you can join us. 
   
   cheers Marion

No zoom rehearsals are planned in June at this stage. Those participating in the virtual choir project will be busy practicing, recording and uploading their videos over the next couple of weeks. See email from Matt re: uploading to Dropbox.

We await updates with the pandemic medical advise in regards to returning to our evening hall rehearsals and meantime VOCE will continue to consider other alternatives.

take care all,

Marion

Our ‘isolation’ choir song is coming together beautifully with zoom practices, singing along to Matt’s fabulous videos and even the odd socially distant sing in the park.

What is coming up?

This week–

·       Put the music away and practice singing along to Matt’s video of your part using headphones (or at least one so you can hear yourself and Matt). Videos are located under Repertoire tab when you log in.

·       Try videoing yourself singing. Instructions below.

Next zoom rehearsal – Tues 26^th May

·       We will sing through the song then have time to trouble shoot and problem solve queries about recording.

Following week 27^th May -2^nd June 

·       Time to record.

INSTRUCTIONS for recording

1.       Use 2 devices. One – listen, and watch Matt while singing along with headphones. Two – a recording device e.g quality phone.   Don’t forget to clap!

2.       Frame yourself in Landscape. Check you are framed well in the space, not too close/too far away, square on rather than looking up your nose and check what is in the background behind you.

3.       Check your face has light on it. Daytime recordings with extra house/lamp lights on works well.

4.       Check quality of sound on your recording device. If you miss a note or make a mistake that’s fine, but the overall quality of the sound should be clear.

5.       Lastly, be colourful, have fun and smile a lot in this song.

To add a little character to the video you have the option to also send a second very short (5sec) video of yourself outside doing something you love with views of gardens, trees, sky clouds, kids (the audio will not be used but the images may). 

If you haven’t seen our trial video yet – this was a few of us singing Ave Verum working out the process with Matt and our technician Andrew in Sydney who is putting it together.

https://vimeo.com/experiencedna/review/411678823/1dd7896644

Password: Choirbolical

Further instructions re: final recording and submitting videos coming next week. 

Enjoy!! 

p.s. A few Choirbolicals can be spotted in the latest Couch Choir of Love’s in Need of Love Today – a song we sang together not so long ago. Congratulations to Astrid and her team.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=j1OBDTPaIvc

There is still time to register your attendance with Rob who is coordinating with our lovely zoom ‘parts’ coordinators. Please pass on to your singing friends and even get together with someone in your ‘bubble’ to rehearse.
Times:
6.30pm Alto – Susie

7.00pm Men – Michael

7.30pm Sops – Chrissie M

See previous posts for more details about:
1.Our virtual choir project and trial – feel free to join rehearsals even if unsure of being part of the final video project.
2. Matt’s fabulous rehearsal videos (NB click ‘continue to website’ from the link)

cheers, Marion