Plans change for fall semester with invention of Lemonade Choir

[Tony]

Dear Friends,

If you've been following these posts you know that we hoped to form a virtual choir for our December concert, to be broadcast on Sunday, 13 December at 2 PM, sponsored by Bay Chamber Concerts.  Unfortunately, we did not get enough registrations for a balanced group (nowhere near enough tenors and basses to pull it off).

Last night the Board of Down East Singers met on Zoom and came up with a new plan that we hope will interest more choristers. This email will provide some details of Plan B. Other details will be announced as soon as I've had a chance to arrange them.

First of all, we've decided to reduce the membership fee for fall semester to $50 instead of $70. This is because the semester will be shorter than usual and there is less repertoire than usual. We hope this fee reduction will encourage more people to sign up.

The major change we have decided on is to abandon the virtual choir plan that required each singer to use My Choral Coach to record themselves. The feedback we received was that singers found this process either intimidating or technically overwhelming. Our new plan will eliminate the need for recording oneself alone.

We will move the project from virtual choir to an outdoor choir that will rehearse at my house in Cushing a couple of times and then record the music using a professional videographer. The video will be used for the choral portion of the December concert. (The other part will be Halcyon String Quartet playing by themselves).

The repertoire will remain exactly the same: Schubert's German Mass, a setting of Bortniansky's Lord's Prayer, and the hymn "Lift Every Voice and Sing." My Choral Coach will be available free of charge to you to help you learn your part on your own but you will not need to record yourself and send the file to me. My Choral Coach will be solely for learning and reviewing the music.

The idea of the outdoor choir is based on our experience this summer with my church choir. Beginning in May we started recording the musical portions of the following week's service outside with ten foot distances between each singer. The results have been more successful than I had imagined. At first we recorded these sessions at the church but the noise of traffic on Main Street in Thomaston made us decide to move the recording sessions to my house, which is at the end of a peninsula with no traffic at all.

Those who signed up to try the virtual choir already know that I nicknamed it the Lemonade Choir.  I thought up this name for our own administrative needs only, such as signing people up for Choral Coach, planning purposes, etc. The name Lemonade Choir will not appear in any publicity.  Why Lemonade Choir? Because when you get lemons you make lemonade! That's what we're doing!

As soon as we know the dates of the rehearsals and the recording session I will let you know. They will be either on a Saturday or Sunday but we don't have details yet.

I have scheduled a Zoom meeting for anyone interested in hearing more or asking questions. It will be next Tuesday, 22 September, from 7 to 8:30 PM. You will receive an invitation to the meeting later. You will be able to ask questions or make comments using the Chat feature on Zoom.

If you'd like to register for our Lemonade  Choir please download the registration form on the Down East Singers website https://www.downeastsingers.org/ 

Go to: "For Singers" and e-mail it to: <downeas...@gmail.com>

The $50 registration fee can either be paid using PayPal on the web site or you can mail a check to: Down East Singers, PO Box 996, Rockport, ME 04856

If the $50 is a problem for you, please let us know. We have scholarship funds available and we don't want to leave anyone behind. All singers 18 and younger sing for free as usual.

Cheers,

Tony

[A Downes]

Thank you, Tony. 

I will take a look at this.

Alane

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[Annette Elowitch]

Since it’s mostly virtual, can I join?

Annette Elowitch

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[Tony Antolini]

"Mostly virtual"? We're rehearsing and recording in person, not using computers (virtual). The only computer part is Zoom meetings and the availability of Choral Coach to help you learn your part.

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