It's great that you want to sing with us! This page is designed to help you with any questions you might have about the chorus or what we do. Email Ellen Neilley at neilley@comcast.net with any additional questions you have that are not answered by the information on this page.
Voice Placement - If you have never sung with us before, you will need to go through the voice placement process. Voice placement happens the night before or the night of our first rehearsal each season. Voice placement for the Fall of 2008 will be announced later on this summer, so please stay tuned! You do not need to prepare anything for the voice placement - just bring yourself and your singing voice!
Rehearsals - The chorus meets every Wednesday evening
at the Union Congregational Church on 33 Concord Street in Peterborough from 7:30
p.m.- 9:30 p.m.. Optional rehearsals are scheduled on the first Tuesday
of each month. These rehearsals can be used for extra practice or to
make up for a missed Wednesday rehearsal. The Tuesday rehearsals are
highly recommended and encouraged for all. For specific dates, see the
Rehearsal Schedule page.
Name Tags - Name tags help us all to get to know one
another better. They also help our conductor get to know us.
Please wear you name tag at every rehearsal and be responsible for its care,
including keeping it between seasons. New members will receive their
name tags by the 4th rehearsal, at the latest.
Focus on Quality -
We intend to continue our
goal of learning the music early. Our goal is to improve our
performance quality. Members should think of the rehearsals in this
way.
LEARNING
NOTES PHASE
POLISHING PHASE
CONCERT
First 6 weeks or so After
first 6 weeks to concert
Dress Rehearsal & Concert
To help us learn:.
- We will have
sectional rehearsals where we focus on individual parts only.
- Carroll will give us
assignments at the end of each
rehearsal regarding what we will focus on at the next rehearsal.
That will allow us to practice certain pieces during the week in
preparation for the next rehearsal.
- We should all have
pencils with us at every rehearsal and mark areas that are causing us
trouble or suggestions Carroll makes for singing, so that we can
practice better.
- We will provide a
seating plan as early as possible
- We will encourage
members to set up extra rehearsals in-between our full rehearsals to
work on troubling pieces. You could just get together with a few
others to work on certain music. This has been done by some people
in the past and it seems to help a lot.
- We strongly suggest that
all members buy and USE the practice tape, if available.
- From time to time,
Carroll will ask a particular row to sing some of the music to see how
well we are doing. Or he may mix us all up so that we must sing
next to people not singing our part. This will certainly give us a
sense of how much we have learned.
- Use your Music Section
Leader as a resource for help. Let that person know what trouble
you might be having.
Attendance - To help the chorus achieve the highest
possible level of performance skills, chorus members must attend ALL schedule
rehearsals for the full rehearsal time. PLEASE BE PROMPT! Please
be at rehearsals a little before 7:30 p.m. This will allow us to have a
few minutes for
announcements, followed by rehearsal at 7:30. Arriving
late or leaving early does not benefit the chorus or your own learning
experience. To be eligible to sing in the concert, we ask that you
not miss more than three rehearsals. This is to ensure that you really
do know the music well enough to perform in the concert. Please mark
your attendance at each rehearsal on the clipboard at the entrance.
Dues - Membership dues are $45 per session (Fall and
Spring) Members are also required to purchase (or rent,
depending on the specific program) music. Information about music is
available elsewhere on this website. Dues are one of the
primary means of support for the Chorus. They are kept as low as
possible to encourage membership, but without dues, the chorus could not
continue.
Cancellations - There are several ways you can find out
if a rehearsal has been cancelled due to inclement weather:
-
Look at your e-mails if you have one. An e-mail
will be sent to you announcing a cancellation.
-
Call your administrative section leader (listed on Who's
Who page)
-
Look on the Home page of this website for
cancellations.
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