Hi, folks
Well, we’ve survived our first month of rehearsals – let’s see what October will hold for us!
Reminder: Please change my address to BrigidatROCA@gmail.com for any ROCA biz – that will help me stay slightly more organised!
Thanks to the people who did the Phoenix recording – bravo to Adele, Amy, Laura, Elizabeth, Don and Charles! I was hoping that we might tackle our own Virtual Choir project in the spring, but now I’m thinking not, with so little participation in this one :(
Tuesday’s session is all-Canadiana. We have more than 100 Canadian repertoire pieces in the library, and I’ve only chosen fourteen of them, so if your favourite is missing, perhaps it’ll be a “next time” thing. Tuesday’s Canadian rep is a folder within the folder, and I have numbered the pieces in the order I think we’ll do them. It’s up to you to decide what you want to print (if anything) or whether you can read from pdfs. If you want to read from pdfs, you may need to listen on your phone and read from your computer, or watch on your computer and read from a tablet – whatever works. Don’t leave your decision too late, though – it’s a lot of music, if you decide to print it.
I’m still thinking about October 13 and what to do with it ...
October 20 will be our first hybrid rehearsal – I’ve put the pods map in the folder. We only have an hour, and I plan to do
• Sing for Joy (with Susan at the piano)
• Rise Up My Love – from the Canadian collection – some of us know it, and this should certainly get copied if you’re live-singing
• something from the Justice Choir collection – tba
Live-singers should plan for masking – it doesn’t need to be a formal singers mask, but it should be something you feel comfortable in. Susan O is making her own masks and has offered to do one for anyone who needs. Personally, the new one I have from Barbra Bradshaw is the most comfortable I’ve had for wearing for long periods. But every face is different, and you need to find something you can be comfortable in for an hour.
October 27 will be rehearsal /AGM / rehearsal
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again – I understand and appreciate that most of you come to choir as an escape from other things, and an opportunity to relax and make music together.
But an organisation like ROCA cannot exist without governance, and that means that somebody has to step up and make that happen. Several people in the Chorus have given generously of their time – I need to offer special thanks to Cathy Bayley for her years as President – though there are several other folk who have also served on the Board. Currently Bernie (President) and Susan S (Marketing) are Chorus Board members; Robert Bridson from the Orchestra is Secretary, and all our other Board members are community members. The latter is good – but we need to know that you have a strong voice.
Please consider carefully whether you would be prepared to serve on the Board, and if you’re not willing to commit to Board membership, whether you might help as part of an ad-hoc committee.
Please talk to Bernie!
As you will have guessed, this is not a good year, financially, and we have to look carefully at chasing sponsorships, donors and the like. Bernie is willing to do that – but not AS President. If someone’s prepared to step up and take the chair, he will tackle sponsorship; if not, we’re going to have to bug you all a lot more to help chase money.
Is someone willing to be Doorkeeper this Tuesday, please? - stay on top of the Waiting Room, check folks off (and give me the list afterwards), monitor Chat, etc.
Reminder: 7pm start – so I’ll open up around 6:40pm.
At the end of the rehearsal anyone who wants can get themselves a drink and stay around for an Afterglow at a virtual O’Hares....
See you Tuesday
Brigid
