Message from Brigid

Monday 5 September 2022

Dear Singers

 

Countdown time!   On Tuesday 6 September, I will be doing some auditions.  On Tuesday 13 September we have our first rehearsal of the new season!  I’m really looking forward to being back working with you again.  We will welcome Josie Lau as our accompanist.

 

Reminder: I know there are folks with away-time planned.  PLEASE EMAIL ME to confirm absence dates. Depending on how the rehearsal schedule works out, it may impact on participation in the any concert, and I may ask you to reaudition on that repertoire.

 

I know you’ve had a wonderful welcome-back letter from Laura, with all the membership info you need.  Here’s the music stuff!

 CONCERT DATES/TIMES

 

November 5 concert – In Memory – originally planned for Fraserview, but because of a conflict, we’ve had to move it to South Arm United. That means that we couldn’t do a full joint concert, but we can do the Fauré Requiem, which needs a smaller ensemble – so the Orchestra will do the first half, and the Requiem will be the second half.

Afternoon rehearsal – 3:30-5pm (then reset stage for Orchestra rehearsal). Those who come a distance should bring concert dress and something to eat; we have the Heritage Room booked.  Concert call 7pm for 7:30pm

An optional extra – I have scheduled the Fauré at St Mary’s Kerrisdale for the afternoon of Sunday 6 November for an All Souls service where we remember those gone in the past year. This would be a 2pm rehearsal call for a 4pm service. Let me know if you don’t want to be part of it.  I may invite singers from St Mary’s choir to join us for the Saturday concert.

 

December 10 concert – Magnificat – originally planned as a joint concert, but we’re now making it Chorus only, and I am returning to a program we did 11 years ago – all Mary-music, to include (but not limited to)

·        Britten – Hymn to the Virgin

·        Biebl – Ave Maria

·        Lowry/Green – Mary, did you know

·        Vivaldi – Magnificat

·        Ray – Gospel Magnificat

lots of solo and ensemble possibilities – and not so much Christmas fluff!

 

April 18 concert – The Music’s Always There – will be on a Tuesday evening by request of our concert partners, the choir from Steveston-London Secondary School, under the direction of Michael Mikulin. They have been part of Richmond Sings in previous years.

The program will comprise music composed or arranged by John Rutter and Bob Chilcott – some with them, some with us, and some with both choirs together.

We will certainly be offering Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass but the music will include folk and pop arrangements by both composers.

 

June 3 concert – When We Were Young – was originally scheduled for the following week, but another Fraserview conflict has bumped us back.  I’m still working on this program - looking for the songs that were classics for us as we grew up (though pop songs don’t always transfer well to a choral arrangement!)

REHEARSAL PRACTICALITIES

 

It doesn’t need to be said, but if you feel at all unwell, please stay home and test!  A Zoomed rehearsal is not at all the same as an in-person one for you and for the rest of your section, but it’s better than nothing at all.  Zoom code will be the same:


https://us02web.zoom.us/j/95350781933?pwd=Y1NSQld3QTVROCtVUUdZMzZONnVIQT09

Meeting ID: 953 5078 1933 Passcode: SATB    



However, I would prefer not to be Zooming unless it’s necessary, so this is BY REQUEST, please. 

 

I need to hear from you by 6pm if a) you’re not going to be at rehearsal in person, and b) if you want to join us by Zoom.    A rehearsal attended on Zoom will be credited to you (as long as you attend all of it!) when I’m deciding who is able to take part in a concert.

You can contact me – 604-790-2367, voice or text, or brigidatROCA@gmail.com at any time.  I will check messages before I leave – but I will not be doing so once I’m headed out for rehearsal; any last-minute calls to your section-leaders, please.

 THE DREADED COVID STUFF...

 

I have every sympathy with those who are experiencing mask fatigue, but for the time being at least, I need to you be prepared to mask for the 2-hours-minus of ROCA rehearsal – even if you don’t wear a mask at all the rest of the week. This thing has not gone away, though those of us who have done our vaccinations and have still had “the bug” have found that we’ve mostly dealt better with it than we had feared. We have every hope that the new anti-Omicron vaccinations will improve the odds.

That being said, I think there are very few of us who don’t know someone who’s been sick with it. And for those who are fit and healthy it may not be more than a week or two of discomfort. But for the older ones among us, or those who are immune-compromised, or fearful, it’s still a concern.  And the science hasn’t changed – the act of singing pushes out more aerosols than simply talking.

So I am backing up what the Safety Committee have said – for the immediate future, we mask for rehearsals.  We may, with RAT tests, have the possibility of making future concerts mask-optional. But I want to hold with our self-naming as a COMMUNITY Chorus and care for each other with the decision to put a mask on for two hours.

I would also ask you to be careful about what sort of mask you wear for singing. The ideal one is a well-fitting (no gaps at the edges) three-layer mask with at least one layer of non-woven polypropylene. Because everyone’s face is different, you may do better with a flat mask, or a home-made singers mask (with more depth) or a commercial mask, even an N95 – I won’t tell you what pattern to wear. But 3-layer with NWPP, please.

And I need to remind you that I am putting my health in your hands – you have requested that I NOT mask so that you can see and hear me clearly; with 50 singers pushing out aerosols in my direction, I appreciate knowing that I am as safe as you can make me.

For the other COVID mitigations

·        there will be sanitizer available – please use!

·        We are blessed to be in Fraserview, with good space. However, they don’t have up-to-date air-exchange systems, so we will continue to distance as practical.  Please take responsibility for having doors open.
I will probably not do the seating labels this year, and trust you to leave space between you and the folks around you.

·        We will take a decent break, and people are encouraged to go outside and unmask as needed.

I’m excited about this season’s program – some things we’ve done before and loved, some new things – and I really hope we can get a full season of singing this time, with no COVID shut-downs, and share our music again with each other and the Richmond community.

 

Registrations are coming in – please make sure you are registered before the first rehearsal.

Looking forward to seeing you on Tuesday 13 September!

 

Brigid

From James: Nov 5/6 Concert

From James re: Nov. 5/6 concert:

So this is what I have come up with for the first half:

God Save the King

The Last Post and Reveille

O Canada

Beethoven Symphony #3, 2nd movement - Funeral March - 13 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4l8ah2Rvm0&ab_channel=DWClassicalMusic

https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.3%2C_Op.55_(Beethoven%2C_Ludwig_van)

Sibelius In Memoriam Op.59 - 8 minutes (there are both very slow recordings and an 8 minute recording which I like much better)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPDExsPq1NU&ab_channel=symphony7526

https://imslp.org/wiki/In_memoriam%2C_Op.59_(Sibelius%2C_Jean)

Butterworth Banks of Green Willow - 6 minutes (English composer who died in WW1)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFgDOBpx160&ab_channel=BartjeBartmans

https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Banks_of_Green_Willow_(Butterworth%2C_George)

Walch (Beethoven) Funeral March 1 (Winds and Brass only) - 4 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=312YOC_-Quc&ab_channel=LiberincLtd.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Funeral_March_No.1_(Walch%2C_Johann_Heinrich)

Elgar Nimrod - 4 minutes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik0VaT5iXPY&ab_channel=EnglishSymphonyOrchestra

https://imslp.org/wiki/Variations_on_an_Original_Theme_%27Enigma%27%2C_Op.36_(Elgar%2C_Edward)

***Intermission***

Faure Requiem

From Brigid: mid-November

Hi, people

Lots of feedback from people who enjoyed singing through the Faure last Tuesday. Please hold on to your copies – we’ll worry about getting them back in the New Year when we retrieve the red folders. It might be that you’d like another Faure evening before we gather them in....

In view of what we’re hearing from Dr Bonnie, I’ve made the decision that we won’t even think about caroling outside unless the COVID numbers take a downward turn. I do think that singing outside and separated is possible, and safe – but I am also more coming to a place where I feel that we all have to do more to NOT push the boundaries, and to model safe behaviour. Who knows, it may happen that we can flatten the curve again... And we all desperately want for things to be normal again, and for Christmas to be “traditional”. But the most important thing right now is to stay safe. So much as we’d like the promo, and to be singing publicly, I’m putting the brakes on. We’ll get as much carol-singing as we can in our Tuesday sessions.

Emily, from Phoenix Chamber Choir, has just sent me the video with score of “Silent Night”.- https://youtu.be/BVTLAJaGyjE I have put a pdf of the score in the music files as well, but singing off the screen gets your heads up and your faces more engaged! Sopranos barely need to rehearse, but you might find it a good challenge to sing alto or tenor, for rehearsal, anyway. Notice the staggered breathing, which will feel very odd, singing on your own. Brad (the sound engineer) says that the most important thing is that you don't leave out a whole note, but rather start the note and then drop out. He can extend your note to fill the space, but he can't create a note out of nothing. That means that you should try to stagger on the longer notes so that you can start the note, breathe, and then get back in for the next note. Final consonants on a syllable will actually belong to the beginning of the next syllable.

We’ll plan for some sectional time on Tuesday.

So (crossed fingers) Tuesday 17th will be something like

• warmup and vocal reminders

• let’s fish out the Back To Zoom Choir round

• we’ll do some rhythmic work on Woodsmoke & Oranges, and see if we can get the rest of this sorted – notes are not difficult. Perhaps sing against recording....

• I’m going to suggest we take some breakout room time in random groups to talk about the fact that the Food Bank has been a beneficiary of ROCA for the last few years, but we can’t do a concert for them this year – is there anything we can do?

• Break

• sectionals on Silent Night

• bring it together with Phoenix recording

• reminders about what’s needed if you decide to do the Virtual Choir thing

We talked a bit at St Mary’s staff meeting last week about the difference between online ritual and ritual online – that we can’t expect to pick up a pattern and have it transfer into a different format. It’s very much what I’m trying to do with ROCA rehearsals – we can’t expect to have things continue the same, but what we do need to do is use the online resources in a way that we couldn’t have done in an in-person format (like last week!). I’ve heard from a few choirs recently who are on hiatus because “online doesn’t work for us”... I feel sorry for them, because I suspect that they’ve just tried to move their usual patterns into Zoom, and it’s not worked. I’m grateful to all of you for moving outside your comfort zones and trying new things and new ways of being at this difficult time.

See you Tuesday

Brigid

From Brigid: Thanksgiving edition

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone – in a year of such upheaval, we have indeed got much to be thankful for – not least that we are still a community that loves each other and shares music in whatever way we can.

Tuesday 13th, we had hoped would be our first try at a hybrid rehearsal, but with no Nic available for sound at Fraserview, we’ve put it off to the following week. So this week will be 7pm for a mixed bag of rehearsal stuff, and the following week (20 October) will be 7:15pm arrival at Fraserview (for the live-rehearsers) and a 7:30pm start for all.

Kate is going to set up some pick-up places for folks to collect music – specifically, the Faure Requiem, which we’ll sing through on November 10, and the carol-folders for anyone who might be carolling. The Faure is available online (though not the Rutter edition, so there are a few variants) and you’re welcome to sing it from there, but I think most of us like to have the music in our hands – especially if it’s the copy you used last time!

With carolling in mind, I’ve set up a December 2020 file on the website. I need to know

  • (A) who is not willing to carol under any circumstances

  • (B) who is willing to carol if we are outdoors and spaced; masks recommended

  • (C) who is willing to carol indoors in a SMALL group (so you’d need to be able to hold your own part) and with all protocols enforced.

Indoor spaces I could see working include the Cooney Road foyer, with lots of space; perhaps City Hall. I don’t really want to do malls – too much competing sound. Other suggestions?

Outdoor spaces might include garden courtyards at the Hospice or some of the seniors’ residences (not going indoors), the City Hall plaza or outside the Centre for Active Living, on the Boardwalk in Steveston or other places. I’m not certain I’d want to do the Singing in the Snow event – outside, but a bit too crowded. Other suggestions?

Are there a couple of people who would be willing to be carolling coordinators?

For this Tuesday evening, make sure that you have Yabban, Yamman and Rise Up My Love accessible for a little sectional time – we will be spending time with them in the hybrid rehearsal on October 20. And we’ll be using the Brahms “Wiegenlied” in warmup – you may want to print that off (from the Covid-season file).

Is there someone willing to be Doorkeeper on Tuesday?

Looking forward to singing with you soon

Brigid

PS – I just need to let you all know that Paul & Susan Ohannesian have had a sad loss this week – Paul’s Mom, Irene, died on October 8. She was in a care home in Seattle, and Paul and Susan had been unable to visit her since February. All your Chorus friends are thinking of you, Paul & Susan...

From Brigid: Here goes October!

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

From Brigid: end of September

Hi, folks

Can you believe that this is the fourth Zoom rehearsal? I am hoping that I’ve got some of the frustrating tech sorted, and this week will go more smoothly. Reminder to everyone – check Zoom for updates; there’s been a recent one. I hear that the next one will include the ability for people to choose their own breakout rooms!

Address change: my google email is getting swamped with many things, and I’m setting up a new address for ROCA stuff only. Please change my address to BrigidatROCA@gmail.com – that will help me stay slightly more organized!

Phoenix - “Part of this World” - can you drop me a line if you plan to record a track (or two) for this? They are due to Phoenix by next Sunday afternoon, so I think you should aim to have them in my electronic possession by next Sunday evening. I am going to set up a Dropbox folder, and will send links to the people who have contacted me. Please do not try to email them to me – probably too big a file for email, I would think.
Reminder, you need to play the track on one computer/tablet/phone, using headphones, and sing into another computer/tablet/phone. Your phone, if it dates from the last few years, will have a perfectly good microphone for this purpose.

“Sing for Joy” - I have posted part-predominant recordings, if you want to use them. We’ll do a bit of sectional work on Tuesday, so they may not be essential, but your choice.

I’m working on our October 6 cross-Canada musical tour, with some singing and some listening. I’ve had some requests; any more should come in to me by this Wednesday, please. There’s a lot of prep work involved in this! There will be copies of most of the music in pdf; you need to start thinking about whether you’re going to print off pages and pages (which should all, technically, be destroyed afterwards!) or whether you will save it to computer or tablet. With most pieces I’ll be offering you video-performances, so you will have the option to watch or to sing (some of you will probably do both!)

We’re still aiming for a hybrid rehearsal on October 13, with some folks in-person at Fraserview, and some being livestreamed at home. Bernie and I are trying to get into the church this week, and to get a copy of their protocols. Just a reminder: there were a few people who said “maybe” and I need to know for sure if you’re an at-home or a sing-live person: HeatherK, Kate, Chris ...

Barbra Allen Bradshaw’s masks – you need to ask specifically for the choral mask, not the 3-D. The 3-D will work, but the choral one has more depth.

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. Both Wendy and Christy have done it. Doris has offered to be ready...
Sectionals this week – probably after the break, so I have time to set up the breakout rooms....
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

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