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Hope you’re keeping safe and well in this strange time.

I’ve missed our weekly sessions a lot, and long for the return of our happy Wednesday singing community!

But fear not – all that is about to change…

Because we’re going online!

we are starting this Wednesday April 22nd at 7:30pm

This is open to anyone, even if you’re not in the choir already and want to get involved.

I’ve hatched a plan along with two other choir leaders around the country to combine resources and do something new and creative in the lockdown.

Our collaborators are Stef Conner (based in Cambridge website here) and Claire Robins, (based in Surrey website here). Together they run the Timeline Choirs, one in Surrey and one in Cambridge (see website here)

So, adding my two choirs, we have four choirs working together for this online project.

Each choir will run a weekly online rehearsal for an hour:

Leith Hill Timeline Choir (Claire): 7:30-8:30pm – Tuesday evenings
The Stonegate Singers (Jon): 7:30-8:30pm – Wednesday evenings
Cambridge Timeline Choir (Stef): 7:00-8:00pm – Thursday evenings
The Roundhay Singers )Jon): 8:05-9:05pm – Thursday evenings (starts just after you clap the NHS)

Our term will run for 11 weeks:

from w/c Monday 20th April w/c Monday 6th July

HALF TERM in the w/c Monday 25th May.

What we propose is that you come to you regular choir rehearsal each week. This is important, as we want each choir to be itself with its members, but just want to open up the possibility of being connected together as multiple choirs.

If you’re new to the choir, then you can treat The Stonegate Singers as your regular choir! Then when things come back to normal you can join us in person!

And then you are free to drop in to other choir rehearsals as and when you please. There’s no expectation that you do, but they are there if you are in the mood for an extra session, or just curious to see what they are like.

We will be using the Zoom online conferencing platform – if you don’t know how to use this don’t worry, it’s extremely easy, and all instructions will be sent to you before the first rehearsal in a separate email.

We will all be working on 3 new pieces, one each selected by Jon, Claire and Stef, alongside some old favourites that we know already.

There will be workshops from the other choir leaders too – so you will not get bored with just looking at my face on the screen!

We’ll be providing a range of shared new online resources to enable you to learn and work on material at home too.

In terms of money issues, we’re asking for voluntary contributions through a payment button that you’ll find on the website for each individual choir. Please feel free to pay whatever you like for the sessions – or nothing at all – we understand of course that everyone is in different financial situations during this period, so there are no expectations here. And you can pay before or after the session, or at any time.

There will be some kind of group online performance/recording result at the end of the term – we’re still planning this, so we’ll keep you posted!

If you have any questions please contact me via email at thestonegatesingers@gmail.com and we will do our best to answer!

Here’s to some wonderful singing – see you online on Wednesday!

Cheers,

Jon