Membership And Rehearsals

Membership

The annual subscription is £65 (concessionary rate £60). The subscription may be paid in two instalments if preferred. Please note that an instalment must be paid in each half of the season in order for members to take part in a concert. This is to do with insurance for being on the staging. For further information please contact the Hon. Secretary Mrs Pat Watson, telephone number: 01476 568319.

We are a friendly Society and new members are always very welcome. We do not have auditions, so there should be no reason not to come along and see if you enjoy it! Please click here for further details.

Rehearsals

All our rehearsals take place on Tuesday evenings in the main school hall of the Central College of Technology, Rushcliffe Road, Grantham, NG31 8ED (Google Map) and start at 7.30pm. The Youth Choir starts rehearsals at the same venue one hour earlier at 6.30pm, which enables those members who wish to sing with the Main Choir to do so.

For the 2009/2010 Season the Main Choir begins rehearsals on Tuesday 8th September, 2009 and the Youth Choir commences rehearsals one week later on Tuesday 16th September.

In order that we can put on as good a performance as possible it is very important that members attend rehearsals every week.

As all our rehearsals start promptly at 7.30pm please could we ask members arrive ten to fifteen minutes early.

Workshops

For the past 3 years and in preparation for our Spring Concerts, the GCS has held a one day rehearsal workshop, usually in the preceeding February.

These are open to anyone, member or not, to come and learn about the history of the work and it's composer, in addition to having the opportunity to sing the work. It is an illuminating all day event with lunches and refreshments available.

In February 2007 we benefitted from the expertise of voice coach Jane Emmanuel who assisted us with elements of Messa di Gloria by Puccini.

In 2008 Andrew Parnell, from Ely Cathedral came and ran a very successful day rehearsing Haydn's Te Deum.

This year Richard Roddis, who was our Evangelist, helped us with Bach's St Matthew Passion.

Midi Learning Files

The link below will take you to a website which contains many of the Choral works we have, are or might perform

http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Rutter_J/rutter_gloria.htm

The excellent feature on this site, amongst linking one to other music related items, is a facility to “hear” an individual choral part. All that is required is a computer with a sound card so almost any PC or laptop will do.

How to Use
Having opened up the link you will see the following about halfway down the page.

Choose which part you want to hear, Alto 1 or Tenor 2 for example, and from which Movement and click. You should then be able to hear your chosen part with the others and a basic accompaniment more quietly in the background. Just above the table of parts is a basic sound control allowing you to pause, rewind and fast forward.

Changing Choral Work
The link above opens the website at the Gloria by John Rutter; however, in the top right hand corner of the page is a Google search box.

To find another work just type the title or composer, or both, into the box and then select the www.cyberbass.com option. You will then be shown a search page like the one below

Just select one of the “Choir Midi Learning Files – (your choice of composer)” and off you go again.

Enjoy!

You Tube

Below is a link to a performance of Lux Aeterna on You Tube

Lux Aeterna Video

In the Playlist to the right of the viewing window are the remaining parts.