Some of what we did when rehearsals were suspended in March 2020:
Following a thorough risk assessment process and in consultation with the venue providers and our choir members it is currently our hope to be able to begin live rehearsals indoors in September!
August 2021 update:
Songbirds has continued to ‘meet’ and sing on Zoom fortnightly between January and July (with a break for Easter). The choir has focussed on nine songs that it hopes will form part of its next concert, as soon as it is safe to arrange one! Zoom skills further developed to the point where the choir was using ‘break out rooms’ for different sections to rehearse their harmonies. Of course we still sang all alone in our rooms at home whilst longing to get together and hear each other.
As COVID-19 regulations began to be relaxed during spring and summer, members grew increasingly optimistic about the future. An outdoor sing together was planned for Thursday August 5th but unfortunately rain intervened on that occasion so we had to reschedule this event for Thursday August 26th and are keeping our fingers crossed!
As COVID-19 regulations began to be relaxed during spring and summer, members grew increasingly optimistic about the future. An outdoor sing together was planned for Thursday August 5th but unfortunately rain intervened on that occasion so we had to reschedule this event for Thursday August 26th and are keeping our fingers crossed!
Singing together in Charlotta’s garden after 19 months apart!
Let’s Sing Outdoors!
Well - it didn’t rain on Thursday August 26th and so, although not the warmest of evenings, 15 Songbirds flocked to Charlotta’s garden to sing together for the first time since February 2020! It was a really uplifting evening and everyone really enjoyed this opportunity. Jane kept us together on the keyboard and told us repeatedly how wonderful we all sounded! We sang through our whole zoom repertoire, some of which we had never heard each other sing before. In particular we performed the song ‘Lean On Me’ for the first time all together in the same space. (This song we chose earlier in the year to learn in parts and practise on zoom before making individual recordings of it. These individual recordings were then blended together [see Lockdown page]).
Well - it didn’t rain on Thursday August 26th and so, although not the warmest of evenings, 15 Songbirds flocked to Charlotta’s garden to sing together for the first time since February 2020! It was a really uplifting evening and everyone really enjoyed this opportunity. Jane kept us together on the keyboard and told us repeatedly how wonderful we all sounded! We sang through our whole zoom repertoire, some of which we had never heard each other sing before. In particular we performed the song ‘Lean On Me’ for the first time all together in the same space. (This song we chose earlier in the year to learn in parts and practise on zoom before making individual recordings of it. These individual recordings were then blended together [see Lockdown page]).
Treasure Hunt
On August 8th a number of choir members, partners and friends took part in a car rally treasure hunt (not the speeding type) involving the collection of clues around a number of villages and along quiet lanes in Northamptonshire. It was a lovely sunny afternoon after the rain of a few days earlier and we concluded the rally at a lovely local hostelry in Braybrooke! Everyone throughly enjoyed the experience and the challenge of some of those cryptic clues!!! Thanks to the organisers for a really well planned and fun Sunday afternoon.
On August 8th a number of choir members, partners and friends took part in a car rally treasure hunt (not the speeding type) involving the collection of clues around a number of villages and along quiet lanes in Northamptonshire. It was a lovely sunny afternoon after the rain of a few days earlier and we concluded the rally at a lovely local hostelry in Braybrooke! Everyone throughly enjoyed the experience and the challenge of some of those cryptic clues!!! Thanks to the organisers for a really well planned and fun Sunday afternoon.
Some of the ‘rally drivers’ and their teams relaxing after the event.
January 2021 update:
For the remainder of 2020 Songbirds continued to meet fortnightly on Zoom and, on December 17th, celebrated the Christmas season with a virtual get-together with a Christmas hat competition, a raffle and lots of singing!
On January 14th we ‘re-zoomed’ our fortnightly sessions with a plan to run them until Easter and then review the Covid-19 situation again. We are hoping that we will be able to put together a recording or two of our individual voices blended as a virtual choir over the next couple of months.
It will soon be a full twelve months since our choir was able to sing as one group but we hope very fervently that, at some not too distant point in the year ahead of us, we will be able to sing together once more. The support and loyalty of our Songbirds members, committee and musical leadership have been pivotal in keeping our choir going during this long period of COVID-19 restrictions and, even at this difficult time of isolation, there are new members joining us!
October 2020 update:
Songbirds continues not meet up as a choir currently but it’s members are successfully keeping in touch during the months of lockdown and restrictions created by Covid-19. Each of the three singing sections is regularly in contact through WhatsApp messaging and there are endless jokes and cartoons passing backwards and forwards as well of plenty of messages of support. Zoom has also given section groups the opportunity for regular catch ups and virtual get togethers and quite a lot of laughs too! During the summer months groups also met up for coffee and cake in the outdoors. In addition there have been regular Newsletters sent out to all members keeping everyone up to date and linked in with news from individual choir members and National updates on Covid regulations and the impact on choirs like ours. Most recently ‘Zoom-alongs’ have been established which enable all choir members to see one another and sing songs ‘with’ each other - almost like being in a choir except that you can’t hear each other! (See below)
May 2020 update:
While Songbirds Choir is currently in lockdown, it’s members are doing all sorts of things to keep in touch and to reach out to each other at this singular time! Some of us are making bunting in readiness for a celebration when our choir can, once more, come together. Using a range of social media we are sharing jokes and stories, recipes, and all sorts of uplifting ideas.
We are also keeping the communication going through regular Newsletters.