Listed below are the cuts that are planned for the Come and Sing event on Saturday 25 June 2022:

• 13 - Pastoral Symphony - finishing at bar 11
• 18 - Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion
• 33-37 - Lift up your heads , O ye gates to The Lord gave the word inclusive
• 39 - Their sound is gone out
• 41 - Let us break their bonds asunder
• 45 - I know that my redeemer liveth - finishing at bar 74
• 48 - The trumpet shall sound - finishing at bar 156
• 49-52 - Then shall be brought to pass to If God be for us inclusive
• 53 - Worthy is the lamb that was slain - optional cut as marked in score from end of bar 39 to end of bar 53

It has been decided to postpone the performance of The Armed Man, probably until early May. In order to bolster numbers, we will invite other local choirs and singers to join with us. To make the occasion attractive to other singers, the day will be in the form of a workshop, possibly with a guest conductor, and with a concert in the evening.

In addition, the performance of the Boyle commission will be postponed until a later concert when we will be able to do it full justice. When Rory composed this piece for our Centenary concert he did so with a choir of 100 or more voices in mind and with an orchestra to match. With potentially fewer than half that number and 1sts and 2nds required in most voice parts, we would be unable to put on the performance the piece merits. Jonathan and Kevin have made Rory aware of our decision and whilst he is disappointed, he has been very understanding and supportive of it.

Taking into account results of the recent survey of members together with the fact that the rate of infection from the less-severe Omicron variant is now reducing, it is our intention to relax the rule on mask-wearing at rehearsals from 1 February. Individuals can choose whether they wear a mask or not for singing but we will ask that masks be worn on arrival/departure and when moving around the hall. We will also continue to insist on a negative lateral flow test taken within 24 hours of the rehearsal. We will continue to maintain good ventilation and monitor air quality closely, whilst allowing seating closer together, and therefore more people will be able to attend rehearsals.

Committee
At our AGM which was held via Zoom on Tuesday 7 September 2021 it was announced that there are several vacancies on the Committee. Details of the vacancies will be confirmed in due course but, in the meantime, job descriptions for each Committee post can be found here.

Rehearsals for 2021-22 Season
In-person rehearsals are now taking place at 7.45 pm each Tuesday in the Upper Hall, Holy Trinity Church, 1 North Malvern Road, Malvern WR14 4LR. Numbers are being restricted for the time being and details of how to book a place will be sent out before each rehearsal. For members not attending in person, rehearsals will be live-streamed via Zoom with log-on details again being sent out in advance. See Virtual Rehearsals below for tips on getting the most out of Zoom rehearsals.

In addition to the risk assessment below, we are making the risk assessment prepared by the venue available here for your information.

We will be rehearsing Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man and Rory Boyle's Cantemus Igitur. You can find links to audio rehearsal files for each work on the Practice Files webpage. You may also find YouTube videos of performances of the works useful. There are links on the Useful Recordings webpage. Click on the appropriate green button at the top and bottom of this page.

Rehearsal Schedule
Details of which movements we will be rehearsing each week will be given on the Rehearsal Schedule webpage. Click on the green button at the top and bottom of this page.

We have completed a risk assessment covering in-person rehearsals in line with the latest guidelines and we would urge all members to read it, whether you will be attending rehearsals or not. Please click on the link below:
Covid-secure Rehearsals Risk Assessment

If you haven't yet joined any virtual rehearsals, or even if you have, and you're wondering what it's all about, you might find this explanation amusing - and recognisable!

The Birth of the Virtual Choir

It's finally here! The finished video is now available for you to download. Click here and follow the instructions to see what we've achieved.

Rehearsals​​​​​​ Details
The rehearsal starts at 07.45 pm but the link will be open from 7.15 pm. You will be sent a link to join the rehearsal but you may find the following points useful:

• For the best experience, use a laptop or pc which has a camera and a microphone. You can also use a tablet but the experience isn’t quite as good as it is with a laptop.
• Locate yourself in a quiet part of the house where you are unlikely to be disturbed or distracted. If there is a strong light source it should be in front of you rather than behind you.
• Use headphones/earphones if you have them. These enable you to hear instructions and music more clearly than if you rely on the computer’s inbuilt speakers.
• It is possible to join the meeting via a telephone link. You will be able to hear everything but the experience will be poorer than on a computer.

• You do not need to sign up to Zoom or create an account to join the rehearsal
• You do not need to pay anything
• You may be asked to download Zoom onto your computer after you click on the link. This is completely normal and will give you a better experience than using the browser version of Zoom.
• If the download doesn’t work you can click on a link to open Zoom in your browser.
• The rehearsal will be “muted “ automatically for everyone except Jonathan and Penny. No one will hear you sing other than yourself!
• If you wish to communicate with anyone during the rehearsal you can use the CHAT function on the Zoom taskbar. You should use this to raise any queries about your part with Jonathan or Penny.

Online Events

Click here to catch up with the Newsletters from our Chairman and Committee. They give details of planned events including the format for virtual rehearsals starting in September.