Online Choirs

[bednobs]

is anyone currently participating in an online choir? If so how easy is it, and what's the quality of the finished product? My choir is about to start a new zoom only term, but i'm not convinced how it could possibly work, or how it could be as good as singing together in person. I usually sing base, and like to take my cues from those around me, and also like being immersed in the sound. Can it really work online?

[Electrochem]

It depends on what sort of choir it is. You say you sing bass. Is it mainly four part stuff you sing (SATB)? The crucial thing is getting timing right and you need someone to conduct and provide guidance on where to come in. It isn't easy to get it right and sounding good. I speak from experience!

[bednobs]

yes, mainly 4 part songs. Depending on attendance sometimes 3. We are mainly women, so I usually sing bass an octave up.
It's a natural voice choir and we sing world songs usually (sometimes in other languages) however, I think the foreign language ones might be dropped as it's all so much extra effort to do over zoom. We have a conductor but im really not sure how it's going to work online. I feel a bit reluctant to pay the terms fees if it's all going to be awful

[Electrochem]

I sing with two choirs. In one we sing traditional Choral Music; the other is a community choir and we mainly sing acapella (three or four parts). In the more traditional choir, we have been e-mailed backing tracks, which we play into the headphones we wear when we are singing our part. We also have our director of music conducting. The separate parts are then put together using specialist software. It is very difficult to get it right, as you can't hear the other parts. Our MD is an excellent musician and here voice is amazing. She has sung opera and works us hard. The community choir I sing with has not made any online videos or audio tracks. Singing is wonderful for our mental and physical health and I hope you manage to get back to it when this surreal situation is over.

[bednobs]

thanks EC