[HANASHIR:16088] RE: Starting a new Jewish Community Choir

[Meris Ruzow <meris...>]

Roz - Carol covered a lot of good points.  You might also want to decide
if members pay a slight fee ($20 or so) just to insure that they come -
for some it makes a difference; for others it doesn't.  Do you have to
pay for rental space?  If so, a lot more money would be needed.  Who's
paying your salary?   

If the group is mixed, then also for sure, decide whether you'll be
singing "Adonai," or "Hashem."  That's a biggie in some groups and you
can't always change the music to make things fit.

There will be unpopular decisions the director has to make, but like
Carol says, with the right fit, the right attitude and music, you will
have a kehilla kedosha which makes beautiful music; but decide up front
- are you "performing" for services, or just community events; etc.
Good luck!
Meris Ruzow

Meris (at) nycap(dot)rr(dot)com


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org [mailto:owner-hanashir (at) 
shamash(dot)org] On
Behalf Of Ros Schwartz
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2003 11:41 AM
To: hanashir (at) shamash(dot)org
Subject: [HANASHIR:16084] Starting a new Jewish Community Choir

There is an exciting initiative in our community, to start a Jewish 
Community Choir.  I'm setting the agenda for our first organizational 
meeting, and I would appreciate any comments/suggestions on
{a) the content of the agenda - attached below - anything I should 
change or add? and
(b) any roadblocks/difficulties that I should anticipate, and 
suggestions as to how to deal with them.

We have one Orthodox and one Reform congregation here (in Kingston, 
Ontario, Canada) with a reasonably good relationship between them - a 
number of people (including me) belong to both synagogues, and this is 
considered quite acceptable.  Also there are many non-affiliated Jews in

the community.  So we plan to do this under the auspices of the Jewish 
Community Council, so that membership is open to all.

Later, if this works out, I will likely be writing for your repertoire 
suggestions! :-)

Thanks for your help,

- Ros

=======================================================================

Agenda for organizational meeting for Jewish Community Choir

Goals
- have fun!
- develop musical abilities
- give back to the community by way of performances & songleading

Members
- no prior training required;  no audition
- commitment to attend rehearsals, learn music between rehearsals,
attend performances (some people may not perform initially if stage
fright ... but this would be an eventual goal for all)
- find out individual experience - e.g. who has had voice training? can
read music? play an instrument? learn music easily by ear? help others?
- and adjust repertoire accordingly

Choir rehearsals:
- where?
- how often? (weekly / every 2 weeks)
- what day? (could vary eg Thurs / Sun)
- what time? (start & stop?)

Musical accompaniment
- piano or keyboard essential at the beginning for learning 4 part
harmony

Rehearsal structure
- warm-ups
- "soul food" (brief inspirational reading)
- study material - rounds, 4 part harmony pieces
- announcements
- fun material (easy unison "singalong" pieces)
- options for music teaching: sheet music - purchase, borrow, or rent
(not photocopy); lyric sheets; rote learning; charts; overhead
projector; - at discretion of person teaching that particular song

Repertoire
- Jewish music
- world folk music

Musical leadership
- director - harmony pieces
- assistant director(s) - warmups, unison pieces, rounds
- others?
- section leaders to help out in smaller groups

Costs
- sheet music
- accompanist
- rehearsal space
- choir members to contribute as they can, no one to be excluded bec
they can't pay

Performances
- for the synagogues
- for the community
- could include solos, harmony arrangements, rounds, & unison pieces for
songleading
- audition in April 2004 for the local "Revue" in December 2004

Need volunteers
- to do admin work - contact people as needed, arrange venues, publicity
for meetings & concerts, manage finances, etc.
- to do musical work - choose repertoire, order music, help choir
members musically, etc.

Under the auspices of the Jewish Community Council - open to members of 
either congregation & unaffiliated persons as well

Name for choir!
Vision statement!




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