The COVID-19 pandemic put all ensemble music-making on hold during most of 2020. Scheduled performances were cancelled, and we took a hiatus from singing together in any way. But we soon realized, pandemic or not, the song must go on! We worked at doing some "virtual choir" pieces. We also learned how to sing together while sitting safely alone in our own cars with the windows up. There is a video of that below, the first time we tried it. Later on, we resumed regular bi-weekly and then weekly rehearsals -- for a while remaining in our cars, using headphones and microphones and an FM transmitter. Later, we sang outside while masked, and slowly progressed to outside unmasked. Most recently, as a fully-vaccinated (and mostly boosted) group, we have resumed in-person unmasked rehearsals in a large well-ventilated room.
We now have two performances on the schedule for Christmas 2021, a caverns caroling event at Grand Caverns, and an outdoor Christmas program at Park View Mennonite Church.
We now have two performances on the schedule for Christmas 2021, a caverns caroling event at Grand Caverns, and an outdoor Christmas program at Park View Mennonite Church.
EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC-MAKING
If you walked or drove by the Park View Mennonite Church parking lot on Monday, June 8, 2020, you would have been curious about the eight cars parked in a circle, nose-in, around a conductor waving his arms while singing into a mic. There was a good reason. Here is one product of our absolutely COVID-risk-free real-time group music rehearsal, made possible with an FM transmitter and our car radios. It was mostly for fun, and to sing together for the first time in three months. It was also to help David Newman, baritone, and JMU music professor, to further research this method of real-time ensemble singing with zero exposure risk. Enjoy! And thanks, David!
If you walked or drove by the Park View Mennonite Church parking lot on Monday, June 8, 2020, you would have been curious about the eight cars parked in a circle, nose-in, around a conductor waving his arms while singing into a mic. There was a good reason. Here is one product of our absolutely COVID-risk-free real-time group music rehearsal, made possible with an FM transmitter and our car radios. It was mostly for fun, and to sing together for the first time in three months. It was also to help David Newman, baritone, and JMU music professor, to further research this method of real-time ensemble singing with zero exposure risk. Enjoy! And thanks, David!
A "Virtual Choir" rendition of Bradley Lehman's "Dry Bones."