Eastbourne’s Concentus continues to enjoy the "virtual" life

Moving on from chatting, they now ‘meet up’ for actual choir practice on their regular Monday nights at 7.30pm for a voice warm-up and a sing-through of at least one item from their repertoire.

With between 45 and 55 members all joining the on-line meeting and with numbers increasing as other members learn the new technology each week, assistant musical director Louise Soper controls the session by muting all participants as they join.

Anyone wishing to have their voice heard in order to ask a question can raise a hand to be unmuted.

Musical director Adrian White said: “We start with a quick round-up of where we are, followed by doing some vocal warm-up exercises and then sing along to our pre-recorded rehearsal backing tracks.

“It makes for a novel rehearsal for me to have everyone muted in the background. I don’t know what all their neighbours are thinking when we do the warm-ups as we can make some very odd sounds!

“Whilst it isn’t quite the same as seeing each other in the flesh, it is nevertheless tremendous fun. It is so lovely to see everyone’s faces and at the same time we are learning new music that will be sung in our upcoming Christmas concerts!”

The choir will continue with their virtual meetings until the lockdown rules are lifted sufficiently to enable them to rehearse properly.

“With everyone now getting to grips with the technology, all future ‘virtual’ rehearsals will be run with the four different voice ranges being split rehearsed in separate ‘rooms’, but all taking place at the same time before finally bringing the members together again to join all of the parts together.”

The plan is that the new term will begin on Monday, September 7.

“So if you are interested in continuing to sing outside of the confines of your lounge, please either visit the website http://www.concentus-sings.com or call Claire on 07920 430162 or Sue on 07789 343514 or email [email protected].”

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