Community Outreach

Articles

Singing at the Threshold

Kelsey Menehan | Adults/Seniors, Community Outreach, Health, Impact/Value, Participation, Performance, Singing

A growing movement to bring singing into hospice and hospital settings eases end-of-life transitions for patients and their families. Read more

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Member Spotlight; Melinda Pollack-Harris, Sing to Live Community Chorus, Chicago

Kelsey Menehan | Adults/Seniors, Community Outreach, General, Health, Impact/Value, Participation, Performance, Singing, Volunteer

When Melinda Pollack-Harris was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, she needed music to face the challenge. That was the inspiration for Sing to Live Community Chorus for women, loved ones, and friends touched by cancer. Read more

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Choruses and Community Wellness

Don Lee | Audiences, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Health, Impact/Value, Participation, Performance, Singing

How can we share the wellness benefits of choral singing with a broader community? A growing number of choral leaders are looking at ways to extend the group singing experience beyond the concert hall. Read more

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Can Everybody Sing?

Singer and Composer Melanie DeMore Says Yes!

Kelsey Menehan | Audiences, Community Outreach, Conducting, Diversity, Participation, Performance, Rehearsal, Singing, Technique/Tool

Singer and composer Melanie DeMore enjoys nothing more than gathering together a group of people and forming a spontaneous choir. “I think that singing in a community allows people to have a certain bigness that they cannot have in a solitary way,” she says. In this Chorus America interview, DeMore talks about the importance of spreading the gift of choral singing far and wide. Read more

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Going Viral: The Power of Video to Raise Your Chorus's Profile

Kelsey Menehan | Audiences, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Fundraising, General, Impact/Value, Innovation, Marketing/Public Relations, Singing, Social Media, Technique/Tool, Technology

Plug the words “choir videos” into your search engine and you’ll get an astounding number of links (Google found 112,000,000. Yes, million.) Is your chorus among them? It could be—and more easily than you may think. Chorus America asked several choruses to tell us how they are making video a key part of their marketing strategy. Read more

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Member Spotlight: Jerry Rubino, Voices of Experience, Minneapolis

Kelsey Menehan | Adults/Seniors, Community Outreach, Conducting, Education, General, Health, Professional, Singing, Symphonic

After 23 years of many roles with the Dale Warland Singers, including associate conductor, Jerry Rubino is leading a new "artistically ambitious" choir of seniors called Voices of Experience. Chorus America talked to Rubino about what he calls his "ministry" of music—how he encourages singers to bring their full, expressive selves to singing. Read more

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Evaluate Your Chorus’ Education Program—On Any Budget

Chorus America Staff | Audiences, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Education, Evaluation, Impact/Value, Marketing/Public Relations, Participation, Research/Data, Schools

Your chorus has created and launched an exciting education program. How will you fund its evaluation? Kimberly Meisten of VocalEssence and David Myers of the University of Minnesota School of Music presented these ideas at the 2012 Chorus America Conference. Read more

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“Choirs Transforming Our World” at the Yale International Choral Festival

Micah Hendler | Community Outreach, Performance, Singing

It is not every day that in a recital hall at an Ivy League university you hear discussions of how to bring music to the imprisoned, the disadvantaged, the disabled, and the dying. But here I was, a research fellow at the Yale International Choral Festival Symposium, “Choirs Transforming Our World,” and surrounding me were people who spent their lives doing just that. Almost every context in which choral music could be used to repair the world seemed to have an expert. And those experts were in the Morse Recital Hall at the Yale School of Music, presenting, discussing, singing, thinking, together. It was truly amazing. Read more

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A Chorister's Front Row Seat on History

Singing for the Soviets during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

Jody Kerssenbrock | Community Outreach, History, Impact/Value, Participation, Performance, Professional, Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic

The Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra’s 1962 tour of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union was more than anyone bargained for. Jody Kerssenbrock, then a 25-year-old chorister, remembers what it was like to be in "enemy" territory during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world came as close as it ever has to a nuclear war. Read more

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Member Spotlight: Jane Ramseyer Miller, One Voice Mixed Chorus

Confronting Bullying Through Song

Chorus America Staff | Audiences, Children/Youth, Community Outreach, Diversity, Education, Families, Impact/Value, Innovation, Schools

One Voice Mixed Chorus, Minnesota's gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and allies chorus, is committed to building community and creating social change. The group's music director, Jane Ramseyer Miller, talked with Chorus America about how their mission propelled a unique outreach to public school students in the Twin Cities. Read more

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Resources

'Chorus Impact Study' Tool: Adaptable Op-Ed

Chorus America Staff | Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Impact/Value, Marketing/Public Relations, Research/Data, Sample/Template

Download this opinion piece to customize and submit to your local newspaper to help raise the profile of choruses in your area. Read more

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Choral-Orchestral Engagements

Survey Results and Best Practices

Chorus America Staff | Community Outreach, Legal/Licensing, Operations, Performance, Research/Data, Sample/Template, Symphonic, Technique/Tool

This 2004 whitepaper provides practical guidance on the unique issues choruses face in working with orchestras for concert engagements. Based on data gathered from Chorus America's symphonic chorus members, it also provides a sample contract and budget to use when negotiating your engagement. Read more

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Additional content: Ambassadors of Peace

Kelsey Menehan | Community Outreach, Impact/Value, Profile, Repertoire, Singing

Examples of concert programming that are designed on themes of peace or reconciliation. Partner piece to "How Choruses Have Become Ambassadors of Peace." Read more

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Grantwriting: Crafting an Effective Case Statement

Chorus America Staff | Community Outreach, Fundraising, Impact/Value, Sample/Template

Writing grant proposals or even a simple appeal letter is always a challenge. These sample paragraphs may help you as you are trying to "make the case" for your chorus. Read more

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Events

Heritage Presents: 13th Annual Concert Sing On!

4101 Nebraska Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016

Miriam Dixon | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Children/Youth, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, Fundraising, General, Impact/Value, Innovation, Management/Leadership, Marketing/Public Relations, Networking, Participation, Performance, Professional, Recruitment, Schools, Singing, Social Media, Symphonic, Venue, Volunteer

We Preserve the Past. We Inspire the Community. We Sing On. Join Heritage Signature Chorale for our annual concert which promises to stir your soul. Tickets may be purchased at www.heritagesignaturechorale.org or by phone (202) 808-0583. Read more

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The Son of Man

Santa Clara and San Francisco, CA

Susan Rooke | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Innovation, Performance, Repertoire

The Peninsula Women's Chorus and The Golden Gate Men's Chorus collaborate in a West Coast premiere. Read more

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Sacred Songs, Psalms and Celebrations

1740 Route 130 North, North Brunswick, NJ

Faith Knabe | Audiences, Community Outreach, Families, Performance, Singing

Philomusica Concert Choir, Dennis Boyle Music Director/Conductor, is pleased to announce its Spring concerts on Saturday, May 18 at 8 pm and on Sunday, May 19 at 4 pm at Our Lady of Peace Roman Catholic Church, 1740 Route 130 North, North Brunswick, NJ. The choir will perform both a capella and accompanied by Shea Velloso at the organ. Read more

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German Masterpieces: Calmus Ensemble Leipzig in Washington DC on route to the Great Performers Series at Lincoln Center

Old Town Alexandria, Virginia

classicalmovements | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Community Outreach, Diversity, Education, Families, Impact/Value, Performance, Professional, Repertoire, Schools, Singing

Flawless. Glorious. CALMUS. “precise intonation, impeccable blending and vocal beauty.”- The Salt Lake City Tribune Read more

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SA Choral Society presents POPS - On the Red Carpet: Hollywood Movie Classics

6070 Babcock, San Antonio, TX 78240

Gustavo Rios Jr | Adults/Seniors, Children/Youth, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, Fundraising, Participation, Performance, Singing

Season Pops Concert featuring “On the Red Carpet: Hollywood Movie Classics”. Come join us for an entertaining afternoon! Read more

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San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Mystic Voices"

101 Foothill Blvd., Monrovia, CA 91016

San Gabriel Val... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Community Outreach, Conducting, Diversity, General, Performance, Repertoire, Singing

"Our 'Mystic Voices' concert explores themes of mysticism and spirituality in three parts,” said SGVCC’s Artistic Director Zanaida Robles. “Part one serves as an invocation, featuring music of various composers that invite listeners to be still, to be open, and to be transported. Part two features 'Five Mystical Songs' by Ralph Vaughan Williams - the main course in this feast of music and mysticism. Part three is an affirmation of the spirit in a mix of African American spirituals and gospel music." Read more

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Essence of Joy Alumni Singers Concert

22nd and Spruce St.

bluelyric7 | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Community Outreach

For one night only, we've got a choir of over 70 singers who are traveling in from all over the country, some straight from Broadway, Off-Broadway and National Tours for a special evening celebrating inspiring choral works and gospel music! Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased here: http://eojas.eventbrite.com/ or at the door.For more information about our mission, visit eojas.org Read more

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“Music of the Three B’s”

Ingomar United Methodist Church, 1501 W Ingomar Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237

PCCsing | Audiences, Community Outreach, Conducting, Performance

Tickets: Adults- $20 advance, $22 at the door; students-$8; children (under 12)-$0 Description: In addition to Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, the concert will include Bach’s classic Cantata No. 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden, and Brahms’ stunning Schicksalslied. Further details, including ticket ordering, can be found at www.PCCsing.org Read more