Concert at St Michaels 17th March 2012

Congratulations to everyone involved in the presentation of this concert. I thought the Sinfonia were brilliant, and I think the choir performed brilliantly as well, and that we more than held our own! From my seat in the middle of the action it is difficult to imagine quite how it all sounded from the cheap seats at the back, but from the few comments fed back to me I think the general impression was favourable. Congratulations especially to Peter, for bringing out the best in choir and orchestra; but also to Ann and her dream team for the setting up (accomplished in record time), and also the restoration of the church furniture to its perfect alignment at the end of the evening. 

Questionnaire Results

Thank you also to those 28 members of the audience who completed the questionnaire that was enclosed with the programme. Results were as follows:

Qu 1: We distributed 1500 leaflets house to house in Bramhall last weekend. Did you come tonight as a result of receiving one of these leaflets?       Yes 8    No 17   No response 3

Qu 2: Did you come tonight to support friends or family who are members of the Barnby Choir, or of Cheshire Sinfonia?   Yes (Barnby)  11   Yes (Sinfonia)  2   Yes (both) 3  Yes (not specified) 6    No  6

Qu 3: Did you come as a result of seeing any of our advertising (posters, flyers, newspaper or local webpage)?   No  23   No response  2   Yes 2  (poster in local shop 1, flyer given to me by friend 1) 

Qu 4: Did you come after visiting our website?   No  23  Yes 1 ("it's good!")  No response  3

Qu 5:  Have you any suggestions about how we might make attending a Barnby Choir concert a more pleasurable experience?  Many thanks to those 5 brave souls who shared their ideas with us. To the respondent who wrote "serve wine", I hope he or she did find the wine counter at the interval, but the questions to whom (the choir? the audience? the conductor??) and when (before, during or after the performance?) come to mind........
            Other suggestions concerned the balance between the orchestra and choir (including the extremist view of "no orchestra, thanks"), the need for the choir to appear to be enjoying what they are doing and to appear to know what they are singing about, and believe in it; more engagement with the audience, by way of commentary or anecdote from the conductor or a member of the choir; more friendliness "front of house"; and the desire of the audience to feel "part of it".

Qu 6: Would you like to know more about the choir, and have your name added to our mailing list?  5 members of the audience left their contact details.

These responses will be used to inform the future direction of our publicity, though we must be careful not to read too much into the response of a fairly small sample. Nonetheless, I am pleasantly surprised by the apparent sucess of the leaflet drop, which will be all the greater if those 8 who came to this concert enjoyed it enough to be minded to come to future concerts as well. Thank you again to the team of leaflet droppers - I hope you feel the outcome merited the energy you expended!

The matter of improving our rapport and engagement with our audience is I think also one to which we should pay particular attention. If you, the reader, have any thoughts on this questionnaire which you would like to share with me, the Committee, and other readers of this blog, please post a comment. Click on the green (number)comments at the bottom of this page. You can add a comment anonymously if you don't wish to be identified! Doug

CHANGE OF VENUE

Our next concert, on March 17th, will now take place at the Church of St. Michael and All Angels in Bramhall, rathert than at Wilmslow High School, as previously advertised.

We were let down over the booking, and had to seek an alternative venue at relatively short notice. I went and took a look at the URC in Macclesfield, which is an attractive old listed building which has been extensively refurbished since Anne and I were married there 28 years ago! We also considered the Macclesfield Methodist Church, which has a large worship area which is used for concert performances.

In the event, Peter and Ann decided to return to St. Michael's in Bramhall, which we know well, and which we are confident will be able to accommodate both our choir and the Cheshire Sinfonia, as well as (we hope) a substantial audience.

I will be grateful for the help of all members of the choir to ensure that the change of venue is publicised as widely as possible. Poster, flyers and tickets for sale will all be available at rehearsal this evening. I also hope to organise a leaflet drop in the area around St Michaels, and will be calling this evening for volunteers to commit an hour or two to this task.    

Singing Day 4th Feb 2012

Thank you to all the Committee who combined to make the Singing Day a great success. We had around 70 singers, of whom nearly 50 were visitors from other choirs. We think they were attracted in the main by the chance to sing again with Keith Orrell, and by the opportunity to sing and work on Puccini's Messa di Gloria. But also perhaps by the Wilmslow Wells for Africa team's fantastic lunch and cakes, and perhaps also because they may have enjoyed our previous singing days with Keith and with Frances Cooke.

Thank you very much also to all those choir members who turned out on the day and gave the Committee valuable help with the running of the day. You know who you are - your Committee is most grateful.

Really nice 'social' last night. Lovely food and a bit of Poulenc to accompany it!

Please contact Ann Elphick as soon as you have made up your minds about our Singing Day on Feb 4th (Puccini's Messa di Gloria). Your Committee put in lot of hard work to make all the arrangements for the day; by contrast, all you have to do is turn up and enjoy! Please support us and make the day one to remember. Those of you who attended in 2010 will well recall Keith Orrell's enthusiasm and humour which lit up the day; and you will again have the opportunity to support Wilmslow Wells for Africa (they provide a lunch). Full details of the event are on this website under 'Singing Day'.

Other choirs' Singing Days are also well worth supporting. I went to St George's and the Lindow Singers' last year - both were really good. Coming early this year (2012) are St George's (Jan 21st,  Mozart Requiem), Prestbury Choral (Feb 11th, the Armed Man - Jenkins) and Bollington Festival Chorus (Feb 25th, Cherubini's Requiem in C minor).  Get the dates in your diaries now (especially ours)! Full details will (I assume) be on these choirs' respective websites.

Doug

Hi everybody.

Just to remind you that we get underway with our new year’s programme on Tuesday 13^th January at 8 pm at the Methodist Church on Water Lane. Please arrive in good time so as to be able to collect and sign for your scores and still be ready to start singing at 8 pm sharp.

We have had a number of calls from potential new choir members. Please remember to encourage any friends of yours who might be interested in joining – the New Year is a prime opportunity to recruit people who might be ready to start something new. And please introduce yourself to any new faces who appear in your section on Tuesday, and make them feel welcome.

Remember Cyberbass? No time like the present to get stuck into some early homework on both the pieces we are singing in concert on 17^th March; both items are on Cyberbass, so what are you waiting for?! I think you will agree that the sooner you become familiar with the music and the words, the sooner the rehearsals become a pleasure rather than a chore!  

As usual we will have a ‘social’ during the second half of this first rehearsal of the year; gentlemen are reminded please to bring something (non-alcoholic)for us to drink, and ladies something for us to eat.

My best wishes to all of you for 2012. See you on Tuesday.

Doug