Choir welcome

Thank you for joining MBC. We are sure you will enjoy singing with us and hope this information will help you settle in. 

We rehearse on Tuesday evenings, at  St Alban's Church Offerton, SK2 5AG from 7:45pm to 9:45pm, during school term times. There is a car park behind the church off St Simons Close, but it is shared with the parish hall and it can sometimes be hard to get a place. You can park on the road, or it’s usually easy to park on Salcombe Road, next left (coming from Stockport) after the church. 

We perform a concert each term; before Christmas and in the spring, we focus on seasonal and sacred choral music; in the summer, we perform lighter pieces drawing on folk and traditional music, and more contemporary choral pieces.

We don't have formal auditions but Jim, our Musical Director, will periodically listen to our individual voices to check we are in the right part of the choir.  This may feel daunting, but it is low key and never made to feel intimidating. 

Subscriptions

MBC is a registered charity managed by a committee of choir members. We raise funds to cover rehearsal and music costs, and pay the professional musicians and singers who accompany some of our concerts. We do this through a subscription of £150 per year (which may be paid on a termly basis); by charging for tickets to our concerts; and by providing refreshments, running raffles and other occasional fundraising methods. We all contribute items to make up seasonal hampers to raffle at our concerts.

We don’t expect new members to pay their subscription until they have been to a few rehearsals and decided we’re the right choir for them.

Bank transfer is our preferred payment method: The Manchester Bach Choir, 08-92-99, 67461750.

Communication

Lisa, our Chair, manages email communications. Please make sure she has your email address, as all essential information will come via email. 

We also have a friendly and informative WhatsApp group which most members belong to - very useful for questions that need a prompt answer, as there is usually someone on line who can help. We share information such as music events that may be of interest, links to recordings or rehearsal files of the pieces we are performing, and, of course, our social events; it’s also useful to let everyone know if you are unable to attend a rehearsal or you need a lift. Lisa or one of the other committee members can add you to the group.

Rehearsals 

We are all issued with music at the start of the term. We can make performance notes in pencil on the music as long as they’re erased before handing the music back after the performance, so bring a pencil and rubber!

We take a well earned tea break during rehearsals. We take it in turns to bring milk and biscuits, and make and serve the refreshments; once you have settled in you’ll be added to the rota. We also make a donation to cover tea, coffee etc. Please bring a mug.

Performances

We use black folders for the music for performances. If you don’t already have one you will be able to buy one from Lisa for £12.

For Christmas and Easter concerts the women wear black and the men wear black jackets and ties and white shirts. For the summer concert the women wear plain bright coloured tops or shirts.

We rehearse with soloists and instrumentalists on the afternoon of the performance, or in the morning for the summer afternoon concert. The committee organises most aspects of the performance day, but everyone mucks in setting up the performance space and clearing up afterwards.

We also all get involved in promoting our concerts, whether it’s putting up a poster or encouraging friends and family to come along.

Learning the pieces

On our website you will find links to warm up exercises and to websites John Fletcher Music and Cyberbass for rehearsal files for most of the pieces we perform. One of us will be glad to introduce you to them. 

Anything else, please just ask.