We are currently taking names of interested 10 – 16 year olds for our Pop Choir/GLEE Club. When we have enough names we will call a start date and a Get Together so that we can meet and see what you guys want from the club. To have a general chat about how we see this very special club working. We’ll take this opportunity to underline a few of the most important policies and outline our plans for the group.
To Register Your Interest, please fill out the form:
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SURVEY
A little over a month ago we sent out a Survey to a number of you to give us an inkling into the will the community has for a Pop Choir/GLEE Club. The request went out like this:
“So we (at THE VOCAL ACADEMY) would love to know if we are completely mad!?!?!? We want to set up a fun, energetic, SUPER HARD WORKING, POP CHOIR for kids aged 14 to beyond 20.
The response we received back was overwhelmingly positive!
To our first question “What is your first reaction to a Pop Choir?” the response was so far ahead of the benchmark (46%) that on it’s own (67%) we could have just dropped the survey altogether and started planning from then on in.
However some of the feedback we received was quite interesting and intuitive. You really are a thoughtful bunch out there!!!
One of the most interesting responses we received back related to the age spread. We asked the question with the age profile of 14 years +. There were quite a few that were eager that we consider lowering the age profile and some suggesting that we have two choirs.
“Not sure if the mix of ages works. Might be better to split into Juniors 6-16 and Seniors 17+.”
The reason we initially pitched it at 14 and over was that we wanted to ensure as much as possible that the group would be at a certain level of ‘maturity’. While we teach all age groups Technique at The Vocal Academy, the group dynamic and our experience shows that even though some kids from an early age are very eager and mature, some like the ‘idea’ of a Pop Choir more than they actually like or want to engage with the work, which can be quite technical at times and are simply just not ready.
ALL THAT SAID, we take on board the general idea and all things considered we agree that having a starting age of 10 or 11 would bring more positives than percieved negatives.
“Why not add musicians too“:
We are not closed to musicians at all, or Beatboxers… or Drummers even! 😉 We may easily add musicians to the membership after we settle in. This being a Vocal Academy Project and given our initial thing is to be an Acappella Group as much as possible, we will respectfully hold off on introducing musicians until we find our feet.
“Volunteer time with the elderly, nursing homes, disability and mental health services =) music can really make these people so happy =)”
We at The Vocal Academy actually already run a Dementia Choir at a closeby Nursing Home. It truly is a privilege to listen to these wonderful people singing all the old songs and really enjoying stepping out a little bit every week as they gain confidence and rediscover the joy of singing!
“Please don’t be too American, my son would HATE that. And I wouldn’t send him. Dignified but fun. No over the stop nonsense.”
We’re not entirely sure what the respondent means by ‘American’. Our approach at The Vocal Academy is to teach healthy and sustainable Vocal Technique and in a lot of cases we believe that ‘less is more’. What we want the kids to experience is the beautiful sound they can make collectively, using the voice and using mostly contemporary music. The project means that, like any sports team, it is a ‘Collective Team Effort’ so we will insist on the singers doing their homework, punctuality and while when are together – because time is precious – we work hard.
What we promise is that we will endeavour to become the most fun and best young choir in the country!!!! And we have a HUGE amount of incredible people in our network that we can call upon to help us along our way!! More later…
So that’s really it for the moment…
Oh yeah!! So don’t forget to fill out the form above and when we get enough bodies we will meet up (Mams and Dads welcome as well!) for a chat and we can explain more.
We’re really looking forward to starting this project!!
Adult Singing
P.S. Our goal is to start an Adult Version of the same type of choir. This will most likely not happen until 2018. If you are over 17 years old and are interested in this please fill in the following form:
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