Update from NSW

Hello again!

In answer to some emails and a comment from Ros just posted - and because Blog Technology has so baffled me that I can't answer on my own blog (the messages just go Phhhff! ) no I haven't started a new choir yet. And yes - my email and mobile are still the same and I love hearing news from QLD.

Starting a new choir is a tricky business - I have spent months scouting out the various existing choirs and developing graphs of their various styles and meeting times so that I don't tread on any toes and ruffle feathers. But most of the geographical areas close to me already have a choir similiar to Morningsong. I went to a concert one choir gave on Sunday and every single song they sang was straight out of Morningsong's repertoire.

In the one area where there is a gap which could do with a community choir, there is not a venue in sight. Well - maybe the surf life saving club.

However, the one thing which is different here is the age of the singers. Where the Brisbane groups (and the Melbourne groups) have quite a range from young to old, here they seem to be grouped according to age - and the presumption is that if you are on the older side - you won't want to sing anything adventurous.

I got that first hand. Missing singing very much I rang two groups to see if I could just join. Not only could I not join because I had missed some kind of enrolment cutoff - after some not so discrete questioning by both groups it was found that I was on the wrong side of 50 and "we have enough older singers" . WHOA.

So - at least I have a niche if I can find a venue. It's for those people who just want to sing now and don't want a demeaning quizz about their age.

Keep in touch - and I'll let you know if and when I have a new group. It would be wonderful to do what they do in the UK and Europe which is develop networks of 3-4 choirs. They go visiting each other, hosted by choir members, and have little mini-festivals for weekends where they sing and eat, eat and sing. Hey, sounds like Morningsong!

Cheers and love
Jane