What are rehearsals like?

FireChoir is friendly

People start arriving anywhere from 19:00-19:30. During this time we have coffee, chat with friends and make new friends. At 19:30 the choir meets all together and we welcome and recognize everyone who is new. Then all of the new people exit to the lobby where we have a 5-minute audition. You can read about our easy auditions here. After auditions you will return to the choir and start rehearsing with the choir.

For our first 5-6 rehearsals:
the evening is split into two sessions.

The choir divides (sop, alt, ten, bas) into sectional practices for the first hour. Each section has its own leader. Don't worry if you don't know which part you sing. We will figure that out together.

We learn 2-3 songs each week. At your first rehearsal, you will receive the tools to help you with memorizing your music. Don't panic, we have never had anyone not do a great job and many in the choir do not read music. We perform American produced arrangements in English.

We then take a coffee pause; it's a great time to socialize and give the vocal chords a rest. After 15-20 minutes of coffee time, the whole choir reunites.

The second half
of the rehearsal is spent on rehearsing...

...the new songs we learned. We also repeat (as much as time permits) the songs from previous weeks.

After 5 - 6 weeks, we no longer have sectionals, but only rehearse as one group. During the remaining weeks we focus on 4 main elements:

  1. Music: Learning to sing together as a choir.
  2. Vocal: Proper technique, pitch, pronunciation, breathing & posture.
  3. Attitude: Thinking towards performing with a positive attitude. Showing positivity and joy with our facial expressions, engaging the audience.
  4. Moving: Our music only comes alive if we engage our bodies & faces, so we move when we sing! Around the 8th week of rehearsals, we begin to add simple choreography and we practice singing and moving. It's not easy the first time, but it doesn't take long to get the hang of it. We have leaders who demonstrate and lead the choreo during rehearsals and performances. Everyone is allowed to move at their own comfort level.

Rehearsals end at 21:30.