The other day I put out a question about how a conductor can do an online rehearsal with their entire choir. I was able to get a few good answers.
I’d like to clarify my question a bit more. What my choir needs is a version of WebEx or GoToMeeting, but we need it for choirs. These two conferencing apps are for business use. They handle large groups of people participating, but the software is not sensitive enough for choral groups singing and to determine if someone ifsflat or sharp.
My question is, other than Zoom or Google Meeting, is there any app similar to WebEx or GotoMeeting that can be used for a choir rehearsal?
Any help on this question would be greatly appreciated.
juhibansalcomposer says
Hi Mike, I’m looking forward to hearing what others have to add – unfortunately Zoom is the app I’ve heard of most folks having success with, and as you said – it is far from perfect.
This blogpost mentions a few other specific web conferencing tools https://blog.chorusconnection.com/virtual-learning-taking-your-choir-rehearsals-online
(I haven’t tried any of the others, so I can’t vouch for them, but they might be worth a try.)
Another thing you might want to look into (whichever platform you use) is reducing latency… while it won’t fix all the issues in running a musical rehearsal over a business platform, it should at least improve them. This is a pretty good cheatsheet you could forward to your singers to look into to try and forestall some potential issues before you get into a rehearsal. https://wiki.millersville.edu/display/instructdocs/Improving+your+Zoom+connection
John Pearson says
The problem with any app using the internet is the delay in sound transmission — its like each singer starting a note at a slightly different time, which has a ripple effect, as singers take their cue for their own sound production from what they hear around them. Even for something as simple as a group spoken recitation, the random delays play havoc. Our 10 member church council tried to record a group prayer over zoom and it was not possible to develop the normal kind of word rhythm — it sounded like a cacophony. This fundamental problem could perhaps be mitigated if an app was able to provide each singer a metronomic beat that was synchronized across singers and controlled by a conductor. Another approach would be to choose music with a very simple rhythmic structure.
The significance of this general effect can be tested by running a zoom with 5-8 friends and trying to sing together. Zoom is free for sessions under 40 minutes.
I hope you find a way around this problem and look forward to hear of your experience!
Elizabeth Pauly says
From everything I’ve seen so far the conferencing technology is not even available to prevent time lag, which is a problem if you want everyone to sing and hear each other at the same time. In terms of sensitivity to pitch, this is not only dependent on the conferencing technology, but on the quality of the microphones that your choir members have to sing into. Word on the street is that the Shure MV88, which attaches to an iPhone with a lightning plug, is one of the best out there for these purposes, but at $150 @, most programs are not going to be able to provide these for their singers. I wish I had better news – we are all struggling with this, but we are also all working together. Up until this point I don’t think we as an industry realized how important technology like this could be for us. Maybe now we’ll see some movement on the tech side to provide these kind of tools.