Like many choirs in the US, our’s is not able to meet due to the Corona Virus. In fact we are in lock down here in Los Angeles. (I always thought our group sounded pretty good? Was it something we did?).
My choir is looking for a web app that will let us practice online as a group with our conductor. Someone told me there was an app called Zoom that can do this. I know Face Book has live streaming. Is there anyone out there who knows of a good app that we can use? I’m sure other choirs will want to know about it too.
Please contact me about this
Mike O’Donoghue
kevdev says
I was just googling for the same issue, and found this:
https://blog.chorusconnection.com/virtual-learning-taking-your-choir-rehearsals-online
Cheers,
Kevin
juhibansalcomposer says
Hi Mike,
Zoom is a solid option – it’s smooth and reliable video conferencing. The “conference room” is I think what you’d be looking for in terms of running rehearsals, since everyone can sign into the same meeting. There is a fee for this – it appears to be $49/month as I’m looking at it now.
Another good (and currently free) option would be Google Meet – they have similar capabilities, and I understand have made the multi-person-meeting feature free to all users until July 1 in light of Coronavirus. They can accomodate up to 250 people signing on at once for rehearsals (or meetings).
John Pearson says
Hi Juhi,
I tried using Zoom with 11 people to record the simple recitation of the Lord’s Prayer. Because of the slight and variable delays in audio transmission, different for each person, it did not feel natural and each person spoke in a halting fashion, as there was no common sense of the spoken rhythm. We did not try singing but I imagine this would have the same problem and not be a feasible way to rehearse.
Looking forward to hear from those that have found a way to do this effectively!
John
juhibansalcomposer says
Hi John,
I’m sorry to hear that – I’ve yet to find a perfect solution also! Zoom and Google Meet seem like they’re sort of workable (at least until there’s something better in place), but I agree they are far from perfect.
I was reading this article (https://blog.chorusconnection.com/virtual-learning-taking-your-choir-rehearsals-online) and it seems like some groups are having success with Zoom. And of course still others have having choir members record in their own parts and mixing together the result, but that’s nothing like actual rehearsal.
All that to say….I’m also looking forward to hearing if anyone has found a better solution!