Aims & Objectives of Cat’s Chorus

July 2007

 

 

 

Background

Cat’s Chorus has its genesis in a choir called ‘The Sassy Sirens’ that was founded in January 2006 by Cat Young and Linda Blake.

 

Cat decided to bring together a few friends who all wanted to “sing again” but all felt anxious about joining larger, more formal choirs.  Linda, a professional singer, volunteered to provide guidance and inspiration for the group during its inception.

 

From the outset, Kenny Hung was recruited to be our accompanist.  He has since become our musical director providing both the arrangements and the vocal training for the group.

 

There was a change over of membership earlier this year, and Linda has now left, and others have joined. This resulted in the choir being renamed ‘Cat’s Chorus’ (circa February 2007).

 

The group continues to be musically led by Kenny and managed by Cat.

 

 

Aims & objectives

The main aim of the group is to provide a small, friendly, supportive singing group in the Wallingford area.  It encourages people who have not sung for some time, to have a go again, and will enable those who sing in larger groups the challenge of singing in a smaller choir.

 

One of the most important characteristics of the group is that it is relaxed and we have fun.  We have a laugh, while working hard on the pieces.  We are not ‘formal’ in the setup.  There is no favouritism and we are too small to form ‘cliques’.  This makes singing a much more enjoyable experience.

 

We meet once a week to rehearse and in these sessions we work on extending our vocal range, strengthening our voices as well as mastering pieces that have been arranged especially for us.


We wish to perform in public and are currently seeking opportunities in and around Oxfordshire.  Initially we are looking at slots at local music festivals, ‘unplugged’ nights, and providing entertainment for care homes and schools.

 


Funding

We meet in the sports pavilion of Crowmarsh, a village bordering Wallingford in Oxfordshire.  This is charged to us at £11.75 per session.

 

Kenny is paid a small stipend of £60 per month, for which he leads the rehearsals and provides the arrangements.

 

Other costs include purchasing uniforms, advertising, paper and ink for printing, refreshments for rehearsals and domain name & website hosting.

 

All other input, including Cat’s time to organise the group, is done on a voluntary basis.  Cat has also covered all other expenses to date.  Once the choir is financially more buoyant, she hopes that all expenses relating to the choir will be covered by the choir funds.

 

To cover the costs a subscription is taken from the members, and a bank account is being set up in order to be able to take these subs as standing orders.

 

We will also seek to be paid for our performances, even if it is a small amount, which will help fund the choir. 

 

 

Membership

The membership is reasonably healthy with a good range of voices.  We have 12 members, around 8 of which attend the rehearsals regularly.  We want to grow this to around 16 members, 12 of which attend regularly.

 

To grow we advertise in local parish magazines, on local websites and by word-of-mouth.  This has resulted in a reasonable level of interest and we will continue to do this as it is an affordable way to generate interest in the choir.

 

A particular need is to recruit a few more male members as we currently only have one male singer!