[New_csc_newsline] CSC follow up and future planning

[Nathan Leaf]

Dear Concert Singers - Happy Monday!

As the board and I make plans for next season, Concert Singers' 30th
anniversary season, we want to give you some updates on where things stand
and also ask for feedback from you.

As we have said before, the health and safety of everyone is our first
priority. That being said, we expect that we will be able to hold auditions
for new members in August. It is possible that they will be done in a
slightly different manner than usual, but nevertheless, if you know people
who are interested in singing with us, please let them know. Audition dates
are currently set for August 17, 31, and Sept. 8 in the Arts Center.
However, the Arts Center is not yet open, so we don't know for certain all
the specific details. There will be no required reauditions for current
members this year.

As you may know, there has been much discussion about the safety of singing
in large groups indoors, in close spaces, right now. There is some
information that we do not know, and some we do, and there are new studies
being done right now specifically intended to address the issues involved
in singing together. Suffice it to say, that while we have reserved our
normal rehearsals spaces at all the normal rehearsal times for Sept. -
Dec., the odds that all 130 of us will be able to safely gather in Marcus
Dry every Monday evening during the fall are not high. Perhaps by the
spring, but we don't know. Of course, we are hoping for the best, and we
have plans for a project in the fall and also for Holiday Pops. But we are
planning that in the fall, at least, our opportunities to all be together
will likely be limited. As we make plans, we would like to get some
feedback from you.

Please send your feedback to Nathan at njleaf at ncsu.edu (a reminder that
replies to the list serve go to Thom, and while Thom always dutifully
forwards messages to me, it is nice for him if we can cut out the middle
man).

We recently participated in the Broadcast from Home project. Of course,
this was just for fun - an additional project during the summer for those
that wanted. It was also a bit of a trial balloon. It was an online,
done-from-home project that may be similar in some ways to some things that
we might do in the fall. Of course, projects like these are not the same as
singing together - the feel of it is very different. We know that. It is
difficult (maybe impossible) to replicate the feel of singing together when
we are not together, and so some of the projects that we do in the fall,
which I think may have the best chance to be worthwhile, are not going to
attempt to replace that feeling. Rather, they will be projects that do
things in a different way, and will (hopefully) be fun and satisfying in a
different way.

If you are able to give some feedback, please send it to me at
njleaf at ncsu.edu.

For those who participated in the Broadcast from Home, could you please let
me know what you thought were the best aspects of the project and also if
there were aspects that were challenging, frustrating, or confusing.

For those that did not do the Broadcast from Home (and no guilt here -
there wasn't an expectation for anyone to do it) can you let me know if
there were specific reasons why you didn't do it. It will be helpful to
know if there were parts that seemed intimidating or confusing to this
project - we can work to take down roadblocks like that. It's also fine to
say that you just didn't have time, or that having a structured approach
(like having a project to do on Monday evening but not other times) would
be better for you - that type of feedback is helpful for us to know. If you
aren't sure you are interested in participating in a "virtual" ensemble or
experience, that is also useful information for us to know.

Finally, if you have any ideas on possible activities in the fall, please
let me know. We have some plans already, but we can certainly use more
ideas.

Thanks all. Take care, be well. And we are live streaming the pledge drive
raffle drawing tonight...so tune in at 7:30!

Nathan

-- 



*Dr. Nathan Leaf, D.M.A.Director of Choral ActivitiesTeaching Professor
 North Carolina State University*
*Artistic Director*
*   Concert Singers of Cary*




*214 Price Music CenterCampus Box 7311Raleigh, NC 27695*

*Phone:  919.515.8280**music.arts.ncsu.edu <http://music.arts.ncsu.edu>*