This page contains information you need to know to participate in the Blue Ridge Choir Connection event. Choir directors: your singers to read it prior to attending the event.
Participating Choirs & Number of Singers
Blue Ridge Vocal Connection 25
Dublin Baptist Church 9
Grove United Methodist Church 13
Northside Presbyterian Church 11
Pulaski First United Methodist Church 12
Randolph Avenue United Methodist Church 11
Choirs
Participating choirs may perform up to 7 minutes of music of their choice. Music and rehearsal tracks for the joint closing song are posted on our website here. Rehearsing it ahead of time isn’t necessary, but if you can it will help everyone bring it together during the 4 pm rehearsal. You are also welcome to print copies for your own use in connection with this event. However, we plan to print and provide sufficient copies for all of the singers who attend. One of the closing songs, I Will Bless the Lord has a small group trio descant. We’ll identify volunteers to sing that part during the 4 pm rehearsal.
Please note this change to prior information: We initially offered choirs up to 6 minutes to perform. But since we only have 6 participating choirs, we’re adding an extra minute of performance time to each group.
4 pm Rehearsal
Maximizing our limited rehearsal time will be imperative. Plan your arrival to allow sufficient time to deliver food, visit a bathroom, pick up music, and be in place ready to rehearse promptly at 4 pm. For GPS purposes, the church’s address is 135 North Fourth Street, NW, Pulaski. (There is a Pulaski, TN. Don’t go there.)
Sit in the congregational pews, filling in from the front, segregated in vocal sections with the basses closest to the piano/organ, tenors next, altos next, and sopranos farthest from the instruments. Singers of any voice part who want to sing the chorus descant in I Will Bless the Lord are welcome to do so, as long as they are capable of finding appropriate notes in their range. They should sit in the choir loft at the beginning of the rehearsal, regardless of their voice part. Here’s a sanctuary pic to help you find your place.
If the rehearsal goes long, be prepared to move into the concert portion of the event as efficiently as possible. We’ll leave enough time for you to re-group with any non-singing spectators in your party, but encourage you to not to dally as you do so.
Participating Individuals
Individuals are welcome to participate in the 4 pm rehearsal to learn and perform the joint song at the end. The 5 pm concert is also open to spectators and guests, and we strongly encourage you to invite them.
Supper
The 6 pm dinner is a potluck open to singers as well as spectating guests. If you’d like to attend, bring some food to share. Singers advising their guests that they are also welcome to attend the after-concert dinner should either bring enough food to cover them, or ask them to bring additional food themselves.
Plates, utensils, napkins, cups, ice, drinks, etc. will be provided by the hosts. Please bring at least a main dish and either a salad or dessert sufficient for 12-15 servings. Try to choose something that doesn’t require refrigeration, reheating or prep more substantial than adding a serving utensil.
Sound System
Pulaski UMC’s sound system is sufficient for the participating choirs. We will provide a separate, single mic for speaking to introduce your group and/or music. However, if you want additional mics for solo or other subsets of your choir, or if you plan to use instrumentalists besides a pianist or organist, please let us know so we can prepare in advance. Also, if you should plan to use a recorded track, contact us to let us know what format your recording is in.
Stage Movement
Take time to view the pictures of the Pulaski UMC sanctuary below and the following instructions so we can cooperatively maximize performance time and minimize “dead” time between performing choirs.
Each choir will perform from the choir loft. When facing the choir loft from the congregation, the pulpit will be on the left and a large overflow area behind the organ console will be to the right.
All singers should enter the choir loft from the overflow area and exit toward the pulpit, no exceptions. We will provide an order of performance at the event. The first choir should already be in the choir loft at the beginning of the event with the second choir also already seated in the overflow area. As each choir exits, successive choirs should move into the choir loft while the next choir moves quietly to the overflow seating.
Narrators introducing music should move directly to a mic and start doing so as soon as the preceding choir finishes to minimize turnover time. Moving choir members should do so without talking, so as not to distract from any speakers.
Plan ahead for singers who need special accommodation moving into or out of the choir loft. The closest access to the sanctuary is from a parking lot through a door behind the piano in this pic, or from the street at the back of the sanctuary. Both of those entrances have short flights of stairs. There is a step-free path to the sanctuary, so if a member of your party needs to utilize one, call ahead to 540-980-3331 for instructions on how to access it or ask for assistance at the event.
Places for the Joint Songs
The choir loft is too small to contain all of the singers for the joint songs. But the natural acoustics are such that we will turn off the sound system, so whether singers are in the choir loft will be irrelevant.
When called upon, singers should move to the front platform & choir loft as quickly as possible. Taller singers should move to the back and shorter ones to the front or sides. Each singer must ensure that he/she has a clear view of the director by moving away from obstructions or other singers.
