What commitment do I need?
Being part of a huge team like Gay Abandon requires some commitment - especially if you want to take part in our performances.
Fran and Susan (tenors) showing we move as well as sing! Royal Academy of Music, London. Dec 06. Photo: Mark Weeks.
How much commitment you need to be in Gay Abandon depends a bit on what you want to do. Most of our members want to take part in our performances, whereas one or two just want to come along for a sing every week. If you don't perform, you'll have to accept that in the run-up to concerts, we're focussing on that. If you want to perform, the level of commitment involved is higher, and includes learning music outside rehearsals, and thinking about costumes, stage presence, movement etc.
All our members also need to take part in organising the choir - see below.
Rehearsals
We rehearse ever week during term time, for two hours on a Tuesday night. If you miss more than the odd rehearsal, you'll find it hard to join in when you do come along and you'll hold up the rest of the choir because you don't know what we learnt while you were away, so we ask that you try to make most rehearsals.
We also have occasional weekend rehearsals, particularly in the run-up to a major performance.
For members who want to perform with us, it's vital that you make almost all the rehearsals in the run up to a concert. If you're having a busy time and can't make every rehearsal, then you may need to skip the next performance - lots of us do this from time to time.
Organising
Everyone is involved in some way in running the choir. This may be specific projects such as planning concerts or social events, or ongoing tasks such as keeping membership records or maintaining the website. There are big jobs and small jobs, and you can choose your level of involvement, but everyone needs to do something to keep us running.
Stage performance
Performing members have to do much more than just sing! Some of our performances involve simple choreography and movement. We perform in costume, so you'll need to plan that with our costume team. We perform without music, so you'll need to learn your words and music.
Money
We need to hire rehearsal space, buy music, and pay the musical director and accompanist.In addition, we have paid people to arrange music for us, subsidised costumes and travel arrangements, paid for recording studios, and so on. It all costs money! For details of what it might cost you to be a member of Gay Abandon, click here
We do have a small 'hardship fund' with the aim that nobody should be prevented from joining in because of lack of cash.