North Devon Choral Society
Information for Members
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - Privacy Policy
Data held
Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email Address
Data held by the Membership Secretary of North Devon Choral Society
We use the data to communicate with choir members. We send messages from the conductor, information about concerts and other musical events which may interest them.
We retain the data when they cease to be members so that we can very occasionally send them information about special events.
Lawful Basis
Legitimate Interests
The personal details (Name, Address, Telephone Number and Email Address) of choir members are stored on the password-protected computer of the Membership Secretary. Hard copies of the Membership List are shared with the Committee of the North Devon Choral Society. These details are not shared with anyone else.
Rehearsals
Rehearsals take place every Tuesday from September to July except during Christmas and Easter. We don't usually break for half term. Members should sign the register weekly, and are expected to attend most rehearsals for each concert. They should consult the Membership Secretary if they find that impossible. It is important to indicate on the register whether or not you will be singing in the concert.
Rehearsals run from 7.30 to 9.30 pm with a 15 minute break, with refreshments, half way through. Rehearsals take place at Christ Church, Bear Street, Barnstaple EX32 7BU. There is plenty of free parking in nearby Queen Street/Bear Street car parks, and a few places in front of the church for those with limited mobility.
On concert days we rehearse from 2pm to about 4pm at the venue.
Scores
Music for all concerts is available to hire or purchase at rehearsals. It will help the Librarian a great deal if you can indicate during the previous term whether you have your own copy, wish to hire or purchase. Please treat all hired music with great care, and mark lightly in pencil only. At the end of a concert, hired music should be placed in the boxes provided at the concert venue. If for any reason you do not sing in the concert, hired music must be returned promptly, and if necessary you can contact the Librarian to make arrangements to do so.
Tickets
Flyers and tickets for concerts are available about six weeks before a concert, and are sold at rehearsals and from the outlets shown on the Tickets page. Each member is given three tickets to sell, with more available. Any unsold tickets should be returned to the Treasurer in advance of the concert.
Concert Dress
Unless specified otherwise:
Ladies should wear a long sleeved black top, long black skirt or smart black trousers, with black tights and shoes. Please, no bare legs/feet, no ¾length sleeves, no calf length skirts, no sparkly jewellery. A red artificial rose will be handed out at afternoon rehearsal and should be returned at the end of the concert.
Gents should wear a black dinner suit, black bow tie and white shirt.
We use black music folders which will be available at the afternoon rehearsal and should be returned at the end of the concert.
Rehearse at Home
If you wish to rehearse at home, you might find the following useful:
John's Cassettes
If you have a cassette player, bring a blank cassette, labelled with your name and voice part, for John to record your part on the piano.
ChoraLine www.choraline.com
ChoraLine offers specially recorded tracks with your own voice part picked out clearly. You can buy a CD or download the tracks in MP3 format to use in iPhones and MP3 players.
A special 10% discount for North Devon Choral Society members has been set up with ChoraLine. To obtain your discount when purchasing on their website, type DEVON in the discount code box on the shopping basket page and then click the green arrows on the right hand side of the discount code box. You will then see the amount saved due to your discount.
You can also order over the phone on 0845 304 5070 and by quoting our discount code DEVON also receive your 10% discount.
ChoraLine also stock an enormous range of vocal scores, choir folders, unique singing sets, and other items of interest to choral singers all of which will receive the 10% saving by using the DEVON discount code.
Cyberbass www.cyberbass.com
Cyberbass also offers specially recorded tracks with your own voice part picked out clearly. There is a facility to slow the tempo. These are free to listen to on your computer via the internet.
Learnchoralmusic www.learnchoralmusic.com
Similar to Cyberbass
Spotify www.spotify.com
Spotify has literally millions tracks which can be searched and played at any time online. You cannot transfer the tracks to iPhones or MP3 players or burn CDs from them. Essentially, it's a way to listen to recordings of music without buying CDs.
You must subscribe on a monthly basis, but can cancel your subscription with a month's notice. There is a free edition, but it's limited, and you have to listen to adverts.
For £4.99 per month you can listen to Spotify on any computer. For £9.99 per month you can also listen on your smartphone.
Note for current rehearsals:
Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music is still in copyright, which means it is unavailable on most choral learning sites. Johnfletchermusic includes it on their paid subscription - £4 for 4 months, £6 for 6 months, £10 for a year. Because of the 16 different voice parts, you might have to chop and change between the files to find your own part.
Vaughan Williams' In Windsor Forest is also available from johnfletchermusic.com , see above.
Shearing's Songs and Sonnets and Dyson's Agincourt are both available, free of charge, from learnchoralmusic .
I haven't yet found any rehearsal files for Shearing's Music to Hear. If you come across any, please let me know so that I can add them.
Subscriptions
Subscriptions for 2018/2019 are £31 per term, or £93 per annum, reduced to £17 per term for students and those under 25. Cheques should be made payable to North Devon Choral Society, and given to the Treasurer at rehearsals. A receipt will be issued.
Keeping in Touch
The committee endeavours to keep you informed and to discuss any situations and concerns at its meetings. Please contact any Committee member with any issues you might have. The AGM is in October each year, when you can speak on any matters and have an opportunity to elect your representatives.
Sponsorship and Donations
It costs many thousands of pounds to put on our larger concerts with orchestra, and this is only partly paid for through ticket sales. Our Treasurer, John Thompson, will be delighted to hear from you if you would like to sponsor us or make a donation of any size to help us continue the work.
Rehearsal Schedule & Events
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