Volume 26 Issue 7 - May and June 2021

The finale of VOCA's spring cabaret on Apr. 17, 2021: Morten Lauridsen's
Sure On This Shining Night, conducted by Jenny Crober (in the middle)
with Elizabeth Acker, accompanist (not pictured). vocachorus.ca
she mentions “dealing with the occasional vagaries of technology,
including Zoom, where calls of ‘You’re still muted!’, ‘My Internet just
died!’, and ‘Could you put me back into my Breakout Room please?’
were aplenty. Crober spoke highly of Zoom’s “Breakout Rooms” feature
as a method used to organize the choir into smaller, more manageable
sectionals, led by herself, the accompanist, and the professional
section leads accordingly.
Each VOCA session begins together in the main room, where a
variety of warm-ups are conducted and one of their six professional
section leads teaches the rest of the choir about specific musicianship
skills. (And on Monday nights yoga sessions with their accompanist,
Elizabeth Acker.) They then separate into pre-assigned breakout
rooms, “absolutely invaluable each week for fine-tuning and providing
detailed coaching sessions.”
Crober finds a silver lining to their new online practice, sharing
that “many choristers, who had initially doubted the effectiveness of
Zoom at the beginning of the season, began to really enjoy and look
forward to [their] Monday night sessions” – partly for the coaching,
but also very much for the camaraderie. She has no shortage of
humorous anecdotes from choristers: loud pets, swearing neighbours
and interminable construction. All are entertaining after the fact, but
she emphasizes that “all manner of poorly timed incidents made [our]
virtual choir recording experiences unforgettable!”
Virtual fatigue
Running a smooth online rehearsal requires technological savvy,
and awkwardness is an unavoidable aspect of the past year’s learning
curve. Was that a delay in the soprano section, or did the Internet
just cut out for a second? Albert Wong, musical director of the
Harbourfront Chorus, a non-auditioned community choir with
under 25 singers, preaches to the choir (in every sense of that phrase)
about recognizing “Zoom fatigue.” Being a smaller, more intimate
group, as Wong points out, “the community aspect of [the] choir is
very strong.” He, therefore, was adamant on ensuring they had “some
sort of continuity” as the isolation has dragged on, with two Zoom
sessions every month. He is quick to acknowledge that they were not
for everyone, noting a decrease in attendance during online sessions
compared to the normal number with in-person rehearsals. On the
plus side, he says, a benefit of Zoom has been the ability to reconnect
with members of the choir who had moved to different provinces, and
have now been able to rejoin the group.
The Peterborough Singers, Peg McCracken says, had to take a
slightly different approach to maintain the Singers during the
VIRTUAL CONCERT
SERIES
May 27, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Carducci Quartet
with clarinetist
Julian Bliss
Mozart Clarinet Quintet, K. 581
David Bruce “Gumboots”
June 17, 2021 at 7:30 pm
Rituæls
A concert film featuring
the Quebec ensemble
collectif9
with stage movement and visuals
June 30, 2021 at 7:30 pm
St. Lawrence Quartet
A new Haydn Discovery,
lecture/demonstration followed by a complete
performance of Haydn Op. 20, No. 5
All concerts broadcast
FREE online!
VISIT
www.music-toronto.com
for more information on
how to watch each concert.
thewholenote.com May and June 2021 | 19
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