The Cornwall Education Music Hub has been actively developing a new Vocal Strategy for Cornwall. Currently, there are many choirs in place around the county, but we are aware that in some regions there are no obvious route of progression available for those children who desire to take their singing to the next level.
We has been investigating ways in which we can engage and recruit more children and young people from around Cornwall to become involved in county-standard choirs, through discussion with teachers, head teachers and choral specialists and the development of a county-wide Vocal Strategy.
New Choral developments 2013 for children and young people.
From September 2013, a new network of Cornwall County Childrens Choirs will be established.
There will be an element of selection in all county choirs, apart from in the youngest age group which will be ‘open- access’ choirs. A termly membership fee will apply to all choirs.
The choirs will operate around the whole county, in local satellite rehearsal groups, coming together for mass rehearsals, showcase events and concerts. All choirs will sing a varied repertoire of music.
Cornwall County Children’s Choirs
Children from year 2 through to the end of year 4 will be invited to sing with these choirs which will be ‘open-access’ choirs for both girls and boys. Schools will be issued with details about these choirs and asked to distribute the information to parents.
Run by local singing leaders across Cornwall, these choirs will meet on a weekly basis for approximately 1 hour in regional groups, from September to July.
There will be a number of performance opportunities for each choir to be involved in throughout the year.
The Children’s Choir – West (that was held at Alverton School) has discontinued. There will be no rehearsals for the foreseeable future however please contact Lindsay Eddy via [email protected] if you would like to register interest in joining the choir in the new year.
Cornwall Boys Choir
Cornwall Boys Choir is a treble voice choir, for boys in year 5 upwards, through to approximately year 9, once voice change occurs.
CBC was established in 2008 and operates with 5 local satellite rehearsal groups, now established in Bodmin, St Austell, Truro, Hayle and Penzance. Each local rehearsal group meets fortnightly for 1 hour (usually in evenings). All satellite groups meet up for a mass choir rehearsal once a month for a whole Saturday afternoon of singing.
To book a place on any of these auditions, please contact Angela Renshaw on [email protected]
Cornwall Girls Choir
This is a brand new choir for girls from year 5 upwards, through to end of year 9, from across Cornwall. CGC will operate in local satellite rehearsal groups in West, Mid, North and East Cornwall. Each local rehearsal group will meet once every two weeks (twice monthly) for 1 hour and then all groups will meet up for a mass choir rehearsal.. Girls do not need to be able to read music to qualify for CGC. Schools have been asked to identify students that they wish to put forward for CGC. There will also be open auditions.
Further developments
One further development for both choirs will be the addition of a Voice Specialist attached to CBC and CGC, who will give group and individual singing lessons to choir members.
Both choirs will also progress through a course of ‘sight singing’ in order to teach musical literacy. The aim of both choirs is to provide a route of vocal progression for each child, taking their singing from the classroom to the next level and beyond.
Please note that these choirs are run by Music Cornwall on behalf of the Cornwall Music Education Hub.
Please contact the Music Cornwall office if you are interested in joining any of these choirs.
CGC Rehearsal Schedule_Spring 2015
1st DRAFT CBC Rehearsal Schedule 2015
Ensemble Membership form - children 18 and under Sept 2014
Ensemble Membership form - adult Sept 2014
