The chorus is back!

We will resume rehearsals for the Spring 2022 season beginning January 27th. Registration will be held at 6:30pm before our first three rehearsals, 1/27, 2/3, and 2/10.

Rehearsal location: Mat-Su Evangelical Covenant Church, 5201 E Mayflower Lane, Wasilla
Rehearsal time: 7-9pm every Thursday

Singers will not be required to wear masks or provide vaccination status. The rehearsal space is large and we’ll have plenty of room to spread out. We are encouraging members to be particularly careful about not attending rehearsals if they are ill. We are working on methods of providing virtual access to rehearsals as a back-up if a singer is unable to attend in person and will be relaxing our attendance requirements for the season.

More details about membership can be found here.

We can’t wait to sing with you!

Hello Mat-Su Community Chorus and Friends,

The board and I want to thank all of you who took time to provide feedback regarding the start of our fall season. Responses were quite varied across a wide range of perspectives, making a decision about how to proceed difficult. Prospective singers were split nearly half and half on the implementation of both a face covering or vaccine requirement, and while many singers indicated being comfortable with no precautionary measures whatsoever, a significant quantity indicated they would only be willing to participate if both masks and vaccines were required. 

As an organization, we do not want to alienate large percentages of our potential participants, nor do we feel comfortable interjecting ourselves into each individual’s personal medical choices. We are also very cognizant of the current load on our hospitals and health care workers, as well as the unavoidable fact that singing together is always an activity that has a high risk of spreading respiratory viruses. As such, we’ve decided to delay the start of our fall season until further notice.

The board will be meeting every few weeks to re-evaluate in the hopes that we can resume in time to prepare a program for Colony Christmas as usual. We will also revise the season’s planned program as necessary to ensure that we’ll be able to prepare a concert even if our rehearsal time ends up being only a few weeks. Thank you all for your patience and we hope we will see you soon!

Amber Sumner

Artistic Director

Hello MCC members and friends!

It’s time for an update on our Fall/Winter 2021 season! We were originally hoping to begin our fall semester this upcoming week, but have been delayed by complications in getting our insurance policies in place. However, the board and I anticipate being ready to begin by the end of this month.

Choral ensembles all over the country are preparing to sing again, and we are all faced with deciding what, if any, COVID-19 related policies will be put into place before beginning our season. We know that some people are not yet comfortable with any large gatherings, while others are ready to jump right in and get back to normal. If you are ready to sing this season, we’d appreciate your feedback about what policies you would like to see the board implement. Please follow this link to a quick survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NSVJCWW You are absolutely welcome to share this link with anyone else you think may like to join us!

The board will be meeting on September 16th to discuss the feedback we receive. We hope to make an announcement regarding the official start of rehearsals soon after. Thank you all for bearing with us as we navigate this uncharted territory, and we hope to be singing with you soon!

Hello Fellow Community Chorus Members,
The board held its June board meeting on the 17th and here are some items that were discussed:
–We are happy to announce that we are tentatively planning to resume rehearsals in September. If you are able to help us find a rehearsal venue for Thursday evenings, please send us a message! We will be announcing the details of the start of rehearsals on this site and trying to contact former members personally by phone, once we have everything in place. We hope to see all of our former members and welcome some new faces!
–We are setting up an informational table at Friday Fling in Palmer on July 16th. If you are interested in possibly manning the table with a partner for a couple of hours on one of those days, please contact Lois at 907-746-1818.
–Since no new people have shown an interest in joining the board, the three outgoing members have each agreed to stay on for another 3 year term.
–We are seeking a chorus member who has financial experience and would be willing to assist with some chorus finance paperwork.
Thank you all for your continued support of the chorus! We look forward to seeing you in the fall!

Join me Monday, December 21st at 7:00pm for a short virtual Christmas Caroling session! We will be streaming a Facebook Live video and will also be on Zoom. We ask that if you join the Zoom meeting, you do so with your microphone muted for the singing portion, as latency makes it impossible to sing together. An email will be sent to as many chorus members as possible with the Zoom link; if you would like to join but have not received the email, please send a message through the Facebook page or email amber@liberatedsong.com for the link. If you’d like lyrics to look at, you can download them here: Virtual Caroling Lyrics

From myself and all of the board members, we wish you a joyous and safe holiday season!

Peace,
Amber

Hello singers,

As CDC recommendations have changed regarding large gatherings of people and concern about COVID-19 has increased in our community, the board has decided to suspend our regular rehearsals until further notice.

At this time, we hope that this will be a temporary suspension and that we will be able to proceed with our concerts as planned. I will be posting additional rehearsal notes on both our Facebook group and our website to aid you in continuing to review your music at home during the next few weeks.

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/284748535670378/

The board will be meeting later this week to discuss the further implications of this on our season. In the meantime, I hope that you are able to stay safe and in good spirits.

Peace,
Amber

The Mat-Su Community Chorus is excited to announce a new offering for children in the valley: the Mat-Su Kid’s Chorus! This group will operate under the umbrella of the community chorus and is for children from 1st through 8th grade.

The chorus will be under the direction of Sharon Theroux. Sharon has a B.A. from South Dakota State University majoring in Music Education, Communication Skills and Theater and has done graduate studies in Suzuki Pedagogy. She has taught in the Anchorage School District since 2005 and has offered private instruction from her home in voice, piano, and violin since 2000. Under her skillful leadership the children will learn listening skills, music reading, tone clarity, and diction, while working toward part singing. Of course, they will also benefit by cooperating with other children and building self-confidence as they make music together!

Rehearsals will be on Tuesdays at 5:00pm for those 9 and under and 6:00pm for those 10 and older. Participation costs will be $50 per semester and a concert is planned in conjunction with the adult chorus in May. We are still seeking a location for rehearsals, but hope to be ready to start by the first week of February.

Please email Barry Dorman at barry.doorman@yahoo.com for more information or to enroll, and please help us spread the word about this exciting new program!

It’s almost time to start rehearsing for a very exciting spring season! We will be performing a new, original work by composer Timothy Michael Powell: Consider the Lilies: An Appalachian Requiem. This piece incorporates familiar melodies and texts along with new to create a fresh spin on a traditional requiem mass.

To augment this work, we’ll be performing a selection of other music by well-known American composers and in styles that were born in or are associated with the United States, including several other popular American folk tunes. Concerts will be held at the end of April and beginning of May.

We hope you will join us for what is sure to be a fun and rewarding season!

Hello singers! I’m very excited for our concert!

Please arrive at 5:30 if you can to help set up risers. We will rehearse and sound check from 6-7 and you will have 30 minutes to change and do your own last minute preparation.

Thank you for all of your hard work this semester! I’ll see you tonight!

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. I was planning on writing up notes for every piece, but my efforts were interrupted by little fingers that couldn’t stay away from the power button on my computer and upon starting to rewrite, I realized most of them were not necessary. Here are a few things to pay special attention to before Thursday’s rehearsal:

Vowels: Especially on pieces like Of the Father’s Love, Maria Walks Amid the Thorn, and both O Magnum Mysteriums, be very careful to keep vowels tall and pure, with minimal dipthongs.

Watch for cutoffs/special direction: Carol of the Russian Children, African Alleluia, I Wonder as I Wander, Of the Father’s Love, Christmas Day, and the Powell O Magnum have a lot of rubato and/or fermatas that require watching carefully!

Syncopation: particularly in African Alleluia, Rise Up Shepherds, Riu Riu Chiu, Jingle Bells Festivo, and He Is Born. Make sure you’re aware of which rhythms are syncopated and which are not. Don’t “punch” quick phrase endings, as in African Alleluia

Please mark breaths in Maria Walks: m. 2 after thorn; m. 8 after thorn; m. 12 after bear; m. 18 after there; m. 22 after near; m. 28 after appear

We will run through the entire program on the 5th, start to finish. I will record this and provide any additional needed notes afterward. Please plan to remain at rehearsal until 9:30.

Thank you for all your hard work this season! I’m very much looking forward to our concerts!