MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

We rehearse from the beginning of September until our AGM in early June, with breaks of about three weeks at Christmas and sometimes a week at Easter. There are usually four concerts a year which, since the closure of the Royal Hall in Harrogate, are mainly in Ripon Cathedral. We have also been trying also trying out various new (to us) venues in Harrogate and are looking forward to singing once more in the Royal Hall in 2008!


Rehearsals



We suggest potential new members come, initially, to two or three rehearsals, to "try us out" and see if we are what you are looking for. When you arrive please make yourself known to the Secretary so she can answer any queries you might have.

We rehearse on Wednesday evenings from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. We will be rehearsing until the end of June, our AGM is on 2nd July and we return on 3rd September 2008 .. that night being an Open Rehearsal when you are welcome to come along and see how you like us! Our rehearsal venue is Christ Church, Harrogate. This link will take you to the multi-map showing Christ Church's location. New members are welcome at any time, either give the Secretary a bell before hand or just turn up!

Music

You will be able to hire music for a nominal charge. Once you have given your name and address to the Secretary (by completing the registration form) you can then take the music home with you. If you later decide not to join the hire fee will be refunded when you return the music.


Auditions

If you decide you would like to join the Society, the Secretary will arrange for you to be auditioned by the Music Director / Deputy Music Director. The audition will be as informal as possible but you should be prepared to sing a short passage of something you know (please bring the music with you!) in your voice part. This can be either a song, hymn or even an operatic aria! The Music Director will also ask you to sing up and down a scale as far as you can go, in order to assess the range of your voice and which voice section you should join and will check your rhythm, ability to pitch a note and will ask you to sight read a short passage of music. The most important thing is not whether you are capable of singing solos but whether you can sing in tune, can hold your part and will blend in. Although good sight-reading is helpful it is by no means essential.


Fees

The membership fees for the full 2007 - 2008 season are as follows:

for Members £75

for husband and wife Members £135

for junior Members £15

Alternatively you might wish to consider being a Member Patron, fees for 2007-2008 will be

for Member Patrons £120

for husband and wife Member Patrons. £225

(Patrons and Member Patrons are each entitled to a season ticket, ie one ticket per concert for the whole season, plus other benefits)

Fees are payable once you have successfully auditioned and for those joining part way through the season part fees can be agreed with the Treasurer.

Concert Dress

For all concerts ladies are asked to wear a long, ankle length, black skirt. There are two alternative "tops". Now we are mainly back in the Royal Hall ladies tops should be a plain, pure white, long-sleeved shirt style blouse (ie with a collar) which is worn "tucked in" to the skirt. When we sing in Ripon Cathedral it can be a lot colder so for these concerts ladies wear all black tops with their skirts which allows for the wearing of jumpers over black blouses. The Secretary will announce in plenty of time whether a concert will be a "cold" one or not!!

Gentlemen are asked to wear either evening dress or black trousers and a black jacket with white shirt and black bow tie.

Occasionally, for more informal concerts we all, ladies and gentlemen, wear plain shirts and blouses in a wide range of colours.