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Welcome!
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This page provides an overview of the Victoria Soul Gospel Choir from a member’s perspective and is a good place to start if you’re a new member. Click on a topic below to go to that section.
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R.E.S.P.E.C.T.
Read about it.
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Rehearsals and Workshops up^
Our choir director, Checo, comes from Vancouver to Victoria every other Tuesday to lead our choir in a 2-hour rehearsal. Click to see our latest
rehearsal schedule.
On the Tuesdays when Checo's not here, we get together and work on our songs, focusing on getting our parts right. We call these practices "workshops". They're held at the same time and location as our bi-weekly rehearsals with Checo, but the cost is only $2 to cover the cost of the room.
If you have an interest in becoming a soloist with our Choir, the workshops provide an excellent opportunity to give it a try. Learn the lead to one of our songs, then send an email to Gord and he'll arrange a solo opportunity for you at the next workshop.
We have guidelines for Rehearsal and Performance Decorum that we expect all members to follow. Practicing at home is also expected.
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Performances up^
Performances are exciting events. We light a fuse of energy and joy; the audience picks it up and responds with an energy and joy of their own; we pick that up and give back more; and the thing just keeps building and building to the finale. We all leave the concert on a natural high.
But we need to be prepared to perform well, and we expect you to practice at home.
In addition, we offer the following suggestions:
- wear comfortable shoes – we’re standing for up to 2 hours straight – high heels are definitely not appropriate
- if you notice the person next to you is not moving, clapping, or snapping in unison with the rest of the choir, gently touch them as a reminder
- have fun and LOOK like you’re having fun – that’s how the energy flows
If you don’t have a Choir Performance Shirt, you will have the opportunity to purchase one when the time arrives.
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Learning Aids up^
Our members’ area contains three pages that will help you learn, and practice, our songs. The
recordings page contains recordings of all our songs and parts. The
lyrics page contains the lyrics to all our songs. And the
past rehearsals page contains a history of the titles of all the songs we sang at each rehearsal.
CDs are also available at cost ($2) and they're much better quality than
those found on this site. Like the downloadable recordings found here, each song has one track with the parts (1st/2nd soprano, alto, tenor, baritone) and one track with the entire song. Send Gord a note
[email protected] to request one.
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Communication up^
Our members’ area also contains a newsletter page – it is a history of newsletters sent to members.
If you'd like to discuss anything about our choir, just send a note to [email protected].
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Dictionary up^
Here is a list of unique terms we use:
- newsletter -- members are regularly sent newsletters containing important information about choir activities
- Workshop -- a singing practice, held without our director Checo, at the same time and place as the regular rehearsals, but on the Tuesdays that Checo's not here; cost is the price of the room - about $2 per person
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History up^
Where would we be without roots? Here’s a brief history of our choir.
| Summer 2003 |
Me-Kon Hayes, president of the British Columbia Black History Awareness Society, invites Checo and the Vancouver VOC choir to their summer Afro-Carib Festival. She then invites him to start a Victoria choir. |
| Fall 2003 |
Checo holds the first session with 7 women in a small upstairs room rented by the BCBHAS. Me-Kon manages the small choir. |
| Spring 2004 |
Me-Kon places an ad in the Monday magazine and Brooke Maxwell and Gord Warrenchuk respond; they’re the first men to join the choir. Choir membership grows. |
| Fall 2004 |
Rehearsals move to a classroom in the Selkirk Montessori School and a small team briefly takes over management of the choir. Gord begins recording rehearsals and introduces the newsletter. He also starts a very basic choir website. Choir membership continues to grow. |
| Spring 2005 |
Choir gives its first performance Click to see our list of performances. Brooke and Gord share choir management
responsibilities. |
| Summer 2005 |
As membership continues to grow, more rehearsal space is required and the choir moves from the Selkirk Montessori classroom to the gym. |
| 2006 |
Gord takes on all choir management responsibilities. Helene Meurer develops a beautiful website for the choir. The choir gets its own performance shirts and produces its first concert. The Executive
Committee is formed. |
| 2007 |
The choir website and email address are moved to a choir domain. The self-produced Christmas Concert is the choir's first sell-out performance. |
| 2008 |
Jack Petrie takes a leading role in organizing performances. The choir reaches new performance levels with an 800-seat sell-out at the Alix Goolden Hall in April; a "full-house" at the Vancouver Island Blues Bash; and a 650-seat sell-out at their Christmas concert. Rehearsal attendance grows to an average of 71 singers. |
| 2009 |
Our sold-out Eldercare benefit concert at the Alix Goolden Hall in April has people of all ages singing and dancing in the aisles, and our outdoor performance at the Victoria International Jazzfest in June is also a sell-out hit.
After many years of continuous work, in July Checo goes home to Hawaii to take care of a number of outstanding issues - he's gone until the summer of 2010. During Checo's absence, we continue to sing - in workshops led by Gord Warrenchuk until the end of the year, then under the direction of Gordon Miller until Checo's return.
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| 2010 |
After a year-long sabbatical from the choir, Checo returns in June to prepare us for our first performance of the year at Blues Bash, where we "fill the house". Our Christmas Concert at the Alix Goolden Hall sells out quickly and people still wait at the door with hopes of cancellations - all are successful. Workshops become a regular bi-weekly occurrence that are both effective and fun. Our on-line subscriber list grows to 90. For the first time since the choir began, our rehearsal attendance numbers drop.
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| 2011 |
Attendance remains fairly constant, as does the core of regular singers, so the vocals become tighter than ever, and our performances are strong. Performance eligibility rules are adjusted so workshop attendance counts as much as rehearsals. Near the end of the year, and for various reasons, members of the Executive Committee resign, so it's a scramble to pull together our Christmas Concert and we don't fill the hall.
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| 2012 |
Choir attendance once again reaches the levels attained prior to Checo's sabbatical in 2009. Although he doesn't rejoin the Executive Committee, Jack once again takes a leading role in organizing performances and once again they are successfully sold out. The Christmas Concert is a smashing success with 75 Choir members giving the Choir's strongest performance to date.
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