MCCHOIR HITS CARLTON AND THE MCG!18/11/2017  The MCCHOIR Empire is about to break new ground on our Carlton campus in 2018 which will give busy people who work in and around the city an opportunity to release their creative potential. The new Campus will rehearse at the Kathleen Syme library and Community Centre in Carlton on a Monday night at the earlier time of 6.45PM. A $15.5 million restoration has transformed the 1870s Kathleen Syme building in into the area’s newest creative, learning and community space. The building is home to some great community activity spaces, Wild Timor Cafe and also equiped with its own recording studio. Behind the stunning Victorian-era facade is a modern welcoming and accessible centre where the choir will be able to connect, learn and create.  Each Monday night during school terms session will run at the earlier time of 6.30PM to catch the after work crowd - 251 Faraday Street, Carlton. Located a short walk from Melbourne University/ Swanston Street tram stop (routes 1, 3, 4, 5, 16 and 72) and the Rathdowne Street/ Elgin Street bus stop (routes 200 and 207) and with ample free off-street parking around, there a plenty of options for getting to our rehearsal venue. The MCCHOIR Empire will work like a gym membership where membership at one Campus will give you access to all campus rehearsals. You may have a home base where you attend most of your rehearsals but because the same program will be repeated each week at the different Campuses - if you miss a week you can attend at the other location - if you’re really keen and need a bit extra love you can go to both rehearsal all for the same price as a single session.  Members of the new Carlton Campus will also have the opportunity to join the Macleod Campus and MCYOUTH to be involved in our 2018 Studio Recording Sessions. We will be tracking at the beautifully appointed state of the art Oaklands Productions Studio A. This is the main tracking space and is purpose designed for recording large ensembles. The kitchen and lounge areas will make for a fun and relaxing experience and produce a product that is world-class. The studio also has a permanent video lighting set-up, a boom crane jib and green screen for video compositing. This will be great for our music video planned. The Recording Project is already underway with backing tracks for three original tunes now ready to go. On two of the tunes “Friends" and "Others" we have 24 piece string section. Already the tracks are sounding amazing and we have guest artist Rod Davies coming into the studio shortly who will feature on one of the songs.  At MCCHOIR we’re all about re-connecting people with their Creative Best - in fact MCCHOIR members tell us that they leave rehearsal and events on a "musical high”. All those tired, worn out after work feelings, are soon replaced with fun times and a sense of achievement when we create musical experiences together that are influencing audiences across Melbourne and now around the globe. With all of these great options - MON 6.30PM in Carlton from 2018, THUR 7.30PM in Macleod and THUR 6.30PM for teenagers interested in MCYOUTH, there’s never been a better time to claim your first free try-out session with MCC and check out the choir behind the scenes. We’re so sure that you’ll just love it, meeting new friendly people who will actually talk to you and involve you in their conversation. People who share a passion for singing and have formed such a great bond. From day one we have always welcomed new members at any time throughout the year and I think this is key to the culture we have nurtured. There are no exclusive groups - you’ll find a place to belong and people that genuinely care about you as a person outside of rehearsal time. If you want to know more about what to expect at a first session with MCCHOIR check out our frequently asked question page. Just this week some of our members participated in the MCG Boxing Day Cricket match as part of the Barbie Army, a collaboration between sporting satirist Denis Carnahan, Mastercard and Cricket Australia. It was heaps of fun joining with competition winners, cheering on the Australian Cricketers. This is just one of the many opportunities open to our members. Free tickets to the Cricket on both days, Prepaid Mastercard vouchers for food and fun times - what more could you ask for?
As a member of MCCHOIR there are many benefits apart from the social and emotional benefits that group singing brings. Our singers do not need to auditions, at your first rehearsal you’ll be buddied up with someone who sings your part and if your not sure what part you should sing we’ll help you there too. You’ll get access to our members only Facebook page to keep up with all the latest internal happenings of the choir and keep you informed as to what’s coming up. You’ll also be given access to the members only resource page - this is a brilliant resource for members to help them learn songs at home before rehearsal and to lock in songs to their memory as they become part of the repertoire of the choir. Each part is individually highlighted so you can listen and follow along with the music or lyric sheets to learn the songs. Most of our music is split into three or four parts and printed music generally has your part on one line and works from the start of the music to the end with no jumping back and forth through the music. You’ll also be able to hear the backing tracks with no vocals and the mix of all the parts so you can practice singing your part in the context of other parts. Then there’s the studio sessions of original tunes, music video production, live events like Run Melbourne, MCG Cricket Event and Manningham Carols by Candlelight. We also have one or two performances that we put on as a choir which are always sold-out, high energy, electrifying experiences for the choir and audience alike.  Our last recording project "Time 2 Shine" has already picked up a lot of interest from other choirs who want to perform our original music. Our original tunes are fresh, contemporary, uplifting and have a real story that people can relate to. The arrangements are beautifully constructed by Jared Haschek who is a founding collaborator with the choir and musical director at our live events. He has also orchestrated all of the musical charts including string and horn section which will all be available on this new project for other contemporary choirs. We are also going to make available the individual stems and loops for the backing tracks so that you can get the same vibe as the album when your choir or ensemble performs the songs and drop out the individual tracks where you have a live player. For example a choir with an accompanist can play along with the studio track minus the piano part for a live feel but with the atmosphere of a live recording.  MCCHOIR is truly Melbourne’s Choir of Choice. Maybe you’ve sung in a choir before at school or done back up vocals in a band and found that life got in the way of your creative side. I see this all the time - people have kids, careers and the business of life squeezes out their creative selves. For me personally - singing and creating music is intrinsically who I am and brings me such joy - I would never substitute it for anything. It’s always been my philosophy that a musical outlet, reduces stress, gets the feel-good hormones pumping and means that I function better as a person. That small investment of time in me, means that I function better the rest of the time. A stressed out tense Jason is of no use to anyone, but give me some music in my week and I’m a happy camper. My mum loves to tell the story of how much pleasure it bought her to hear me playing the family piano in the morning before school. I have always and will always love music, as a listener, audience member, performer or part of MCCHOIR - I decided a long time ago that it’s too important for me as a person to loose. If you're ready to give yourself some time to nurture your creative best contact us at MCCHOIR for a free tryout session at our Macleod or Carlton campus and see what a difference music can make to your week. Jason Simmonds
Creative Director Melbourne Contemporary Choir
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