Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Stairwell Carollers 2012 Web contest. NOW CLOSED

This attractive person missed last year's deadline. Enter now!
The Stairwell Carollers 2012 Web contest* is 
NOW CLOSED
WINNER -- Caycee Price of Ottawa. Congratulations, Caycee! 

Don't miss out on your chance to win $200* by simply visiting our website.  
 
Go to http://www.stairwellcarollers.com/ click on "Contest" and complete the questions !

 En Français -- Concours :)


 All the answers are there on the website just waiting to be found :)
 
Want to get there fast?  Simply go to the Contest form and start surfing the Stairwell Carollers official home to find the answers.
Once you submit your completed form, and we have verified that all your answers are correct, you will be placed in the draw.

Contest deadline Friday, June 8th, 2012. 
Contest draw Saturday June 16th, 2012.

*SORRY to our international friends and recent former Stairwellers...
Contestants must be Canadian residents and have reached the age of majority in the province or territory in which they reside. Those who have been members of the Stairwell Carollers since 2009, and their immediate families are not eligible. 
 

Friday, February 17, 2012

The Stairwell Carollers Official Website --------------- NOTEable Mention, Pete Massie

Don't ask... his sister made him do it

         


Creating a website from the HTML up seems to me like magic.


  A lot of people, like myself, depend on sites like Blogger to facilitate their interaction on the internet. Some are adept enough to adapt pre-made templates and write simple code.


The Massie standard

Years ago, when Pete decided that the Stairwell Carollers should have a website, the options were very limited, so he decided to learn how to wield HTML and create the site himself.  He had no knowledge of website building and had taken only a small programming course focused on BASIC and DOS, so he learned it all on the fly. He can write code like a pro now.
He claims he still knows nothing, but he can glance at a page of screwed up code -- and tell you what is wrong with it.

 Awesome!
Pete on a lake in Timmins a year or two ago

Finding the perfect home
At the beginning, we had a long convoluted address in a defunct domain. When it went the way of all internet dodos, we looked for a new home and realized we could buy our own name -- stairwellcarollers.com.  One of Pete's former music students, Jason Lawrence, who now owns his own server, took us on. It has been sweet website music ever since.





Two, two... two sites in one...
Over the years, Pete has spent many hours updating, tweaking and fiddling with the Stairwell Carollers official cottage in cyberspace until it is what it is today.  With lyrics to all the songs recorded on our 6 CDs and an alpha list of  the hundreds of songs in our repertoire, choir photos ,  related information, and everything in both English and in French , he has created a truly representative site for our truly bilingual choir.
The dynamics of Dynamics -- as explained by Pete

MP3's on the web make rehearsals a breeze
Since Pierre spends rehearsals working the dynamics of the pieces, he expects each singer to come to practice prepared.  To this end, he supplies MP3 practice files, which are available hosted on the website for a limited amount of time (because of bandwidth limits, he can't leave the files on for too long) Each singer is expected to download  the files to their own computer and then do their best to get to know the pieces before each practice.

Thanks Pete --  for making the leap so long ago that has allowed us to be where we are today. Check out our Google ranking for Ottawa charitable choir. We are on the FIRST page!

TWEET THIS POST!




Wednesday, February 15, 2012

NOTEable Mention -- The PR Committee

Stairwell Carollers PR committee confers
David, Ann, Bill and Diana check out clippings

Congratulations to this year's amazing PR committee who worked so hard to get us on the global  music map!


David, using his natural interest in journalistic writing, has produced many articles about the choir. We all hope he continues, since his talent and drive in contacting all the local newspapers and keeping track of important details along the way is unparallelled.
Thanks so much, David!

Ann has many contacts in the media and with her experience with publicity has helped galvanize the PR committee into what it has become. She is a lynchpin in ways I can't even imagine. Invariably, when I ask her, "Hey, Ann, did you see this community paper or that online billboard?" she had -- and she had already contacted them and was waiting on an answer.
Thanks, Ann!

Diana, our Vice-President, plays down her involvement, claiming that she has mostly proof-read copy. Of course, she looks over David's articles and press releases and (in her own words) enjoys tweaking words and phrases. Likewise for other print and web material,  looking over the newsletter and programs for font types and sizes, spelling, and overall visual appearance. She even managed to spell check in two different languages this year: Huron and Spanish! (but speaks neither -- amazing!) Don't ask her to do the same for numbers or financial documents, though (her own words, again.)

She also talks up the choir A LOT and puts up posters wherever she can.
Thanks a bunch, Di!
René, our president, at the AGM with the Steering Comittee

 René, our President, is our main "French Connection" for the PR committee.  Like the entire choir, many of the PR committee are francophone or bilingual, but his pristine understanding of the French language makes him the perfect translator-on-the-spot. He also steers us toward French media and venues we may have missed otherwise. We are looking forward to some exciting possibilities for festivals and competitions coming up proposed by René and the Steering committee. Keep tuned here to stay up to date.
Merci, René!

Pete, husband and director, and me, Holly

Holly (that's me) --  if you read this  blog you know that I hold up the internet end of the PR skip rope. Twitter, Facebook and myriad other sites have filled my head with passwords and filled my inbox with both interesting ideas, opportunities and (sometimes) dubious offers for the choir. I like postering too.
Thanks, me :)

I also take most of the photos found here.

Although not an official PR committee member, Andrea pulled some personal strings and got us a wonderful hour long Christmas Special on Rogers cable, which was beautifully directed by the Rogers staff and played many times over the 2011 Christmas season.

It will also be a great souvenir for the choir members -- thanks, Andy!

Michel (wife of Rene) setting up CDs at a concert venue

Many others, choir members and supporters, have helped promote the Stairwell Carollers this past year. They sold tickets, CDs and cookbooks and went door to door to businesses to get ads for the program. 

Thank you to all who shared our YouTube channel, The Stairwell Caroller Choir Blog and our Official Website and Liked us on Facebook too. Don't stop!

Thank you,Thank you,Thank you to everyone who went above and beyond their singing contribution. Volunteerism is at our heart and keeps us strong and productive as an organization.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Ottawa choir, The Stairwell Carollers, perform "Fatal la parte" by Juan del Encina (1468 --1529 ), a renaissance composer, poet and playwright



Ottawa choir, The Stairwell Carollers, perform "Fatal la parte" by Juan del  Encina (1468 --1529 ), a renaissance composer, poet and playwright.

Buy our CDs!!! This version of "Fatal la parte" is available on our "Audite nova" CD.

Visit our website for updates.

Audio: Tom Barnes. 
Recorded at St. Barnabas Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, June 18th, 2011.
Videographer: Zoe Hart.
Editing: Pierre Massie

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