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!

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3 comments :

  1. Thank you, Holly and Pierre. This is wonderful work and I really look forward to reading more of your blogs. Keep up all the terrific progress! A loyal fan, Victoria Miller

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you so very much, Holly and Pierre for sharing this blog. I look forward to following your terrific progress. What a super job to start!
    From a loyal fan and Glebeite,Victoria Miller
    (and a long standing choir member of St. Paul's Anglican Church Chancel Choir.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for commenting, Victoria. I need all the support I can get -- seriously, it's a joy to write and be able to share my memories and photos with anyone who may be interested.

      Please share us on FB and anywhere else you wander the 'net. I'll say Hi to Pete for you :)

      Delete

You can also email your questions to me - info (at) stairwellcarollers (dot) com.
Thanks,
Holly :)

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