The Stairwell Carollers welcomes new singers to the Stairwell for Spring 2025!

For the interest of other choir directors and singers here is the email that our director sent to everyone to welcome them to our new season.

Hello to all of you who are joining the carollers for your first rehearsal. 

By now you've hopefully gotten a chance to go through the document I sent you and have successfully accessed our members' page. Don't forget to log out as per the instructions I sent you, that way it ensures your visit to the page shows up on our tracking list. The log out instructions are in the doc I sent and in the videos included in that pdf.

The first rehearsal can be overwhelming and I wanted to remind you that although preparation is important, we know that learning four songs can seem like a lot. It's pretty much our average number per rehearsal and the only way for us to ensure we're ready by concert time. Musescore can help you get through that preparation but we don't expect perfection.

It's likely you'll feel overwhelmed the first time you sing with us. To help alleviate some of that, I thought you might be interested in some stats about the group...

• With the four of you, the group will have 35 singers.
• Of those, 8 have been singing with me for over 15 years. Myself and Holly started the group. Denyse has been with me for 43 years. Susan is coming up to her 30th. She was the alto at your audition and René is coming up on 21 years. He was the bass.
• 6 others have been with the group between 5 and 15 years
• 13 have been singing 2 or more years
• 4 started last fall so this is their first spring session. They're on a level playing field with the four of you.

This coming Wednesday you have four songs to learn and here are the stats for those...

• A1) My Bonny Lass - 12 of us have sung the piece before
• A2) I Am Not Yours -  11 of us know it
• A4) Cantique de Jean Racine - 14 of us know it although I did change it a bit but not enough to make a diff.
• D2) Laudemus cum armonia - 13 of us know it

I thought it might help to know this so you don't feel left behind by how quickly things move this Wednesday. Take a breath. We are super organized as a choir as you can see. We want to make your first experiences with us as pleasant as possible. 

Seek out your mentors for help. You'll have questions and for the first rehearsals, I allow time for you to ask those questions. 

All the best to you. Know that I'm rooting for you.
P.

Personally, I have a great hopes for this seasons performances because the choir’s sound is already fantastic. I will post a sample soon.

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert tickets, CDs, Digital Downloads and Streaming sales.  

Since 1997 we have donated over $143,800 to local charities and scholarships.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie created our a cappella choir in 1977 while he was a music student at Ottawa University. With wins in both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions, we are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs.