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A Virgin Most Pure - featured on Catholic Culture Podcast! Youtube video

The Catholic Culture Podcast is featuring our performance of A Virgin Most Pure in Episode 59 - The Glorious English Carol. Thanks to Thomas V. Mirus for honouring us with this inclusion. 

Our carol is at 36:02 in the podcast.

The carol is on our O magnum mysterium Christmas CD, available through our website in both CD and MP3 format.
Here it is our live concert video on Youtube

The podcast episode is a wonderful overview of the English Carol with many other carol examples included, such as (from the podcast episode description):

Erik Routley, The English Carol https://www.amazon.com/English-Carol-Erik-Routley/dp/0837169895

Andrew Gant, The Carols of Christmas https://www.amazon.com/Carols-Christmas-Celebration-Surprising-Favorite/dp/0718031520

All music in this episode used with permission from the recording artist and/or label.

Agincourt Carol, Alamire https://www.amazon.com/Deo-Gracias-Anglia-Alamire/dp/B008L1GZUO

Nowell sing we both all and some, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2

Gabriel From Heaven’s King, Quire Cleveland https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/quirecleveland2

A Virgin Most Pure, Stairwell Carolers https://www.stairwellcarollers.com/en/o-magnum-mysterium/

Coventry Carol, Harry Christophers and the Sixteen, available on the CORO record label at https://thesixteenshop.com/

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked among the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

Twitter, NEW Gloucester Wassail Youtube vid and Christmas Concerts!

Follow The Stairwell Carollers - @StairwellChoir on Twitter!

#Ottawa #Choral #Concerts - The Stairwell Carollers https://t.co/mVuhXSvou0 Dec 14th and 18th, 2019 #Christmas pic.twitter.com/ksmzeOseTo

— The Stairwell Carollers (@StairwellChoir) December 11, 2019

Don't miss our tweets - and those of tenor, David Rain - Choral Composer - @DavidRain56

Countdown: #10 of 10 reasons to come hear our @StairwellChoir concert at Southminster Church, Sat Dec 14 at 7:30pm:

Pierre Massie musical gems like Do You Hear What I Hear?

Tickets only $15 in advance:https://t.co/yTWzGE6rbT

You won't be disappointed!https://t.co/j5mzIRMKzL

— David Rain, Choral Composer (@DavidRain56) December 11, 2019

NEW VIDEO - Ottawa choir, The Stairwell Carollers, perform The Gloucester Wassail, arranged by R. Vaughan Williams.

This version of “The Gloucester Wassail” is on our “Mourning Dove” CD.

All our CDs are available on our website in both CD and MP3 formats.

Audio: Tom Barnes.
Recorded at Southminster United Church, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Dec 15th, 2018.
Videographers: Matthieu Brennan, Elisa Torlone
Editing: Pierre Massie

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. 

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales.  Since 1997 we have donated over $140,000 to local charities and scholarships.

NEW website for the Stairwell - Xmas Concerts this weekend!

Stairwell Carollers NEW Official website

Q.What is as painful as birthing a baby but took way longer than 8 Months??

A. A new website :P

When the internet was young, my husband and our darling director, Pierre, built our first website from the ground up. He learned the HTML, spent hours, days, weeks in the chair tweaking it. He loaded it with tons of content and photos (very special since the early internet was pretty wonky with managing the images.

Then, FOR YEARS, he kept his baby chugging along.

Then smart phones appeared. Mobile tech needs mobile websites. Nuh uh - ours had the weirdest look on mobile, and it was way beyond Pete to correct it. He was already dealing with frames and java script nightmares.

Basically our website had become a haunted mansion. With strange random pages still existing out in the nether net - if you had the link - and s-l-o-w- l-o-a-d-i-n-g problems.

Well, two awesome things about our facelift is it's NEW - and it's FAST!

Our brand new shiny website, using Wordpress is courtesy of Cypher systems, designed and managed by our director, Pierre (with editing and proofing help by fellow Stairwellers).

Speaking of CONCERTS ------------ coming up this weekend!

 The 2019 Christmas Concert program will feature a number of works by Pierre Massie – including his arrangements of Christmas favourites like “Do you hear what I hear” 
and “Mon beau sapin”, along with his original bilingual song, “The Stairwell Carol.” 
Two world premieres will be presented during the Carollers’ upcoming Christmas season: the beautiful, gently rocking “Mary’s Lullaby” written by alto, Lyndsay Bolden – and the imaginative, tour de force “Christmas is…” by bass, Terry Brynaert.

Both Lyndsay and Terry have been filled with excitement and anticipation watching their new pieces blossom in rehearsal.

David Rain's gorgeous arrangement of the classic German carol “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” is also included in the program.

It’s a rare choir indeed that can boast such an abundance of creative energy. Ottawa residents can hear the results of this choral composer collaboration at the Stairwell Carollers Christmas concert, An a capella Christmas, at Southminster United Church, 15 Aylmer Ave at Bank St, Saturday December 14th, 7:30pm.

The Carollers are also pleased to be presenting a $2,000 donation to the Cornerstone Housing for Women at this concert.

And, if you’re looking for that perfect Christmas gift, the choir’s CDs will be on sale too. Net proceeds are used to help local organizations - since 1997 the choir has donated over $140,000 to local charities and scholarships.

Tickets are $20 at the door, or $15 in advance at Compact Music, 206 & 785 1/2 Bank Street
- ONLINE TICKETS.

Hope to see you there on December 14th!

If you can’t make it to Southminster, you can still hear the Stairwell Carollers on Wednesday December 18th at St. Columba Church, 24 Sandridge Road, 7:30pm
- ONLINE TICKETS
About The Stairwell Carollers:

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

A registered Canadian charity, The Carollers also help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales. 

Now Playing on Classic FM in the UK!

Okay, a Christmas treat is coming for our fans in the United Kingdom.

We just received a request to play our Youtube Video of "In the Bleak Midwinter" from the prestigious Classic FM!  If you live in the UK you can download the App HERE.

So honoured to be included in their stellar lineup of Christmas music for 2018!

Here is "In the Bleak Midwinter"  for viewers and listeners not in the U.K.

Stairwell Caroller concerts now On! 

Tickets available online 

About Us:

Our a cappella choir came to be in 1977 while director Pierre Massie was a music student at Ottawa University. Ranked among the best of Ontario choirs,  we won both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

The Stairwell Carollers help local charities with net proceeds from concert, CD and cookbook sales. 
A registered Canadian charity.

John Rutter Youtube Playlist of Stairwell Caroller performances PLUS HOW TO EMBED YOUTUBE VIDS

A thrilling event coming up in the spring besides Stairwell Caroller concerts is John Rutter's visit to Ottawa. Our director, Pierre, has always had a soft spot for Rutter's work - thus, we have been singing Rutter's compositions and arrangements for many years now.

Here is a Youtube playlist I made of some of the pieces the Stairwell Carollers have sung by the British master composer, John Rutter.
Enjoy!

YouTube - like everything has changed. There used to be an option on the playlist page to embed a playlist, but that seems to have disappeared in the change-up. If you found it please tell me in a comment below. They now have a tiny tutorial HERE to embed videos and playlists. I couldn't make it work, so I went to my old embeds to find a simpler path.

Check out the code below, which is sized exactly like our playlist embedded above.

Simply replace OUR ID (in RED) with the ID of YOUR playlist. Copy and paste into your blog or website HTML. You can adjust the size simply by changing the height and width values (another option no longer available on YouTube)

<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="422" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLrLOtu8KN9cVBbcvJRJOuIwr08vOBYaDp
" width="750"></iframe>

Please comment below - I would love to hear of your success with my work-around.

DONATE to support our 40th year events  All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

About The Stairwell Carollers:

Pierre Massie started our a cappella choir in 1977 while a music student at Ottawa University. The Stairwell Carollers are ranked with the best of Ontario choirs, winning both the 2010 and 2013 Ontario Music Festival Association competitions. 

A registered Canadian charity, we also help local charities with our concert, CD and cookbook sales.

How to take a good group photo - Part 3 - Here comes the Sun!

Goats look great in full sun - people just look tired and wrinkly

So you have your choir, you have an outdoor location for the photo shoot, but you are NOT a professional photographer! Whether you are a member of the group or an earnest and interested volunteer, you want to make your chorale look the best you can.

Do some quick test shots while the group is settling and arriving. Always use a tripod and avoid using flash. Fill-in flash can be used, but practise the technique ahead of time to avoid a mutiny. Never try new ideas at the shoot - be prepared!!

Ben and Pete - near -- far. We must have focus!

You should have f-stop and light levels decided before they are ready to pose. This will avoid tiring your subjects - which will show in their expressions.

Once everyone is ready, take at least ten or fifteen exposures of each pose and each f-stop change. Do it fast and keep it light while you do. The only directions you should be giving them is positioning -- so all faces are clearly visible.

Never tell them to smile - make them smile instead.

With so many great photo editing tools available, there are many aspects of the final photo that can be tweaked if you have the time and energy to do it, but my advice is start with the best image possible.

Note how the overcast day at Ottawa's Tulip Festival in 1988 produced a great group picture! Too bad the image file is only 293 kbs - much too small for todays standards.

Shoot at the highest level of JPG or even RAW if you have the photo editing software and storage capacity to handle it! I don't shoot much RAW, since my largest JPG images are good enough to blow up poster size if need be.

 GIMP can handle most RAW formats, and will even out the shadows and highlights because the RAW images have more information in each file. Especially useful in full sun shots, where the shadows and highlights can be harsh.

Some faces in shadow, some faces in full sun - this is the "fixed" shot - still not my favourite

Sometimes converting to Black and White can be a solution

I think lighting is everything -- after composition and location, that is.  Those I will deal with separately in other posts. Don't worry, links will happen once they are all up :P

Bright sunny day

Soft, indirect lighting is best. I love shooting into the sun - in other words, the faces in shade.

You can use a large piece of bristol board with tinfoil covering it (shiny side out) or even a large white card to reflect light onto faces. (Helper needed to hold the card). Don't assume the sun will give a flattering shot; direct sunlight creates harsh shadows - unkind to us older folks (see goats).

Cloudy overcast day

Wow, such luck! The lighting will be diffused and gentle. Make sure to use the highest f-stop you can to make sure that all the faces are in focus.

Shutter speed will be slower, so expect some images will be blurred.

Take more shots instead of nagging them to STOP MOVING SO MUCH! Count to ten and keep clicking.

Smile, laugh, it's all good.
Eventually.

Overcast day shoot -- beautiful light, everyone happy = great pic!

Happy snapping!

HOW TO TAKE A GOOD GROUP PHOTO  PART 1  

HOW TO TAKE A GOOD GROUP PHOTO PART 2 

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events for everyone! 
All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

Check out The Stairwell Pinterest Boards!

Follow Stairwell Carollers on Pinterest!

Please DONATE to support our 40th year events for everyone! 
All Donations receive a charitable receipt.

The Arts in Ottawa - fresh to you from @StairwellChoir - Twitter

As you know, we have a twitter profile, @StairwellChoir.

For a couple of years now, I have used a news aggregator called Paper.Li to curate great content from our Twitter feed for everyone to have access to and read.

Here is one of our papers, which comes out once a week. Click the link below to view the full interactive online edition. You can even subscribe to us. And of course, follow us on Twitter.

The Arts in Ottawa

This paper strives to represent tweets pertaining to The Creative and Performing Arts here in Ottawa.

I'm always amazed to see how vibrant the Arts community in our little town is.

The link will bring you to this issue. Current issues can be accessed easily once you are on their site.

I hope you'll find a great show to attend or a workshop to inspire your own creativity!

and...

Please DONATE to make our 40th year special for everyone!

How To Take a Good Group Photo - Part 1 - The learning Curve

How do you photograph a choir group? If you are like us, with a shoestring budget, you depend on volunteers and their varying expertise in photography.

I have an interest in photography, thanks to my Dad's own love of the camera's magical portrait possibilities. 

In a previous post I discussed some of the essentials I've discovered  to successfully create a group image. 

Over the past two seasons, our group grew in number and snapping a decent photo proved to be a real challenge. I took advice from many people (thanks Drew - our other choir photog!) my own collection of books on photography and I Googled "group photo how to" .

With such a large group an overhead shot from a large ladder would have been optimal, but proved impossible with the equipment I had available. The weather outdoors was not good, so the shot would have to be from the front in the church.

With this base line the day came to take the pic, but not everyone could be there. No matter the planning, this always happens, In past group photos, we just shrugged and went with the pic of 90% of the group.

The original photo (including members from 2016 ) was taken inside St. Columba Church back in September 2016. 

We used a small light on the floor behind the group to create an attractive halo of backlight. Room ambient light and a light from above and to the left gave the faces definition. 

Oh, so not done yet! 

To be continued...

Our Fresh NEW LOOK for Spring 2017

Our Wordpress migration will be a while yet, so I thought I'd freshen up our look here at old Blogger.

I kind of surprised myself. First off, I was fearful of applying a new theme, since I've added code to this over the years to tweak it. That will be for another day.

I found a new Font called "Philosopher". It's more like us I think. If it causes any problems in your browser please tell me.

Got rid of the background picture -- old school no more! I think those were popular when the internet had little choice of images and poor photo resolution was the norm. We added anything to give colour to our pages then!

I visited our Shareaholic and Addthis profiles to clean up some annoying old share buttons... and found some stray ancient widgets that slowed up the site in general.

Et, Voilà!

Our New Stairwell Carollers Choir Blog look!

Do you like it?

Spring Choral Concerts are coming up!

I know it seems early, but with the snow melting and the heavy rains falling, come the sun and sweet promise of spring flowers -- and spring concerts!

Ottawa has Choral concerts virtually every weekend -- many of them announced on our Facebook Page, Ottawa Choir Events Hub

Here's a notable one -- the Ottawa Choral Society has an impressive looking show coming up in May called Ballade to the Moon - check it out!

The Stairwell Caroller concert page is here and we expect more events to be added soon!

Are you on Twitter?

I've been on Twitter  for many years -- both as myself @HollyWroteIt and the Stairwell Carollers as @StairwellChoir. Yes, I run both. If you want to help managing the Stairwell Twitter profile please contact me, it's a big job and automation only goes so far. Twitter is supposed to be an instant info and discourse platform, so I have to keep my hands in it every day.

In case you missed it, here you go 🙌 Stairwell Carollers 40 year Highlights and momentshttps://t.co/KzSmJAFIWj

— Stairwell Carollers (@StairwellChoir) April 6, 2017

Twitter has gained us audience goers at concerts, a wonderful CD review from a composer in England and Youtube fans the world over. It;s a great place for me to share my blog posts, the choir's newsletter and CD's too. The best part is meeting so many choirs from literally everywhere!

The latest The Arts in Ottawa! https://t.co/sZGz5NKRDB Thanks to @BHBBOttawa @DowntownRideau @willandhismusic #ottawa #music

— Stairwell Carollers (@StairwellChoir) April 6, 2017

I use my own twitter for my political ranting :) meeting authors and artists and musicians, and discovering amazing things about our world. If you are on Twitter and planning to help out your choir or group my creating and managing a profile for them, I would advise keeping your personal stuff and political views out of the choir feed.

I did share this one though.

Cuddly Scottish Cow... pic.twitter.com/8uY6WPKepT

— Animal Life (@MeetAnimals) April 8, 2017

Twitter was the first microblogging platform created and I'm too old to start something new. However, if you are in the Stairwell Carollers and want to do more on Instagram for us, I have a profile set up you could help manage...

and...

Here's a post about how I learned some Twitter lessons the hard way.

The latest The Arts in Ottawa! https://t.co/sZGz5NKRDB Thanks to @BHBBOttawa @DowntownRideau @willandhismusic #ottawa #music

— Stairwell Carollers (@StairwellChoir) April 6, 2017

Auto I LIKE that FB Page? - What Page? Where Invite? Who?

Sometimes I think Facebook is like the cool car everyone wants to drive.

You sit behind the wheel, toot the horn, take off and hang your arm out to wave at all your friends.

But none of us really knows how that car works and can barely drive it around the block without stripping the gears.

But, to my point of this auto-analogy...

I've been asking and asking, and ASKING, my friends to LIKE our choir page for, well... years now. I have over 500 friends, and about 175 came through.

OK, you say -- everyone has the right to NOT "like" a page. Our friendship doesn't hinge on it.

BUT,

if you're akin to me, you may have had NO IDEA that anyone had even INVITED you to LIKE A PAGE.

See, I figure Facebook doesn't care. They do SELL LIKES, after all. 

They have buried everyone's "Page like Invites" somewhere you'd never guess - unless you did a Google search like I did. 

EVERYONE on the interwebs was just as confused as me about the location of PAGE LIKE INVITES.

SO, 

Here's how to see your "page invites" . At the top of the page you will see INVITES and a number - click the number. There. Voila.

You do have to be on a desktop version of Facebook ( or on your computer) to see your invites. The mobile app does not show it.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/

Apologies to my friends for the repeated requests, when you were probably like me and just couldn't find this particular snazzy car's hood latch.

Happy Liking!

Computing for Luddites

Yeah, I'm an old lady now. My choir, the Stairwell Carollers, will be 40 years old, Christmas 2017. Pete and I hope to celebrate our own 40th wedding anniversary in 2020.

Computers, yeah, computers...

I was terrified of computers. I couldn't understand them, and then I was forced to use one at work - teaching high school grade 9 Geography.  Screens weren't easy in the 80's. Computers crashed regularly and it was only green letters and numbers on a tiny curved tv screen -- no pictures.

I like pictures.

Thus, I hated computers.

Fast forward to the 90's. The first video game I tried was Duke Nukem. Awful. Don't.
But...
When the choose-your-own-adventure games appeared in the arcades alongside the pinball machines, the voracious reader in me exulted. One of my Drama students introduced me to Tomb Raider.

Hooked.

I Googled myself. I found out there is an American teacher with MY name who has won awards and is sooo amazing. Sigh.

Cursive writing was always a chore. When I would try, it would fill with loops and knots and mistakes - unintelligible to even me. At work, I would print the notes on the blackboard - the kids correcting my mistakes as I go. They liked that.

While cleaning out an old filing cabinet after class, the secret of computers came to me in a flash.

A. Filing. Cabinet.

OMGoodness, and they're called FILES! How could I be so blind! And the internet is just a bunch of file cabinets you can search through! Like a huge room of cabinets. And some are locked. And some have little tiny cabinets in them.

Got a laptop, started writing for fun - for the first time since my preteen tapping of angsty poems on an old Smith Corona.

So, while you peruse Facebook's filing cabinets, why not check out the Stairwell Carollers Page -- all our news, photos, concerts, and CDs are there. Constantly updated by choir members.

Please visit and LIKE us.

We have over 250 YouTube videos to date. All of the concert song videos edited together by our director Pierre. He used Tom Barnes professionally recorded audio done at the same time as the video recording. The only way to better hear us is LIVE or by purchasing our CDs. 

Net proceeds from our CD sales and concert tickets help Charities in the Ottawa/ Outaouais region.

Try Googling us and you'll find us in all the right places and .. some wrong ones. Do not click on the free Mp3 phone ring scam sites. They are not us.

I've learned a lot about Twitter -- and it has changed over the years, but is still the best microblogging platform out there. I even wrote a tiny post about how I learned some lessons the hard way.

Selected Stairwell CDs are even on iTunes.

The Stairwell Carollers on Facebook

If you are on Facebook, why not check out our official Stairwell Carollers Page -- all our news, photos, concerts, and CDs are there. Constantly updated by the entire choir!

Make sure to visit and LIKE us.

The Stairwell Carollers on Facebook https://t.co/Dk0Jopsyq8 on @bloglovin

— Stairwell Carollers (@StairwellChoir) December 7, 2016

Thanks,