Garden Choirs
Our community performance choirs, singing at informal events and offering "performance lite" participation in our end-of-year concert. Similar to Concert Choirs, but working at a slower pace and with less pressure.
Why do we perform?
We love sharing our music with our audiences and seeing the joy that it brings, both for listeners and for our singers! We find that the experience of performing together gives our singers a wonderful sense of achievement, and builds the community within the choir.So although our Garden Choirs are aimed at beginner performers as well as those less able to commit to much homework, they are unashamedly orientated towards producing polished, musical performances that our members can feel proud to be part of, and that our audiences enjoy.
Where do we perform?
Many of our members who thought they would never sing in public have been thrilled to find themselves part of lovely performances in amazing venues like St-Matthews-in-the-City, the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre (Aotea Centre), Parnell Cathedral, the Auckland Museum, and the Auckland Town Hall.We aim to perform in lots of community events during the year, but our main goal is the Town Hall concert in November, which is a shared event with all Concert and Garden Choirs involved. Garden Choirs sing the second half of the programme only, but we ask singers to memorise their music. This means that members need to learn around 10 less complex songs from memory.
Are rehearsals still fun? Or just hard work?
We work hard to balance our rehearsal experience with our performance goals, so we always want our members to enjoy the process of learning and building towards concerts. Our view is that learning to sing well and challenge ourselves to improve our skills can be a good experience. Our rehearsals are filled with laughter and fun as well as focus and effort.As well as Garden Choirs, we provide Singing Club for people who just want to come along and sing without the pressure of performing!
But we offer the same high quality of professional singing teaching in all choirs.
How much work is it to sing in a Garden Choir?
Even though Garden Choirs require less commitment and homework than Concert Choirs, we still aim for a high standard of performance. So our expectation is that singers attend rehearsals regularly, as well as doing some practice (mostly listening to our demo tracks) at home. "Sectionals" are informal, and up to members of Garden Choirs to organise if they want to. They involve meeting with other singers in your voice section (soprano, alto, tenor or bass) at someone's home. They are usually fun, involving afternoon tea or a glass of wine, or whatever, and are a great way to get to know others in the choir!
Two Jamborees, a Concert Workshop and a Dress Rehearsal are included in the membership package for these choirs, because we have found that these extra opportunities to get together and sing with all of our members, not just those in your local choir, builds confidence and helps us to reach the standard of singing together that we all want. And it's fun!
Who can belong to a Garden Choir?
Membership of a Garden Choir is open to singers of all levels, who meet the criteria outlined in our Terms and Conditions, and are willing to meet our membership guidelines. It's a great place for beginner singers and for more experienced singers who don't want the pressure of preparing for a full concert performance. Most people will be already able to sing well enough to join but occasionally we meet people who need some individual help to hear pitch. In such cases, we provide gentle and discreet guidance if we think some individual lessons are necessary before you begin singing with the group (It's harder to hear yourself in the group, so the process will be quicker and more gentle in a one-to-one setting).
You might also find that Concert Choir appeals to you more, once you've had a taste of choir! No problem: we encourage new members to try more than one choir format. When you visit, you are welcome to dip into both choirs rehearsing in that venue.
At the moment, Garden Choir is available only in central Auckland, and one of our Concert Choirs might be more convenient for you, or you might want to sing with local friends. This is fine, but do look at the expectations for Concert Choirs - we want you to have a great experience, so finding the choir that fits you best might balance this decision. If in doubt, look at our decision tree under the Join a Choir tab, and talk to us!
Which All Together Now Choirs are Garden Choirs?
We run two Garden Choirs, in the same location:Tuesday 7.15pm to 9.15pm
Venue: Grey Lynn Community Centre - GARDEN ROOM, 510 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn
Choir Leader: Steven Rapana
Wednesday 7.15pm to 9.15pm
Venue: Grey Lynn Community Centre - GARDEN ROOM, 510 Richmond Road, Grey Lynn
Choir Leader: Denzel Panama
