Joining

Helen Vereker Singers

But I'm Not A very Good Singer

It doesn’t matter if you feel you are not a good singer or you’re a bit rusty.

About Joining

We are a mixed adult choir.

Our repertoire focuses on popular songs and musicals.  You will probably be familiar with most of our songs. However, even if you don’t know a song, you will soon pick it up.

We want everyone to enjoy their singing sessions with  us and to leave feeling happy and invigorated.as we try to show that singing is fun and accessible to all.

There is no need to feel apprehensive about coming alone, or if your singing is a bit rusty. You will be most welcome..

The groups are friendly, chatty  and they will help you along

Try our free taster session to discover if it’s for you 

If you decide to join, all we ask is that you attend as many rehearsals as possible and join in the fun!

We Meet at St David’s Hall, Castle Street, Hereford every Wednesday 7-9pm 

Don't Save Your Best Performance For The Bath

No Audition To Join

We don’t single anyone out or will you be asked to sing an audition piece to join.

No Lead Singers

Everyone gets to the whole song.  We don’t have soloists. Everyone takes turns with Melody, Harmonies or Backing Vocals. 

Can't Read Sheet Music

No-one is expected to read sheet music or sight read, however it is available it you do.

Easy To learn Parts

Each song is is carefully arranged  into easy  to learn parts and is distributed around the groups

Type of Songs We Sing

You will probably know a lot of our songs.  They are mainly popular songs from lots of different genres, Pop, Rock, Soul, Blues, Country, Jazz, Musicals, Ballads.   

 You could be singing an uplifting musical number followed by a rousing rock anthem.

eg:

California Dreaming

Somebody To Love

It’s My Life 

I Dreamed A Dream

Hallelujah

and so much more …

How Much Does It Cost?
Its £30 a month by Direct Debit
We meet every Wednesday 7-9pm
We don’t follow term times.  We meet 49 weeks in the year.

Camaraderie

The choir are an amazing group of people who support each other, not just vocally, but also through friendship and socially too.

They always pull out all the stops to help support the various charity and community events throughout the year.

We’re always up to something, whether its a coffee morning, a meal out, a birthday bash, a night at the cinema

Its like being part of an extended family.

What Are Rehearsals Like?

Rehearsals are relaxed and informal.   

We start at 7:00pm and finish around 9.00pm.

There are 5 groups within the choir.  Not unlike a typical Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass choir.  We share melody and harmonies throughout the groups

A typical rehearsal is:

7pm – 7:50 ¬ A warm-up, then we work on our new material (1-2 songs usually)

7:50  – 8pm  – Break 

8pm – 9pm – Singing session/show rehearsal (approx 8-10 songs)

There’s lots of banter between the groups

You will be introduced to a group that is suitable to you. 

 

We arrange our songs so that everyone gets to sing throughout the song.  Apart from our Melody Group (who only sing melody), the rest of the groups take turns to sing either melody, backing vocals and harmonies.

We use the first half of the rehearsal to work on a new song.  We split up into little groups and go over each part of the song, before putting the groups together. We may go over that song for several weeks before it starts to become a known song.

There is a short break in the middle.

The second part of the rehearsal  is spent singing.  These are songs we already know or it could be practicing for a concert.  You can often request what you would like to sing (within our current working list), and we try to fit in as many as possible.

There are simple dance moves in our songs (usually consisting of arm gestures and moving on the spot), which we may go over during the second half of rehearsal. 

Homework is usually set at the end of the session; this may be to practice a particular song or have a look at the new song chosen for the follow week. Homework and all learning material can be found on our website.

As we use microphones during performances, they are occasionally brought to rehearsals for you to get used to.

It can get warm in our practice room, so wear plenty of layers. Also, you may find it useful to bring your own drink.

Disabled access and toilets available.

Use our simple video guide to find out what voice range you have.

Choirs generally have a mix of voices such as Soprano, Alto, Tenors and Bass (SATB).  There may also be Mezzo Sopranos, Baritone, or Soprano, Soporano Alto (SSA) etc

If you’ve never sung in a choir before, you may not know what part you should sing.  We will help you find your part at our rehearsals.  However we have a video to help give you an idea of the range you sing in.

There are two sections to the video.  Starting on Middle C, the first tests how low you can go. and the second tests how high you can go.  Each note is given a code.  Make a note of your lowest note code and your highest note code.

Start where the you feel you can sing.   If the low section is too low for you, then wait and come in on the higher section.  It is possible that you may find both your highest and lowest notes are found in just one of the sections.

The video will show you a graph of approximately what voice range your note codes fall within.

We have a more in-depth explanation about the different voice ranges, and what it may mean if you got a range outside the suggested parameter here.