By Ron Circus
I joined the Waterside choir on the 11th June 2019, and loved the relaxed atmosphere and the great sounds that were being created by the choir. Sitting, listening to the other sections practicing their parts, the sound sent shivers down my body, it was amazing.
Dave and Heather are excellent musicians in their own right, but they go another step further than that, they make new arrangements of the songs to suit the five-part harmonies within the choir. When Dave and Heather introduced California Dreamin' to the choir, it was love at first sound! This was one of two new arrangements to come out, but this one seemed to be easier for the choir to get to grips with.
I love being a part of the choir and like all of the other members, was deeply saddened to see that the world had been gripped by the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic. It came like a tsunami across the world until finally CRASH, it hit the UK and every choir. We sat behind a metaphorical splash screen for a while, as the waves came, but we resisted until it wasn't strong enough. We, like the rest of the world, had to run for cover. Staying at home where possible, but definitely no choir. No one was to stand within six feet of each other. This was mid-March when we faced an eternity of not being able to sing together, but, Dave and Heather not to be beaten came up with a cunning plan to keep the choir going, which was to use a piece of business software called Zoom, rapidly gaining in popularity in the face of lockdown, where we could get together virtually.
Now, seeing all of these choir members on the screen in little boxes, reminded me of a video that I'd seen quite some time before I saw Zoom or any other program. I loved the way that it was all put together and sounded great. Not realising how much work was involved in this type of project, nor did I have much of an idea at all. While I was mulling the idea in my head Marylin contacted me saying wouldn’t it be good if we could do something like that. To which I said that I had been thinking about it and this was the final push that I needed.
I had to ask the gov'nors of course and I was so pleased that they welcomed the idea with open arms. Dave and Heather remained positive and supportive throughout this virgin process. The next thing was to find out how to make one. I scoured the internet to get ideas on how all of this would have to work. How to get the members to record their part, by listening to the backing track on one device and recording it on another. Then, how do I get that from the members, to me?? Dropbox came to the rescue. I set up a folder, sent a link via Dave to the choir, job done… nope! Even though I shared the file and gave rights to anyone that had the link, it didn't work. Melanie was the first one to upload her video and came to the rescue. She said to “request files” via Dropbox and that will be the way to do it. It worked… on the whole but, there were some that had issues, so we ended up getting files to me via WhatsApp, Messenger, Email, Facebook and We Transfer! Where there's a will, there's a way!
That was the easy part complete, now for the editing and producing of files so large, in their entirety that slowed my iMac right down. Many nights into the wee hours, I thought that the whole thing would crash and I would have to start all over again.
The process was to place the video file into my “GarageBand” software, delete the video from within the software, copy the sound file from that line so that it was editable. Then bring all the sections together for the edit. This was so that we all were singing in time with each other, as we didn’t have our fellow singers with us to keep us all together, nor did we have our conductor! It was also very important that we all sang at the same volume and the same words and notes. Once that was achieved, the completed sound file could then be saved to be brought into the “Final Cut Pro X” video editing software. The next job was to work on the layout and design of how the video is going to look. I could not finalise the design until I had received all of the videos. I gave the deadline of Sunday 3rd May and I was still getting videos in until the last minute. We ended up with 38 voices an accompanist and a conductor.
We will be releasing our virtual choir project and trying to get some money for our local Southend HARP charity, in order to help the homeless at this terrible time. I hope that we can do another video and get swish at the whole process, getting more choir members to take part.
I've enjoyed the process of making the video and hope that the choir members have enjoyed taking part. Most of them have said that they had their frustrations, but are very pleased to be a part of my hair brained project.
HARP Just giving link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/ron-circus
Check out the finished product: https://youtu.be/Yf3GDmG8HpA