If you’re interested in joining, please complete this form, letting us know your preferred instrument and level of ability - or if you’re interested in joining the choir, it would be useful to know your vocal range (but don’t worry if you’re not sure). We will then let you know if we have a space for you.
We don’t hold auditions and welcome a variety of abilities, although we do sometimes need to limit the number of very novice players per section in order to maintain our sound. There are instrument parts written with different levels of complexity and also MP3/midi files available to help with practise. We work from sheet music or chord charts. For choir members it is not essential to read music, as many choir members learn by ear. However, for orchestra members it’s recommended that you’re able to read music, because we follow sheet music at rehearsals.
Some people who join us may be a learner or returning to playing an instrument after a long break, which is fine and quite common – in fact it’s a great opportunity for you. Rest reassured there are some bits that not everyone can play and we just duck out for those bits and play the parts we can. Many of us find that our playing ability is stretched (in a good way) and our sight reading is improved by being a member of the orchestra!
The orchestra currently rehearses on alternate Monday evenings (in St Werburgh’s) or Tuesday evenings (in St Anne’s).
Choir rehearsals are on Tuesday evenings in Redcliffe.
We maintain a calendar of rehearsal and concert dates for members and we send out weekly information about rehearsals.
