Cancelling rehearsals, anyone?
  • henry
    Posts: 244
    Is anyone else cancelling rehearsals during this brutal Winter in the Midwest? We haven't rehearsed since Christmas. Told them we would resume next week, but the forecast continues to look bad - zero for a daytime high! I feel bad, but I hate to go out (or make anyone else go out) on such cold nights. Good thing Lent starts late this year!
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    Join the SACRED MUSIC REVOLUTION in the DESERT and never cancel again!
    Thanked by 1expeditus1
  • rollingrj
    Posts: 352
    I applaud you for making that decision. As a former Midwest resident (Iowa and Minnesota), I do remember living through those kind of brutal cold snaps. Perhaps the group's focus will be high when you do reconvene.
  • donr
    Posts: 971
    75 in Phoenix today, no cancellations on the horizon, unless its for sun bathing.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    We are only down to 20 degrees tonight, tomorrow will get to 10 and then 12 degrees next Monday. We had some low single digit readings last week. I will remember that week because I had to go to my sister's house and help fix broken pipes. I haven't cancelled rehearsals yet, but wouldn't hesitate if there were any snow or ice with the cold temperatures. This is East Tennessee, not the Midwest. We don't usually have temps as low as 2 degrees.
  • BenBen
    Posts: 3,114
    Report from Wisconsin (phone tells me it's -1, and -19 wind chill):

    I tell my singers to stay home if they'd feel safer (and just text me that they'll be absent), but I haven't canceled any rehearsals yet. That being said, the average age of my schola is quite young.

    We are hardy up here.
  • TeresaH
    Posts: 53
    Tonight would have been our first since Christmas but I decided to cancel. We have blowing snow, sub zero temps and very strong wind with wind-chills way below zero. Some members are 20 miles away and visibility is poor. They will come extra early Sunday morning to go over antiphons. We're keeping the rest simple this week. We'll see what next week brings!
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    In Ben's place, when it's below zero they run around outside in t-shirts and bow ties. ;-)

    Thanked by 1Ben
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 946
    I canceled one rehearsal since Christmas (the day after Epiphany). There was a foot of snow on the roads (which weren't plowed at all) and the wind chill was -40. Also, I wasn't living at home because we lost power for 4 days in that cold.

    So yeah, I cancelled it for...them...
  • ronkrisman
    Posts: 1,396
    With all the Forum members who have programming expertise, I'm surprised no one has come up with a virtual Choir Practice app.
    Thanked by 5CharlesW CHGiffen expeditus1 Adam Wood Andrew Motyka
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    NEVER! EVER have I cancelled choir practice.... and I live the furthest from the church. I'm the one WITH the excuse!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen Jeffrey Quick
  • M. Jackson Osborn
    Posts: 8,424
    I entreat every one of you who lives in such wintery beauty and coolness to throw a snowball for me and all of us who live where it never snows more than 37 snowflakes every 10 years. If I lived where you do, I would go out and wallow in it with great felicity. (Nor would I even think of cancelling choir!)
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • PaixGioiaAmorPaixGioiaAmor
    Posts: 1,473
    I canceled ONE so far, the day after New Year's when they were saying that a bad storm was headed for us. The storm ended up being semi-bad, so I was glad to have canceled, but in another situation (middle of Advent/Lent, etc) we probably would have just had it anyway.

    We got behind enough from that. No more cancelations for us, weather be damned. Whomever can come will come; if someone's worried about life or limb, let them stay home.
    Thanked by 1Jeffrey Quick
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Join the SACRED MUSIC REVOLUTION in the DESERT and never cancel again!

    I'll keep in mind you said that when haboob season comes around.

    image
    Thanked by 2JulieColl BruceL
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    I cancelled our Jan. 6 practice because of the -18 degree weather (-40 wind chill). My college-aged son and his roommates woke up in the morning to find the furnace not working, and that their fish had frozen in the ice in the fishbowl. That is sad.
    Thanked by 3Ben JulieColl Andrew Motyka
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    A haboob cancelation would be awesome... But very unlikely at the Cathedral or any parish downtown or west of downtown.
  • barnabus1898barnabus1898
    Posts: 91
    I am a little envious and a little relieved by this post. Envious that there actually are people who get to see snow at winter time, and relieved that I can still have both of my choir rehearsals during the week because it has been a cool 37 degrees. Guess I'll curl up with a warm bowl of gumbo after rehearsal next week (which I will not be cancelling).
  • kenstb
    Posts: 369
    Here in new York City, we have had a lot of snow lately, but my singers enjoy rehearsing a lot. Neither rain...nor snow...nor gloom of night prevents them from coming to practice. If I tried to cancel because of snow, I would have to endure a lot of ribbing.
  • Aristotle EsguerraAristotle Esguerra
    Posts: 1,186
    I've cancelled one rehearsal this season due to extreme temperature.

    In lieu of a choir practice app, I do provide my singers with YouTube videos and MIDI files. Google Hangouts, Skype, etc. = too much lag, but quite ideal for coaching individual seminarians.
    Thanked by 4ronkrisman Ben Kathy Patricia Cecilia
  • WendiWendi
    Posts: 638
    I absolutely cancel for bad weather. I live out of town and my roads are among the last to be plowed. When the weather is brutal I don't want to drive in to town either. I do send them mp3 files when that happens though. I just record myself and my daughter (or my husband if it's a male part) and email those to everyone.
  • Kathy
    Posts: 5,513
    I've often done as Aristotle has, and sent youtube videos or audio files on nights when rehearsal could not be held.
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    Opposite problem here. We've seriously thought about canceling rehearsals when the air conditioning in the choir room broke down.
    Thanked by 2canadash expeditus1
  • scholistascholista
    Posts: 109
    Statement as of 6:20 PM CST on January 26, 2014:

    Location... all of northeast Minnesota and sections of extreme northwest Wisconsin.

    Wind chill values... 40 to 60 below zero at times early Monday morning and again Monday night. Lowest values over northern Minnesota (that would be us, in Hibbing!)

    No rehearsal is planned, but it would be canceled if it were!
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    I have some choir members who are in their eighties. I don't even want those people out when the roads, sidewalks, and general weather are dangerous. Safety is more important than an individual rehearsal.
    Thanked by 2Andrew Motyka melofluent
  • barnabus1898barnabus1898
    Posts: 91
    I've often done as Aristotle has, and sent youtube videos or audio files on nights when rehearsal could not be held.

    I love posting videos of material! It really helps folks get their practice in! I typically do this even when we do have rehearsals so that people can keep the material fresh in their minds. I also have several who have never been in a choir before, and this method helps calm some of their insecurities.
    Thanked by 3expeditus1 canadash JulieColl
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    I love posting videos of material! It really helps folks get their practice in!


    What is this "practice" of which you speak? My choir doesn't understand any context for that word outside of the choir room. ;-)
    Thanked by 3scholista expeditus1 canadash
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    Scholista,

    HOW do you function in -60 degree weather??? The lowest I've ever experienced was -20, and I thought that was bad. It's hard to believe your weather is 90 degrees colder than our weather here on Long Island tonight.
  • CHGiffenCHGiffen
    Posts: 5,199
    Julie ... those are Wind Chill temperatures (due to winds accompanying low temperatures), not real temperatures. Here in Hudson, WI, we'll be between -45 and -50 degrees Wind Chill temp, but we are only expected to go down to about -22 degrees real temperatures. Right now it is -12 with a "feels like -31" (Wind Chill) temperature.

    As a lad in northern Minnesota eons ago, my brother and I walked to school, about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile. A couple of those years, the real temperatures went below -40 ... that was before "wind chill" was used. On three of the four days that the temperature was -50 or colder, we had school ... not cancelled ... the worst was -53. What were the Wind Chill temps then? I don't know ... and I wouldn't have wanted to know.

    In the three years we lived there, school was only cancelled once ... not because of the cold, but because of a blizzard that dumped 32 inches of snow overnight from Thursday into Friday. Schools were open by Monday. That Thursday is the day I took my driver's license test ... it was snowing on roughly 10 mile trip there, still snowing with about 4-5 inches of new snow on the ground when I took the driver's road test, about 8 inches when I went to band practice that night, 10 or 11 inches when I walked home afterwards ... and 32 inches the next morning.

    Those were the days.
    Thanked by 3expeditus1 JulieColl BruceL
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    And you didn't have the latest techno-wiz insulated outerwear either! There's a reason we call you the greatest generation. : ) How do you keep going in weather like that? What's the best thing to wear?

    Everything shuts down here after 3 inches of snow. It's even worse when there's black ice. Here on the South Shore the other day, there was a thin coat of ice on everything and a volunteer EMT told me the local hospital received 600 cases of injuries that morning and were so overwhelmed they had to turn people away. You could hear the ambulances all morning long, and the local police made robo calls to every house in our village advising people to stay home. That was a bit freaky.

    I guess we just don't know how to function in really cold weather.
  • expeditus1
    Posts: 483
    Our foolhardy choir just returned from our evening practice. The temperature tonight in Madison, WI, is supposed to be -23 below, actual temp, but after reading CHGiffen's tales, I hardly feel heroic. We have Candlemas to prepare for, so we simply had to push through the weather obstacle - in the comfort of our well-heated cars.
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen JulieColl
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,501
    This is my hometown: http://www.northernlife.ca/news/localNews/2014/01/02-cold-weather-record-sudbury.aspx

    I quite remember walking to elementary school in 1981. I think that was the year I tripped over a snowbank and broke my arm because I was walking backwards avoiding the biting wind.

    And we had tons of snow and it never melted until the spring. Sometimes there were snowbanks for Hallowe'en and we'd have to wear snow suits under our costumes.

    I must admit, though I've not cancelled rehearsals yet (except when I had a baby), my above post was tongue-in-cheek.


    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    (Teeth chattering) It's making me cold just reading about it ! Now I need a cup of tea to warm up. It does seem like temperatures were colder back in the day. I grew up in Colorado and remember the thermometer going below 0 all the time and having piles of snow all winter which is not so common there now (at least it wasn't until this winter which is breaking all records it seems.)

    All this talk of the northern states and Canada reminds me of the movie Iron Will which has got to be one of the top ten best movies. The finish line scene gets me on my feet time even though I've seen it about 50 times.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsDnmDhtz_k
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Spriggo
    Posts: 122
    Our parish school closes when the school district that we're situated in closes. When that happens, all parish activities are canceled (including rehearsals). Today is our 5th snow/cold day. Between my adult and two children's vocal choirs, my school choir, and the bell choir, we've missed 7 rehearsals. Winter's only 1/3 gone. This is one for the books.
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    High of 73 today, 75 tomorrow, 77 Thursday, 79 Friday.

    Phoenix, Arizona: Come join the Sacred Music Revolution in the Desert.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    Since we are obviously trying to prove who had it the worst
    We walked 5 miles to school each day through 4 feet of snow with minus 50 degree temperatures, and walked uphill both ways

    The weather sounds great Matthew, but don't forget to dodge the rattlesnakes. ;-)
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    . . . and the gila monsters which are worse than rattlesnakes, IMHO.
  • Andrew Motyka
    Posts: 946
    High of 73 today, 75 tomorrow, 77 Thursday, 79 Friday.

    Let's talk in 6 months.
    Thanked by 5expeditus1 CharlesW canadash CHGiffen Ben
  • gregpgregp
    Posts: 632
    Let's talk in 6 months.


    Salinas, CA: average January high = 63
    average July high = 71
  • matthewjmatthewj
    Posts: 2,700
    There's nothing wrong with Phoenix Summers... as long as you stay in the shade or indoors from 1pm until 6pm.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    I have cancelled rehearsal for tomorrow night. The schools are closed, it is snowing, and it doesn't get above freezing again until Thursday. Better a cancellation than an elderly choir member falling on an icy sidewalk.
    Thanked by 2canadash JulieColl
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    Jackson was too rash in his praise of Texan weather; this is the second day of school closings in the past seven!
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • scholistascholista
    Posts: 109
    HOW do you function in -60 degree weather?

    Julie, I imagine that our coping strategies are similar to those of Arizonans when temperatures get up to 120. We spend most of our time in temperature controlled environments.
  • scholistascholista
    Posts: 109
    We walked 5 miles to school each day through 4 feet of snow with minus 50 degree temperatures, and walked uphill both ways

    Charles, did you also live in a shoebox in the middle of the road? :D
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    No shoebox. I do admit I enjoy telling such things to complaining youngsters who think they have it bad. ;-)
    Thanked by 1M. Jackson Osborn
  • scholistascholista
    Posts: 109
    Coldest Temperature on Earth: The official record is from Vostok, Antarctica on July 21, 1983: -89.2 °C (-128.6 °F). Is there a schola in Vostok?
  • Spriggo
    Posts: 122
    Just got the call - another "cold day" tomorrow. Make that 9 rehearsals. Time for the serenity prayer.
    Thanked by 2expeditus1 CHGiffen
  • MarkThompson
    Posts: 768
    Is there a schola in Vostok?

    No, but there is a 40-voice Russian men's choir of bassi profondi.
    Thanked by 1JulieColl
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    I would love to have a couple of those Russian bass voices in my choir. It must be an Orthodox thing. I visited the OCA church in a nearby town, and they have them, too.
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    “The Orthodox are the only Christians who write basso profundo church music, or need to.”
    -Leon Podles
  • granonesix
    Posts: 4
    At least you have practices to cancel! Our church choir doesn't practice at all.
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,986
    At least you have practices to cancel! Our church choir doesn't practice at all.


    Sometimes, I wonder why mine even bothers. It has no lasting effect. LOL
    Thanked by 1ClergetKubisz
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