The St. Cecilia Schola is singing for the ground breaking at our new parish location in Auburn, Alabama, Saturday 13 Sept. The time is 4pm. Outdoor liturgy, so we need lots of singers. Please come and sing with us! We rehearse at 2:30. We are singing two English psalms, a hymn, Sicut Cervus, and Te Deum (chant).
The (new) Archbishop will be here with us. Please come! We'll have a blast and do some good. jeffrey@ceciliaschola.org
David, your advice seems ominous. Somehow I feel I've dodged a bullet. Can you say more? Filling the space is precisely how I've been thinking of this.
My comment was meant in fun, but my experience with outdoor singing, especially in the chant/polyphony line has been that we ended up hoarse and oversinging because there was no sound coming back to us. Short of bagpipes, 76 trombones, and big bass drums, I don't see how you can fill the outdoors. My suggestion is to apply your good choral/schola singing and let the congregation move in closer to hear. Not intentionally soft, but not bellowing either--it's a temptation. How many are in your choir?
Drove by the site yesterday and it seems to be just a clearing in the trees. A little grove, if you will. So it is not as if we will be singing in the middle of a football field. Don't know if this makes a difference- probably not.
You may want to stand in a half circle to be able to hear each other and create a cone of sound....the trees, if you stand in front of them, will reflect sound a bit and help.
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