• ghmus7
    Posts: 1,480
    I am curious, and hope many will reply...
    How many of you have a dedicated rehearsal space for your Choral program, and how many of you have to rehearse in your church?
  • Obviously our situation is different, Im coming from a monastery, but for what its worth we practice both in the choir and in another space. We do all the major practicing in another space but once we are confident enough we normally do 1 or 2 runs in the choir before the mass because the acoustics can make it sound different.
  • trentonjconn
    Posts: 772
    We have a choir vestry of sorts. It's small and standing room only, so we only use it for warm-up before Mass. Weekly rehearsal is done in the church. I would prefer a rehearsal room.
  • We have access to a finished basement room, a choir vestry, and the loft itself. I prefer we practice in the loft. I think it's better to practice in the space where you typically sing.
  • TCJ
    Posts: 1,034
    I use my office as a choir room because it used to be a classroom. That said, it's in a very inconvenient location so I'll only use it here and there. For the most part, choir practice is in the church with the organ. Depending on which Mass and if anything else is going on in the church we may move to the basement or the stairwell for warmups.
  • kyletoddp
    Posts: 4
    We have a dedicated storage room for robes and music that could fit about 10 people, but we rehearse in the adjacent chapel.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    If anyone has recommendations on a board (preferably dry erase, double sided, on an easel) let me know. The searches of Office Depot and Staples that I have done so far left me despondent. I would like to keep it in the loft where we rehearse most often; I can squeeze it behind the organ (the original non-functioning pipes are set into a wooden wall and behind that are both working pipes and a space used for storage).

    Price may be an obstacle but if we have to spend 1k or so to get something that won’t come damaged or cheap, well, the boss will pony up if I ask nicely.
  • OrganistRob320OrganistRob320
    Posts: 176
    I've had several various situations over the years.
    The "choir room" was in the school building and doubled as the school music room for midweek rehearsals with the choir loft being the warm up space for Sundays. Though, the choir did have to go to the school building on Sunday morning to robe up so there was always that nice procession of blue robes up the sidewalk each Sunday morning.

    There was a location where my office and the music library storage was under the organ in a transcept which was converted from a confessional. The choir rehearsed in the aspe, where they also sang from on Sunday.

    The choir room/music office was in the basement, adjacent to the parish hall/school cafeteria and then a quick climb up the spiral staircase to the loft for Mass.

    Currently, my office is in the historic building complex. There is a "choir room" adjacent to my office which is used primarily for the children's chorus rehearsal/music storage. The adult rehearsal room and storage space is in the main church behind the choir loft which was originally intended to be a pipe chamber for a pipe organ. This arrangement is rather nice in that we can rehearsal prior to Mass without disturbing those praying, though the choir room is not as sound proof as desired due to its intended use as pipe chamber and has a simple wall separating the back of the choir loft from it so some sound does pass through.
  • davido
    Posts: 1,150
    Matthew, maybe search under school supplies. I recently added a white board with 5 line staves to my room, and it was available in multiple sizes.

    We used to use the school music classroom which was down the hall from the church. When they built a new wing, moving the music room a couple football fields away, I lobbied for and received the nearest classroom as a dedicated music room. Piano, music stands, timpani, and choir libraries live there. Holds about 18 singers comfortably.
    We have an unusually expansive physical plant.
  • GambaGamba
    Posts: 641
    I have always had a choir room, or a space sufficient for Sunday warmups. Wonderful and helpful as it is to sing in the same space and acoustic in which one performs, a separate room seems very necessary to me for two reasons:

    1) Vocal-health problems and other deficiencies in singing, particularly a failure to “support” and sing legato can be masked by a reverberant acoustic (and we thank God for that on Sunday morning). When the sound is swirling around, it can also difficult to pinpoint the reason for poor intonation and blend. Rehearsing in a drier room means there’s nowhere to hide, and the conductor can be more efficient in diagnosing and correcting problems.

    2) The church (the sanctuary and nave) is not a place for any other business than prayer. I don’t know how anyone in the pews is supposed to devoutly prepare themselves for Mass while a choir is warming up and/or chatting in the church. And the music loses its lustre when the congregation have already heard the tricky bits picked apart and sung umpteen times.
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,210
    We use the baptistery. It has to be done on the same side as catechism for dads to go get their kids. The church has the rosary or otherwise should be for prayer. You can’t really hear us thankfully.

    The hall isn’t available. And they need to be able to find me before Mass sometimes.
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 606
    We have a dedicated storage room for robes and music that could fit about 10 people, but we rehearse in the adjacent chapel.


    Our schola used to rehearse in the janitor’s room/hall storage room/boiler room entrance. It was a tight fit when everyone showed up.

  • emac3183
    Posts: 87
    We have a beautiful choir room that used to be a storage room. Nice floors, choir stalls which encourage (and necessitate) standing, and an acoustic that's quite live! Major rehearsals happen there, and then Sunday morning rehearsals happen in the church choir loft to allow the choir members to get used to not hearing themselves as well.
  • hcmusicguy
    Posts: 66
    We have rehearsed in the church, the church basement, and the rectory basement at various times over the years. We currently use what you could consider a "sacristy-type" space off the sanctuary on the side opposite the sacristy. When the church was built in 1963, this is where the choir and organ were located for Mass; the space was open to the sanctuary (now closed off) and behind screens to the nave. This was altered in the 90s, where the choir was moved out into the front of the nave, and the former choir space became a "church library" which went mostly unused since covid. That arrangement has been discontinued and the books/shelves moved out, and we are now using this "library" space for rehearsals for both adult choir and handbells. The space is being renovated very soon to also accommodate school music classes, since they are without a permanent music room. We prefer rehearsing here to rehearsing in the church due to the acoustics - in the room we can hear each other well, but in church the acoustics are sooo dead.
  • montre_16montre_16
    Posts: 8
    In my current position, I have my choir meet 45 minutes prior to Mass in the parish office building. Outside of my office, there is a large meeting space with chairs, so I wheel my Johannus keyboard into that space and we warm up and vest there, then process over to the church for Mass.
  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,537
    We rehearse in the choir loft. It is not ideal, but this is where we store our books and honestly, it is inconvenient for people (older or not) to hike up and down our stairs. We also have a ton of books and music, you get the idea.

    We get interrupted by the usual things and sometimes the unusual ones too.

    There is certainly no place for warm-ups, but we are a rather simple bunch.
  • My little schola, which sings at First Friday masses, rehearses in the church, but we do our warmups before mass in a large room downstairs from the church, or occasionally, if it is occupied, in the hallway.

    The larger choir which sings Sunday mornings at our church (I am not in charge of this one) rehearses in the church, and also has a warmup in the church before mass :-(