A new term, live in the room.

 Tonight is the first night of the new term, and the first time Nicole has conducted the choir this year.  It has been (and continues to be) a massively eventful year, and we will get in as much singing as we can between pandemic events!

Click here to book in and for all the venue and time details.

Online Choir has some wonderful moments.

In the early months of this year, we could not foresee the strangely evolved creature that a community choir would become by September. It's been difficult to get some satisfying singing in while using Zoom.

But our community connection is strong and blossoming. We meet every week on Zoom, and tonight we trialled a new and exciting development - we departed into breakout rooms and rehearsed in sections using the practice recordings which Nicole created this week. And it worked!

This new musical, mental and technical challenge will keep us entertained for a while, working through the parts of all our more complex songs.

Nicole is still creating an episode of Folk Choir Online every week (it's free, just subscribe on the popup form if you aren't already receiving it), with new songs and good warmups, singing opportunities round the world, and links to great performances. And now we are up to Episode 21. You can read it here.

Before the latest round of restrictions on size of gatherings in Queensland, The Folk Choir had a masked singing picnic in the park. What a ray of sunshine to hear all our voices. Keep singing!

The Folk Choir's latest online episode.

We have been covidded into being online now for TEN episodes. Here is the latest one, with links in it to all our songs.
The Folk Choir Online.

The Folk Choir's gone online for the duration...

Since we stopped meeting in person, due to the restrictions of the Covid19 lockdown, The Folk Choir has gone online and Nicole is making singing videos with parts every week. We have been working on our new songs for this year, and we are moving back through time and revisiting old repertoire as well.

To receive these free videos, join the mailing list here. And keep singing!

Choir suspended for two weeks due to COVID19.

Dear singers,
I'm so sorry to say choir is suspended for March 19 and March 26, to protect us all while we see how this virus progresses. We will know a lot more, and be able to make the next decision, in a couple of weeks. I will be sending out practice parts and warmups. Don't forget to sing in the shower!
love Nicole

The Twenty Twenty vision for The Folk Choir!

Hi singers and lovers of folk music,
Welcome to another fine year of singing in harmony and community spirit. The Folk Choir's new term runs 6 February - 2 April, and this term we are starting some great new songs, including the traditional Byker Hill (from Northumberland) and The Ashgrove (Welsh tune, sung in English). We are looking forward to new chorus songs, and we're starting another song that leads us down the rabbit hole of history: Harriet Tubman, by Holly Near.

Join us for a sing soon!

Wow! Our annual concert is this Sunday!

Incredibly, it is time for our yearly party with Brisbane Celtic Fiddle Club. It's our final gig of a busy year which included shows at Neurum Creek Music Festival and at The Bug Acoustic Music Club, and after this concert we are going to sing a lot of chorus songs and older repertoire and just relax into singing at our remaining five choir rehearsals.

But for this Sunday, let us take you on a journey through our most polished stories and harmonies. And we're all looking forward to hearing Fiddle Club's gorgeous tunes, collaborating on a song with them, and having afternoon tea!

News Flash! The Folk Choir will be performing at Neurum Creek Festival!

Come and hear a set of our latest and our most loved songs including Unst Boat Song, Leave Her Johnny and two other songs about Johnny....!
We are playing on Sunday 15 September on the main stage at 11am.
Here is a link to the Neurum Creek Festival website:
http://www.neurumcreekfestival.com/

See you there!

New term starts on Thursday 25 July.

We are starting our Midwinter to Spring term, and working on a set of great songs which we will perform at The Bug on October 22.

It's going to be great, hop in!

It's the end of the Autumn term. And what a term!

We have worked hard at some complicated arrangements and now all our simpler songs feel a lot easier! Huge thanks to George Papavgeris for welcoming us to sing his song "Johnny Don't Go Walking With The Fishes", which we have thoroughly enjoyed. Nicole put the chorus arrangement together for the Bribie Island choir camp early in the year, and completed the verse arrangements especially for The Folk Choir.

We are now at the end of the term. After the rehearsal on Thursday 4 July, we have two weeks off, then we're back into it on Thursday 25 July, preparing for our feature spot performing at The Bug Music Club on 22 October.

Here are some lovely pictures of us at The Peer Sing in June, with thanks to Rosalind Perry.

The Folk Choir in 2019

Last Term for 2018 starts on Thursday 11 October - and what a term!

It's time to come back and sing! New term starts on Thursday 11 October, 7.15pm - 8.45pm, and runs for 9 weeks.

It's going to be an action-packed term. Here are the events coming up:
11 October - Term starts
13 October - for choir members who have volunteered - first Toowoomba rehearsal for Queensland Music Festival show Voices of Remembrance.
20 October - we are performing in the Peer Sing, New Farm School, 1 - 4pm, drinks afterwards.
8/9 November - for choir members who have volunteered - final rehearsals and performance at the Empire Theatre, Toowoomba, of Voices of Remembrance.
11 November - The Folk Choir is performing at the State Library of Queensland for the Picnic for Peace. Celebration starts at 10am on Maiwar Green. We are performing at 2.45pm for 35 minutes. Invite everyone!
25 November - our end of year concert in collaboration with Brisbane Celtic Fiddle Club - FLYING FIDDLES AND SOARING VOICES. 3pm, Red Hill Community Sports Club, 22 Fulcher Road.
Invite absolutely everyone! And share our poster!

Voices of Remembrance.

Congratulations to The Folk Choir singers, who auditioned by video for the Queensland Music Festival show, "Voices of Remembrance", and were accepted!

We are now working on the songs, which reflect the music and sentiment of the show produced by John Thompson to commemorate the start of World War One, "A Patriotic Event". That was in 2014, and now here we are commemorating the end of the great war.

Voices of Remembrance will be performed in Toowoomba on 9 November at the Empire Theatre, and there will be a second show (without us) in Cairns. The show features Katie Noonan and Teddy Tahu Rhodes. We're very excited. Here's a link to more info: Voices of Remembrance.

Two Chorus Nights, one Harry Robertson workshop and the Winter Term.

So much is happening in The Folk Choir over this winter term break.

Thursday 5 July - Chorus Singing Night hosted by members of The Folk Choir. Gold coin entry.
Thursday 12 July - The Songs of Harry Robertson - a workshop hosted by Evan Mathieson. Learn about the fascinating story of Harry's life as a ship's engineer and the great songs he wrote. And get to sing them! $15, all welcome.
Thursday 19 July - Chorus Singing Night hosted by members of The Folk Choir. Gold coin entry.
Thursday 26 July - New Term Starts! This 9-week terms runs from 26 July - 20 September.

Warm yourself up with a good sing!

The Folk Choir's Playlist

We have such an avid interest in folk music in the choir, I have started a playlist on Spotify so we can share tracks that we love. Listening to great versions of songs we are learning and recommending to each other is fun and we can introduce new favourites to each other.

I've started with a list of songs we are singing and classics it is worth hearing, and so far there's an hour there, but it could end up being an entire drive to the National Folk Festival's worth of music. Send me the names of tracks you'd like me to include!

Click here to go to The Folk Choir's Favourites playlist.

xx Nicole

Sing in Autumn with The Folk Choir - new term starts this Thursday!

The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is upon us, and we will sing her in - there is so much to enjoy in this Autumn term of singing, read on to find out what we're up to! New term dates The Autumn term is ten weeks long and runs from  Thurs 12 April - Thurs 14 June. New songs and old! We have lots of delicious songs to sing this term, and some grand occasions to sing them. We will continue with our work on Winds of Fortune and Chi Mi Na Morbheanna, bring back some old favourites including Twa Corbies and Hillcrest Mine, and start learning a new arrangement created by our very own Amorina, of Street of Forbes (the song about bushranger Ben Hall). We will bring back Let Winter Begin and learn harmonies to Dance Up The Sun, and everyone is invited to sing them at dawn on May 1, up on Mt Coot-tha. More on that later! Before then we have Anzac Day, and in our end-of-the-evening chorus songs, we'll visit songs by Eric Bogle and John Thompson.

The Folk Choir starts on Feb 1 and new singers are welcome.

It's time to sing again! The long Summer folk festival season is drawing to a close (to be followed of course by the folk festivals of Autumn), and we are all longing for some delicious harmonies and good friends surrounding us. Come and sing some satisfying songs full of meaning and stories.

The Folk Choir, 1 February,  7.15 - 8.45pm, $15, or $104 for the 8-week term, at the Red Hill Community Sports Club, next door to the Broncos, 22 Fulcher Road, Red Hill.

Celebrating the end of the year by singing on ABC radio!

This Sunday 3 December, The Folk Choir will be singing on Rebecca Levingston's show on 612 ABC. Expect to hear us between 11.30 - 12 noon, singing some of our best songs and having a chat with Rebecca about why we're so into harmonies and folk music. Tune in live on a real radio if you're in Brisbane or listen on the web later.

It has been a mega term for the choir, with our hugely successful concert in collaboration with The Brisbane Celtic Fiddle Club two weeks ago, and the chorus singing element of our rehearsals getting richer and more joyful every week. No music required, just a good pair of listening ears and the will to slot your voice in there somewhere.

There is some video of us performing at the concert, on our facebook page, so please visit The Folk Choir's Facebook Page! Scroll down and you'll find video clips.

This year choir finishes on December 7, and we will begin rehearsals again in February, if you would like to join us and sing.

We do have a gig scare over the summer break - we are opening the fundraising concert at the Red Hill Community Sports Club, 22 Fulcher Road, on February 18. It will be a great afternoon of folk acts, raising money to contribute to the repair and maintenance of the airconditioning at the hall, which makes it a great venue for choirs, folk clubs and dance groups.

Tonight is the last day of term 3.

Come along for a relaxing sing with The Folk Choir tonight. Doors open just before 7, you can have a cup of tea before we start, and we sing from 7.15pm - 8.45pm.

This is the last choir practice of this term.

Summer term starts on 5 October and runs for ten weeks, to 7 December. In that time we will sing at the Peersing, perform at our Flying Fiddles and Soaring Voices concert on 12 November (poster out soon), and sing on ABC radio on 3 December. Action packed. But relaxing too!

Sing with you soon,
Nicole

Exciting Autumn Term!

It's time to sing again, hooray! At last, it is CHOIR WEEK again! We start the new term this Thursday 27 April. This will be an exciting and varied term indeed. Nicole will be leading the choir for the first three weeks, and when she goes overseas on tour with Cloudstreet, our wonderful guest director, Rebecca Wright, will take over until her return in early August. You’ll have such a good time learning some great new songs from Bec, it will be an utterly refreshing Autumn term. This term will run for 10 weeks, from 28 April - 29 June. Do bring along friends who have been wanting to join a choir, it is a great antidote to wintery weather to be in a singing community.