Teddington Choral Society can finally get back to physical rehearsals!

Here's what they told us about their steps to return:

The committee together with the Musical Director and the Accompanist met online to have a clear idea of what was the current situation for amateur choirs and what were our options based on the DCMS (Government Department for Digital Culture Media & Sports) and Making Music organisation information. We had then to undertake several steps in order to put in place our new rehearsals.

1/ Surveying the choir to gauge the interest based on the guide-lines that we would put in place. We had 68 positive responses for a start in September and 4/5 for a start in October. Some members unfortunately would like to join but still need need to shield themselves for various reasons or do not feel ready to attend in person.

2/ The committee produced a Risk Assessment document necessary for our members and our rehearsals venue.

3/ We then had to create safe rehearsals with appropriate distancing and ventilation. This meant having two smaller groups rehearsing for a shorter period of time. A longer break between the two groups will allow to optimize the ventilation and sanitization of the room. Each member will be allocated previous to the rehearsal a specific seat number so that there is no confusion at their arrival.

4/ We provided our members with a questionnaire for Covid-Secure rehearsal that they have to fill and send to the committee before each rehearsal. The questionnaire focuses on the past 14 days and current health situation of the singer. The members received also a documents with the steps to follow before, during and at the end of the rehearsals.

5/ For the members who cannot or do not wish to join the physical rehearsals some live broadcasting will be available so that they can still practice with the choir.

We are confident that we are taking all the precautions and measures to follow the Government guide-lines. Unfortunately the rehearsals will not be, for now, an occasion to socialize for our members but we strongly believe that getting together again and sing together will make a huge difference for everyone.

We will start working on Brahms Requiem in German which we were supposed to perform during our Spring Concert in March.

We cannot wait to start again on Monday September 7th!