live choir....anyone tried this

[chipwdw]

ok, so i got this idea of having a live choir have a preformance in front of the house. has anyone done this? what issues should i look for? the choir director loves the idea, now i just have to make it happen. the choir could use this as one of their preformances so i wont have copyright issues. just another 'great' idea to work on for this year. thanks for any thoughts.

chip

[Anthony in Houston]

Several years ago I had a church choir come to my house. The came on their own and sang for around 30 minutes or so. It was great but for them to do this Im sure it was very difficult for them as they didn't have a proper stage. They were in the street and then moved to the drive. While they were singing they did draw people to staying longer.

If I were to do this I would have a proper stage for them. Have plenty for them to drink or snack on. A place out of the elements and where people could not bother them.

It would be a great way to get more people to come out and you could tie in other things like a Santa visit for the kids and serve refreshments of some kind.

You would not want the choir to be the only live show they would not last very long alone. You should also plan short breaks to get the crowds to leave.

Anthony

[scubado]

Very cool idea. I was thinking you could invite different churches in your area to sing on different nights and the money they raise that night could go to their own charities.

You would need to coordinate way ahead of time to pick proper songs and get the sequences done.

[Greg Young]

One decorator from Australia (name escapes me at present) had a choir perform at his display once each week during the lighting season. Others have done similar.

Marty Slack went one step further and had a small instrumental group (including himself) perform on weekends, with their music synchronized to his display (tempo was matched cleverly by using synchronized lights the musicians could follow).

Greg

[jimswinder]

I was going to invite the two local High School Choirs to come by and that night all the donations would go to their Schools Music Fund.

Figured they could do two or three songs a piece on different nights.

Was going to see if they could use a taped background so I could actually sequence the lights to their music.

As soon as school is back in I was going to contact them to give us both time to work on the songs.

[lightzilla]

chipwdw wrote:

o. k., so i got this idea of having a live choir have a performance in front of the house. has anyone done this?

I dream or wish a live choir would come by the house and start singing from my driveway. I had a youth group from a local church view the display, but no singing.

Then there is the cold, and it gets cold here. (I live up in the Edmonton, AB area) and that really puts a damper on folks viewing the display.

Now if I lived right in Edmonton who knows what could happen, but I am a good 1 hour or so from Edmonton.

I would like to see a choir from the Edmonton Military Garrison on our driveway this year, man that would really add to the special tribute I have for them.

If you can pull this off then do it. It would be grand.

[scubado]

Anthony in Houston wrote:

Several years ago I had a church choir come to my house. The came on their own and sang for around 30 minutes or so. It was great but for them to do this Im sure it was very difficult for them as they didn't have a proper stage. They were in the street and then moved to the drive. While they were singing they did draw people to staying longer.

If I were to do this I would have a proper stage for them. Have plenty for them to drink or snack on. A place out of the elements and where people could not bother them.

It would be a great way to get more people to come out and you could tie in other things like a Santa visit for the kids and serve refreshments of some kind.

You would not want the choir to be the only live show they would not last very long alone. You should also plan short breaks to get the crowds to leave.

Anthony

You could make Elf soup for passing out. What is Elf Soup, you ask? It's a mix of different soups in one kettle. Use tomato soup as your base and add beef stew chicken soup ETC... It's pretty good, can also season to taste. Santa told me this recipe.

[jimswinder]

lightzilla wrote:

I would like to see a choir from the Edmonton Military Garrison on our driveway this year, man that would really add to the special tribute I have for them.

Have you asked them?

All they can say is "no"...

If you are gonna dream...dream BIG!!!

Then MAKE it happen!!!

[lightzilla]

jimswinder wrote:

Have you asked them?

All they can say is "no"...

If you are gonna dream...dream BIG!!!

Then MAKE it happen!!!

No I never asked. I asked individual soldiers a few questions.......answers all no!!!

I may ask but I think I would rather keep it as a dream or better yet a wish.

I want to see what will happen when I put a video up on Vimeo and You Tube late November very early December and maybe a video on a few singer/writers website's, then keep adding a tribute video and see what happens.

Worse yet is that I may not have a show. I'll leave it at that.

I'll just go on as though everything is going smoothly.

[bob]

One thing you might want to consider:

Have your show set up so that individual sequences start via trigger. That way, the conductor or director or whoever can control when a song is going to start.

Also, perhaps insert a little dead time into the beginning of each sequence, with a few lights (known to the conductor) that flash during that time in the upcoming beat for a bar or two, so that he or she knows exactly when it's going to "really" start.

[jimswinder]

bob wrote:

One thing you might want to consider:

Have your show set up so that individual sequences start via trigger. That way, the conductor or director or whoever can control when a song is going to start.

Yep...that was my plan... (Excellent idea about the lights/beats before the song actually begins though!!)

Was going to have two or three interactive buttons (with lights) with the names of the songs inside the button tops...that way he can do which ever ones he/she wanted to do and in any order.

And hopefully they wouldn't push the same button twice!!!

Or did I read somewhere that you could override an "interactive show" by pushing another IA button? Or was it the next button pushed would not work till the current "show" ends?

[bob]

Or did I read somewhere that you could override an "interactive show" by pushing another IA button? Or was it the next button pushed would not work until the current "show" ends?

It depends upon how you have your show set up, but generally speaking, if a musical sequence is triggered, any currently playing musical sequence will be immediately stopped, and the triggered sequence then started.

The exception is if you have both the playing sequence and the triggered sequence in the same interactive group, and that interactive group is a "jukebox" interactive group. In that case, the trigger will be ignored, and the playing sequence will just continue playing.

Please see the following help file page for more details:

http://lightorama.com/help/index.html?interactive_groups.htm

[chipwdw]

thanks for all the ideas and thoughts. i will see where this whole thing goes.

[KenL_MCSE]

one more idea....

As a guitar player I play with recorded music all the time. You could re-record the background music of the choir to start with a metrone to cout the start.

Any musician can play note for note with the background music, the singers will be able to work with the background music and you can sequence to the background knowing all along how the voice portion will sound...

Good luck - Can't wait to see the video!

[Robert G.]

The choir sounds like a really creative idea. Would love to see how it works out if you follow through with it!

[chipwdw]

just a quick update......

1. choir is still very interested but they are waiting to find out if they will be preforming at Chandlelight @ EPCOT again this year. then have to find a date for them. i am planning on moving show computer outside next to the chior director, and will have sound turned down pretty low and a speaker near the 2 of us utillizing FM transmitter that is already running, may have him have use an earpiece. i think that will actually be easiset to cordinate the light show and the choir.

2. got permission from HOA president ( hate that i have to do that, but thats another topic).

3. after date is set i have to (after talking with HOA) make sure i let neighbors know and then figure out traffic and parking details. it will help that i know the local police pretty well (and yes .... i am on friendly terms with them)

so still lots to do and plan, plus getting a few new songs done for them. if the show gets going i will let you all know. thanks for all the advise and ideas

chip

[chipwdw]

ok here it goes. i am officially having the chior sing live. still have 1 or 2 songs to finish up, and get the final set up figured out. but the chior and i are starting to give the press releases out. so wish us luck, the HOA is all for it and helping promote the event!

Dec. 17 7:00pm & 8:30pm, in Plant City, FL (Tampa area) in case anyone is in the area and would like the official info sent me a p.m. and i can send the flyer.

[jimswinder]

chipwdw wrote:

ok here it goes. i am officially having the chior sing live. still have 1 or 2 songs to finish up, and get the final set up figured out. but the chior and i are starting to give the press releases out. so wish us luck, the HOA is all for it and helping promote the event!

Dec. 17 7:00pm & 8:30pm, in Plant City, FL (Tampa area) in case anyone is in the area and would like the official info sent me a p.m. and i can send the flyer.

Good Luck!! I was hoping to do it also..but just ran out of time...bvery interested in how it turns out and can't wait to see some video!!!

[chipwdw]

ok, well had the concert tonight. weather was great, choir had 18-19 members show up. first show at little over 100 people watching and the second show about 50., went great. ended up with permission from city to close street down during show and had police there to help out (for a small fee of course). overall it was great and hoping to do again next year. hoping to find video, my aunt was going to tape the show but got stuck in traffic (not from us, accidents on highway) and then her camera battery died right as the second show was starting. could stop at that point, the choir was walking out of the house already!!! think i saw someone else with a camera, so hopefully i can get a video. lots of work, ended up getting the computer on the driveway next to the choir director and running the show from the sequence editor. worked great so i could control music volume right there. i will post pic/video if i get some.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

chip