pop choir rehearsals?

Anyone ever joined the pop choir? I wanted to know when they rehearse. How often and for how long?

Recently on a 1 week cruise on Ruby we practised an hour at a time and only when we were at sea. Out of 6 days we practised on 5 of them. The time depended according to when we were at sea! :)

They often do the rehearsals in the Conference Room. :)

Last fall on a ten day Mexico cruise I think we had 5 practices. They were all on sea days and lasted roughly one hour each. Lots of fun.

Last fall on a ten day Mexico cruise I think we had 5 practices. They were all on sea days and lasted roughly one hour each. Lots of fun.

On our recent Royal cruise to the British Isles, we only had two sea days but we still had Pop Choir--I think we practiced about three times--all on the sea days followed by a performance in the late afternoon in the Piazza. We practice in the wedding chapel, usually for an hour. It's great fun. We sang music from the Sound of Music on our July cruise.

Just got off the Golden on the 20th and we rehearsed every sea day and short day...mostly in the chapel but once in the Wheelhouse (that was fun!?!) performance was on the last sea day in the piazza. they even did a video for the participants :)

Great fun and I will do it again :)

Usually one hour long and every sea day or half sea day. It can be in the morning or afternoon and does conflict with some other activities. You have to choose. Some choir directors a skilled and very good, some not so good. Some work on harmonies and arrangements, especially on longer voyages, some just have everyone sing melody. John, the CD/Dep.CD last year on the Star was exceptional.

Try it out if you don't like it just don't show up.

Hope they don't quit doing "Sweet Caroline"! :)

LuLu

Thanks! I am looking forward to a great time. I will be on the Coral Princess from October 28th till November 8th. (Panama Canal)

DW sang in the Pop Choir a couple years ago on Crown Princess, I recall they practiced at least 2 or 3 times prior, they met in one of the conference rooms. The cruise was during Christmas; the choir performed holiday songs on Christmas Eve, IIRC. :) She's hoping that they'll have the Pop Choir again this year on our upcoming cruise.

How do they choose? Do you volunteer or are there auditions?

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Pop choir is a volunteer singing event....did this on the Island Princess last winter on Panama Canal cruise, having practice every sea day in the Wheelhouse Lounge and performing in the atrium on the last sea day/ last day of the cruise....LOTS OF FUN if you enjoy singing....we did variety of tunes, INCLUDING "Sweet Caroline"...

How do they choose? Do you volunteer or are there auditions?

 

Show up and you are in. No auditions, no qualifications. You do need to attend the practices. They don't have Pop Choir on every cruise, normally cruises that have a number of sea days.

And one who let's say enjoys singing in the car with the radio would feel comfortable joining the group? I love to sing, but am not particularly talented... but also not shy about singing. I hope to join (and feel comfortable) on our Panama Canal cruise on the Island in Feb.

Do they do it for Alaska? Sounds fun, but don't want to miss the scenery.

I have done Pop Choir on several Alaska cruises (but YMMV of course), as well as a couple other cruises. Rehearsals are held only on sea or short port days, as stated previously, so usually you are just "at sea" during rehearsals and there is not "scenery" to look at (or miss). I have seen kids as young as five or so, and octogenarians, as well as those with walkers, participate - so no need to be a talented singer or even really mobile - just enthusiastic about singing! You are given only words, not music, for the pieces, so no need to be able to read music. You are allowed to hold the "music" (sheets with lyrics) during the performance, so no worries about memorization. In general, the songs are ones that many folks will pretty much know already. The director plays the songs (via downloaded MP3s) for you to learn by, but each director has a different emphasis. One I experienced liked to add dance moves and broke us into several singing parts. Another was into solos (volunteer only!) and added some non-Princess-approved songs to the repertoire. As stated previously, the directors are all different in how they approach it. It also depends on how many folks turn out for Pop Choir, as to what can be done. It is usually quite fun. I now always try to bring a white top and black "bottoms" along on a Princess cruise, as that has seemed to be the preferred performance outfit (white on top, black on the bottom - can be shorts/crops/leggings/slacks/skirt, navy blue - whatever - it's all about having fun.) One time, the men got together and all came up with white dress shirts and plaid ties. One time, we choristers were treated to champagne afterwards to celebrate our performance! I say, give it a go!

That sounds perfect! Thanks for the information and reassurance... I look forward to participating!

So you're not divided into soprano, alto, etc? I sing melody, but can't follow harmony.

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So you're not divided into soprano, alto, etc? I sing melody, but can't follow harmony.

Yes, the leader normally separates the women into soprano & alto. Men get the bass. Some leaders just have everyone sing the melody with parts for men and women, and those that can sing some harmony sing it. Other leaders are much better at choir and singing and spend time teaching parts and arrangements. John, the CD on the Star last winter, was the best I have seen. He had us separated into soprano, alto, tenor and bass, and was able to just sing all the parts in demonstration. We also had lots of practice with all the sea days to & from Hawaii.

I was in the pop choir on our last cruise two months ago, a 20 day Caribbean (two 10-day B2B) on Royal Princess. Because of all the port days, we only got to practice about three or four times on each 10-day and did songs from Sound of Music. Our choir director was just wonderful, holding a degree in opera singing, and had fun singing long with us on a couple of songs. Let's just say that I'm not known for my singing voice but I just sang softly and there were plenty of others who belted out the songs so I felt just fine and had a great time in the choir on both legs of the cruise. There were way more women than men both times but I have no idea if that's typical.