Participation in the choir as a general chorister is open to all singers, regardless of background or experience. All are welcome!

Choir members should register, so that they receive all required information about choir activities. Registration is $20.00 yearly. Depending on the season's repertory, on choir budgeting, and also depending on music already owned by the chorister, there may be some further costs for purchasing musical scores.Regular Choir rehearsals are held Saturdays between 11:00 A.M. and 1:00 P.M. at McISAAC school music room. Sectional rehearsals (optional) are usually held Friday evenings for periods of approximately 45 minutes per section.

Extra rehearsals may be scheduled in the weeks immediately preceding the performance, in the case of musical theater, which is usually the most labor intensive sort of performance, the last week before a performance usually involves being available for rehearsals almost every night.

Many choir members have said that, over time, our choir gets to feel almost like a family. Developing this image a little, rehearsals are the choir's "family time", a time not just to work on pieces but also to have fun, get to know each other, and enjoy the process.There are no formal rules governing rehearsal attendance, and great reliance is placed on the individual chorister's discretion and on their willingness to get specific advice, if necessary, from the choir director on this issue.

While perfect attendance is encouraged, our experience has been that even fairly devoted choristers will have to miss several rehearsals over the course of a Choir season. This seems to be a fact of life, particularly in our north country, when people have to schedule in trips from time to time. However, our experience has also shown that, in a large group, it is possible to rely to some degree on the knowledge of other fellow choristers, and that this enables our group to continue to advance in learning new pieces, even if some proportion of the choir happens to be missing. Nevertheless, it will always be important for those missing rehearsals to work especially hard to take advantage of alternate means of learning the piece, either by working directly from the score, with rehearsal tapes, or at sectional rehearsals.

The number of rehearsals that may be safely missed by a chorister will depend upon the type of musical work then being undertaken by the choir, and by the skill level of the singer. As a general principle, the less experienced the singer, and the more complicated the work, the more important it will be to keep absences down to an absolute minimum. Specific direction should be sought from the director if long absences are foreseen. Other factors that may come into play include the timing of the rehearsal and the specific role of the singer, particularly if a solo role is involved. The closer to show time, and the larger the part, the more important it will be to attend.