3 Valleys Gospel Choir is looking for a new Musical Director
Who are we?
We are a non-auditioned Community Gospel Choir (currently around 60 active members) based in Todmorden on the border of West Yorkshire and Lancashire. We aim to provide inclusive, safe, welcoming and accessible singing opportunities for people of all abilities and beliefs in the local community.
We meet on a Monday evening from 7.30pm to 9.30pm and perform at a handful of concerts and other events each year, organised by ourselves and others. Many are fundraisers for local community groups and venues and other causes we feel are important. We aim to promote good community spirit and support the wellbeing of members through the enjoyment of singing gospel and spirituals, world music, soul classics and a few pop songs. We usually sing acapella in 4 parts but have a small repertoire of piano-accompanied songs (and an excellent accompanist).
Our choir values are simple but really important to us. We believe:
• everyone can sing
• singing should be fun
• we should feel blessed and be a blessing to others
• we should support and encourage each other to be as good as we can be as singers
Also (an unofficial one) is that you can never underestimate the importance of tea and cake!
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for an MD with good vocal and musical skills, used to working with singers of varying musical ability, who can maintain and build on the current balance of our repertoire. Gospel experience would be useful but not vital. An interest in it and willingness to learn more about it is important though, as we are a gospel choir!
We need someone who will work with our ethos and who is prepared to work with humour. We sing for pleasure but we want someone who will work with us to be the best we can be.
For further details please see the ‘Who we are looking for’ document on our website.
What can we offer?
We can pay fees of around £35 per hour. For each rehearsal of 2 hours we also pay an hour’s preparation. We currently also pay for a day’s preparation and development work each month. We can discuss fees for concerts and events. Current rates depend on the length and complexity of the event.
The MD is engaged by the choir on a self-employed basis and is therefore expected to account for their own income tax, VAT and National Insurance contributions, etc.
When do we need the new MD to start?
The new MD would ideally need to be available to take over from September 2023. Because we take a break in the summer we need to move quickly, so are we asking for applications by Monday 26 June.
We are hoping that shortlisted applicants will come along to one of our end of term rehearsals (ideally on Monday 10 July), to lead a session and see how we work together.
To find out more and apply:
To find out more please visit our website or our Facebook page:
www.3valleysgospelchoir.org.uk
https://www.facebook.com/3ValleysGospelChoir
To apply for the position, please email a copy of your CV, together with a statement of no more than 500 words telling us why you could be the person we are looking for, to info@3valleysgospelchoir.org.uk by Monday 26 June.
Here is the information in PDF for for you to print or download:
The above information here
Also the PDF ‘who we are looking for’ is here