Fall/Holiday 2024 Session

We will follow CDC guidance regarding COVID mitigation measures

New Members

The Fun Times Singers choir is open to any adult who has the desire to sing. We do not have auditions for membership but our director will want to listen to you sing to place you in the correct section.

To help preserve the musicality of our peformances, we ask that new members only register to sing in the sections that are appropriate for their vocal range.

Registration is held open for the first four rehearsals of a session, however due to limited space on our risers we may have to cap the membership.

For the 2024 Fall/Holiday Session we will be using the following membership caps:

Each year has 3 Seasons:

Spring: January - April 
Summer: May - August
Fall/Holiday: September - December

When

The Fall/Holiday 2024 session begins August 21.
We rehearse on Wednesday nights.
Our rehearsals are normally from 7:15PM to 9:30PM, but we ask that new members arrive at 7PM for the first rehearsal.

Enrollment in the session is open for the first 4 rehearsals.

We will be doing two performances for the Fall/Holiday 2024 session: Saturday evening, December 7th and Sunday afternoon, December 8th. The Fall/Holiday 2024 concert will be performed at Congregation Shir Hadash, Los Gatos.

Where

We rehearse in San Jose at:
Good Samaritan Episcopal Church
Halstead Hall
15040 Union Ave, San Jose, CA 95124
Get Map

What to Bring

 

Rehearsal Conduct

Cost

The registration fee is $60.00 each session. This covers the cost of music, practice CDs and other expenses of the organization. This fee only partially covers the operating cost of a session. The remainder of the cost is covered by the revenue from our concerts, so performing in the concert and selling tickets to the concert are parts of each member's commitment when joining. Any uniforms or outfits for concerts are the financial responsibility of the member. Partial scholarships are available to those in need. Contact our membership director for more information.

We have the following fee structure:

$60 = General Membership for one session (includes everything it always did: sheet music, director and accompanist, rehearsal rental space, etc.)
$75 = Extra Generous Membership (if this is an amount that you can comfortably swing, it would help us immensely).
$$ = Additional Donation - Any amount over and above the minimum $60 would be gratefully accepted.

Fun Times Singers has been such a huge part of so many our lives and has brought us joy, friendship and music for decades! If you are able to make a donation now to help us meet our budget, it would really help. Of course, we are a 501(c)(3) organization so all donations are tax deductible!

If you have difficulty with the fees, please discuss this with the FTS president. For membership questions use the website Contact Us page to send email to the membership director.

Theme

For each concert, we try and have a theme for the music. The Fall/Holiday 2024 theme is "amid the falling snow".

Required Skills

There are no auditions required to join the chorus; just a love of music and singing. The director (or a group of section leaders) may ask you to do some scales to place you in the correct section (Bass, Tenor, Alto, or Soprano).

Want to check us out?

Visitors are welcome to sit in on a rehearsal or two to get a feel for the music genre, director style, and group dynamics. However, due to logistical and musical reasons, the Fun Times Singers cannot accommodate the participation of non-members in our rehearsals. Members may from time to time bring visiting guests to rehearsal to share the evening except during our technical week just prior to our performance.

Equipment

The FTS makes use of various tools for practice and communication. We put our music on CDs so that members can practice at home, so it is useful to have access to a CD player that can handle "home-made" CDs. Most CD players sold now can handle these files. Also, we use E-mail and the FTS website to communicate information to the membership. So the following equipment is useful to fully participate in the FTS experience:

Performance Attire

We wear different attire for the different concerts, but we try and choose something that you would already have in your closet, or would be easy to acquire.

Special Performances

In addition to choral selections during the concerts, there are "specials" - solos and small ensembles. These featured selections do require an audition. If you are interested in performing in these advanced ensembles, please review our Specials Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document.

Auditions for soloists and small ensembles are done around the middle of the session at a Wednesday rehearsal. There are usually 4-6 slots available in the concert program for ensemble performances and the members of the chorus vote to determine which of the auditioning groups will fill the available slots.

Commitment Asked of Chorus Members

We ask that members commit to regular attendance at rehearsals and concerts. Choral singing is a group activity and we need to work as a group to learn our parts, rhythms, and other nuances of the music. We ask for quiet attentiveness during rehearsals to optimize learning (we have a break for socializing each rehearsal). We ask that members be willing to sign up to perform a small task in support of our concerts or our program so that no members feel overburdened by the behind-the-scenes work of the chorus.

The Fun Times Singers hold fundraisers during the year to help offset the expenses incurred by the group. Members are expected to participate in various ways to make these activities successful. An important way to contribute is for members to sell tickets to our concerts to friends and coworkers. We depend on concert revenues to pay for the expenses of the session and to keep our membershp dues low.

Any Other Questions Before Giving Us a Try

Contact the FTS president