About Us
The ACU Melbourne Choir is available to students, staff, alumni, affiliates, and community members. If you enjoy singing, you’re invited to enrich our University fabric and lift spirits through our ACU Choirs: another way to Connect, Create, Celebrate and Find Your Voice at ACU. If you are not based in Melbourne, you can join the ACU National Choirs group via this website: https://aculife.acu.edu.au/Choir/
2024: BIG SING for a BIG CAUSE
Performances in AUGUST in Ballarat and Melbourne (+ livestream). Tickets available here via HUMANTIX.com
Sing with ACU students, staff and others in a low-pressure atmosphere. No auditions or experience needed -- just bring your enthusiasm. Rehearsal tracks can be accessed online so you can practise at home between rehearsals. The music is easy, fun and inspirational.
MELBOURNE REHEARSALS
When: We are preparing for a concert at the end of August. Details coming soon for sem2 rehearsals.
Where: Melbourne campus
Address: 115B Victoria Parade, Fitzroy
Register (Melbourne): https://aculife.acu.edu.au/MelbourneChoir/club_signup.
If you're NOT based in/near Melbourne, visit the ACU National Choirs website: https://aculife.acu.edu.au/Choir/
Each individual rehearsal is listed in ACU Life as an "event" (then scroll down to read details in the Event).
Zoom sessions
These were recorded in semester 1 and can be viewed via the RESOURCES menu.
Other rehearsals coming up...
See EVENT
Performance dates, 2024
Ballarat - Sat 24 August, 4PM, St Patrick's College
Melbourne - Sun 25 August, 3PM, St Patrick's Cathedral
Dress rehearsal: Sat 24 Aug, 9am-12pm, St Patrick's Cathedral
Combined rehearsals (ACU Melbourne):
- Sat Aug 10, 1-4PM, Melbourne campus (exact location TBA)
- OPEN DAY: Sun, Aug 11, 1PM, Urban Theatre (building 421, ground floor, cnr Victoria Pde and Napier St)
- Sat Aug 17, 1-4PM, Recital Hall, Melbourne Campus
- Fri Aug 23, 6-9PM, Cathedral Hall ,Melbourne campus
COMMUNITY CHOIR OPTION
If you wish to join an external choir that is participating, you will need to register separately here: https://streetrequiem2024.teamapp.com
CAN I PLAY AN INSTRUMENT IN THIS PROJECT? YES! We need the following instruments:
- Orchestral strings: Violin, Viola, Cello
- Drum kit (with the ability to read music or learn quickly by listening to a recording)
- African drums / percussion (e.g., djembe, dun dun, shekere, agogo bells)
- Tin whistle
- Acoustic guitar (easy parts!)
- Bodhrán (Irish drum)
- Yidaki (didgeridoo)
Please LET US KNOW if you are interested in playing an instrument. There are also options to sing with the choir on some movements and play instruments in others.
WHAT COMMITMENT IS REQUIRED? We ask that you attend most rehearsals (missing a few here and there is okay). Basically it's up to you to be "performance ready" by August 24.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT / SERVICE: Students involved in the Big Sing will be able to apply for Community Engagement hours for units. Staff can apply for Community Engagement Time Release. If you have skills you wish to offer beyond performing, please let us know ASAP.
ABOUT THE 'BIG CAUSE'
The “Cause” is homelessness and insecure housing. We will help support and perform alongside people who are experiencing or at risk of homelessness. We will advocate and raise funds to support the urgent needs of ACU students, as well as contributing to service agencies/organisations in the wider community.
This quote explains further: “Instead of focusing on safety for our unhoused neighbours, the misperception that people without homes are perpetrators, rather than victims, of violence contributes to both criminalising homelessness and dehumanising people without housing.” (Kushel, 2022).
RELEVANCE: Census data (2021) revealed that 122,494 Australians are experiencing homelessness – an increase of 5.2% since 2016. “The average monthly number of people using homelessness services increased by 8% in the four years prior to to 2021-22. That's double the population growth rate over that period” [UNSW, 2022]. In Queensland, authorities noted the housing crisis and increases in homelessness (29% increase since Covid and 22% worse in 2023 than the rest of the nation) since the pandemic and in reaction to current economic and environment crises (Pengilley, V., 2022 and Ruddick et al., 2023).
ABOUT THE 'BIG SING'
THE MUSIC: “STREET REQUIEM – for those who have died on the street”, by Dr Kathleen McGuire (ACU), Andy Payne and Jonathon Welch AM, is a uplifting, multi-movement, contemporary cantata for community choir, vocal soloists and orchestra. Intentionally inclusive, it opens with an Acknowledgement of Country to recognise local Indigenous groups, then a Dedication sung in Persian or Arabic, evoking an Islamic call-to-prayer. World Music is included, such as Khoza and Zulu language, and Celtic folk music. The traditional Latin text is minimised, set alongside contemporary themes in English. The music incorporates a range of styles, from chant to popular idioms.
Since the world premiere at Melbourne Recital Centre (June 2014), STREET REQUIEM has been performed more than 30 times in several countries, receiving international acclaim. The most recent performance (Mornington Peninsula, 21 Oct 2023) raised $21,000 for direct services for homeless people.
The ACU BIG SING project in 2024 culminates in August in performances of STREET REQUIEM, featuring massed choirs, vocal soloists, and orchestras comprising ACU musicians, school students and others from the wider community. We expect about 150 performers in total.
PERFORMANCES
Ballarat: Saturday 24 August, 4PM, St Patrick's College
Melbourne: Sunday 25 August, 3PM, St Patrick's Cathedral (+ livestream)
