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
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).
SCHEDULE SUMMARY
Please add the dates/times to your Calendar:
MELBOURNE - ON CAMPUS
SEE SCHEDULE BELOW
Zoom sessions
These were recorded in semester 1 and can be viewed via the RESOURCES menu.
Other rehearsals
Combined rehearsals
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):
- Tues July 23, Orientation Day, 12PM, Urban Theatre (bldg 421-G)
- Sat July 27, Flinders Fringe Winter Warmer, 10am-12:30pm, St John's Anglican Church, 23 King Street, Flinders 3929 Vic
- Sat Aug 10, 1-4PM, Melbourne campus (exact location TBA)
- OPEN DAY: Sun, Aug 11, 1PM, Urban Theatre (building 421, ground floor)
- Sat Aug 17, 1-4PM, Recital Hall, Melbourne Campus
- Fri Aug 23, 6-9PM, Cathedral Hall ,Melbourne campus
If you are based elsewhere, you have the option of coming to one of the performances to participate! Additional performances in Canberra and Sydney are in planning for 2025.
Note: On-campus rehearsals are also being considered for Ballarat. Details will be shared as soon as possible. In the meantime, the online Zoom option is available to those on other campuses.
COMMUNITY CHOIR OPTIONS
The Melbourne Justice Choir, directed by ACU's Dr Kathleen McGuire (a co-creator of the music), is rehearsing on Saturday mornings approx. semi-monthly, alternating between Brunswick West (inner northern suburb of Melbourne) and Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula. You are most welcome to join in. This group is a more formal choir, using sheet music and learning all of the movements. This is an established group of about 30 singers, many of whom have sung STREET REQUIEM on many occasions.
If you wish to join the external choir, you will need to register separately here: https://streetrequiem2024.teamapp.com
CAN I PLAY AN INSTRUMENT IN THIS PROJECT? YES! There are opportunities for instrumentalists to play to accompany the choir. The accompaniment is scored for a chamber orchestra with traditional strings, woodwind, brass and percussions, plus there are opportunities for other instruments including:
- Piano (in performance AND we need rehearsal accompanists)
- African drums / percussion (e.g., djembe, dun dun, shekere)
- Tin whistle / recorder
- Acoustic guitar
- Bass guitar
- Drum kit
- Bodhrán (Irish drum)
- Harp
- 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.
CAN I AUDITION FOR A VOCAL SOLO? Yes! If you have solo vocal skills, let us know. Auditions were held mid-year, but there could still be some availability.
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. In addition to the live and online rehearsals, there will also be combined rehearsals after Semester 1 with other choirs and the instrumentalists.
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 Release Time. 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 will culminate in performances of STREET REQUIEM, featuring massed choirs, vocal soloists, and orchestras comprising ACU musicians and school students.
PERFORMANCES
Ballarat: Saturday 24 August, 4PM, St Patrick's College
Melbourne: Sunday 25 August, 3PM, St Patrick's Cathedral