By Greg Ellison

Group holds weekly  meetings online for members to tune up

(Sept. 3, 2020) Looking to maintain their musical edge as covid-19 health restrictions limit social interactions, the Delmarva Chorus has adapted to a virtual format for weekly practice sessions.

Delmarva Chorus Director Carol Ludwig said the 20-some member volunteer ensemble has been holding Zoom meetings since April.

“We had a retreat with a vocal coach scheduled on March 13 and that was the day everything got shut down,” she said.

Since that time, the chorus received guidance from Sweet Adelines International, a nonprofit that sponsors women’s choruses around the world.

“Our international organization stepped up and we got all kinds of instructions on how to use Zoom,” she said. “It was unbelievable how the professional music educators … made YouTube videos and sent us links.”

Ludwig said the switch to online sessions involved a learning curve for some members.

“It probably took us three sessions before everybody could get on,” she said. “I had to do one-on-ones with some people to teach them.”

Ludwig, who was instrumental in founding the Delmarva Chorus in 2003, said the initial challenge with conducting online meetings was assuring no one spoke out of turn.

“On Zoom you can only have one voice at a time,” she said. “The loudest one is the one who wins.”

In short order, Ludwig discovered, “The best thing for a host of a bunch of talented social-type women is the ‘mute all’ button.”

Ludwig said online practice sessions typically open and close with a social element.

“At the beginning and the end, I leave it open for everybody,” she said. “If somebody wants to tell a story, I mute myself so they can have their time.”

In addition to convening online, chorus members have been given home assignments.

“When you sing a cappella, every voice has to work with the other voices,” she said.

In that vein, vocal baking tracks have been provided to individual members.

“There has to be one in each part so you have a minimum of four people in order to make barbershop music,” she said. “That’s why these tracks are so helpful to us, because it gives them somebody to sing along with.”

Regardless of the altered approach, the Delmarva Chorus has maintained close contact.

“We’re a very social group,” she said. “You have to like being around people in order to survive in an a cappella chorus.”

Ludwig said the prolonged holding pattern the chorus has endured has not dampened members’ enthusiasm.

“I sweat every week because you’re working your butt off trying to get everybody involved,” she said. “They really enjoy it and it’s good for me too.”