Deadline extended to January 10, 2022.
Big Soul Project (BSP) Community Choir is Ottawa’s largest community choir, whose more than 100 members share songs of hope, love, and peace to promote a sense of joy and empowerment. Our motto, “Lifting you Higher”, applies to both choir members and audiences who feel lifted spiritually and emotionally by our fresh, upbeat brand of choral music with roots in R&B, Gospel, Soul, Rock, Pop, and Folk music.
BSP is a secular, diversified and non-audition choir. It is managed by a strong Board of Directors and has newly revised bylaws as well as a Code of Respect. To help ensure a solid future for itself, BSP recently became a federal not-for-profit corporation and is in the process of becoming a charitable organization.
Established in 1997, BSP fuses the vocal energy of a large choir with the smooth sound of its talented house band, Deep Groove (keyboard, bass, guitar, and drums). Our incredible on-stage energy and enthusiasm often have audiences singing and dancing. We work with invited musicians and singers at times, and often our own choristers are soloists as well. In recent years we have offered full house Christmas concerts at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre, and we hope to continue this holiday tradition. During the year, we offer other concerts, which are typically tied to charities for whom our concerts are fundraising events.
Big Soul Project offers competitive annual remuneration, paid monthly, covering rehearsal and preparation time. Additional remuneration is provided for concerts, small gigs and extra rehearsals. Remuneration will be on a sliding scale based on qualifications and experience.
In this unique opportunity you would lead the choir and band on the next stage of its musical journey. You would be joining a strong, well-organized team and loving community. Our enthusiastic, non-audition choir is hardworking and mutually supportive. Our band members are amazingly talented individuals who significantly contribute to the sound as a whole. Our board and volunteers take care of administration and concert production details. You would bring a new creative vision, along with your musical coaching and leadership. Personal suitability and interpersonal skills are very important to Big Soul Project and will be assessed through the interview process and reference checks.
Duties
- Plan and select music for weekly rehearsals and create set lists for upcoming performances
- Arrange musical selections that are appropriate for the choir’s abilities
- Provide guidance to the band for their parts
- Lead weekly rehearsals with the full choir and band on Monday nights (set up from 6:00 to 6:30; volunteer-led sectionals from 6:30 – 7:00; rehearsal from 7:00 – 9:00 with a short break)
- Be available for concerts (typically 3 or 4 times a year) and small gigs (typically 1 or 2 times a year). Dates will be confirmed several months in advance by the Musical Director, the band, and the Board
- Provide coaching in sectionals
- Audition and select soloists from the choir and provide coaching to soloists at your and the soloists’ convenience
- Interview and select band members if needed
- Arrange band rehearsals as needed; sectional time can be used for it
- Provide lyrics and notes for the choir members. Provide recorded practice tracks. While our music librarian creates sheet music, choir members are not required to read music although some do.
- Be able to attend Board meetings (2nd Wednesday evening of each month except July) at the discretion of the chair/co-chairs
Qualifications and Assets
- Bachelor’s degree in music
- Being and remaining up to date on COVID-19 vaccination requirements necessary to work as a professional musician
- Functional keyboard accompaniment skills
- Ability to provide vocal instruction
- Experience leading a choir
- Experience with concert programming and repertoire selection in a variety of styles
- Experience arranging music for choirs and small bands
- Experience in directing and communicating with the musicians/band (guitar, bass, keyboard, drums, etc.), including chord progression, band arrangement, sound production etc.
Next steps
If interested, please send your resume and a cover letter addressing the above qualifications, assets and duties and any other information you deem relevant to Nancy Bergeron, nbergeron.bsp@gmail.com, by December 22th. A pre-selection will be made, followed by interviews, reference checks and paid auditions.
Please peruse our website (https://www.bigsoulproject.com) as well as our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/bigsoulproject) in order to acquaint yourself with BSP.
Please send your questions to nbergeron.bsp@gmail.com.
Download this job poster as a PDF.