Stay At Home Choir FAQs

You can join the Stay At Home Choir by signing up for one of our projects. Click here to view all of our projects and look for those marked ‘active’ or ‘upcoming’.

You can keep up to date on what we’re working on by joining our mailing list. Click here to go to our homepage, then scroll down and click ‘Join Newsletter’.

Most of our projects are Pay-As-You-Feel. When you sign up, we’ll ask you if you’d like to make a contribution. If you can make a contribution, this will cover the costs of the project and will also mean we can offer free places to those who need them.

If you can’t make a contribution, we’ll add you to the waiting list and we’ll be in touch if we can offer you a free place.

We’re a very small team and we receive no external funding. Any contribution you can make, large or small, is greatly appreciated by all of us.

You can make a donation to the Stay At Home Choir at any time on our website! Click here to go to our homepage and then click ‘Contribute’ in the top right corner.

Click here to sign up for a project. ‘Active’ means the project has already started, but you may still be able to join! ‘Upcoming’ means the project is coming soon but is open for registration.

You’ll see a date on the project page which says when the ‘learning resources’ will be released. This is when the project officially starts! Our learning resources include the score, learning videos, rehearsal schedule, recording and submissions guide, and any other information you’ll need to take part.

Once the learning resources have been released, you’ll need to log in to the project page to view them. Click ‘Get Started’ then ‘Log In’ and enter your email address. Click ‘Get Instructions’ and then scroll down!

During the project, we’ll also send a weekly email about what’s happening that week. These emails are really important, so let us know if you’re not receiving them by contacting [email protected].

You can take part in as much or as little of the project as you like. There’s no obligation to attend live rehearsals or to submit a recording. We’re here to support you to learn and to sing, and we don’t mind how you choose to do that!

Nope! Everything you need to take part in the project is included in the learning resources.

It’s up to you! Please choose a voice part which fits your vocal range and feels comfortable for you.

Our engineers are adept at balancing parts so please don’t worry about us ‘needing’ more of a certain voice type.

But please stick to only one voice part during your recording – don’t change halfway through!

You’ll have access to all the learning resources for the ‘active’ duration of a project – so from the date learning resources are released to the final deadline for submitting recordings. 

Due to licensing and the agreements we make with our artists, we unfortunately can’t make learning resources available after a project. 

We offer free places to as many people on our waitlist as we can. If you’re on the waitlist, please wait for an email to let you know that you have a place on the project.

We rely on the generosity of our members to sponsor waitlist places, so we can’t guarantee a place will become available for you. If you have any questions, or if there’s something about your circumstances we should know, email us at [email protected].

You can take part in rehearsals by watching live on YouTube or by joining us in the Zoom room.

If you miss a rehearsal, don’t worry! We record our sessions so you can catch up later. We upload the recordings to the project webpage as soon as possible after a session.

You’ll find the links to YouTube livestreams, and the links to the Zoom room registration forms, in the project schedule. Registration for the Zoom rooms opens weekly, on Mondays, at 2pm BST.

Yes, of course! Our sessions are optional, so please don’t worry if you’re not able to attend.

We record our rehearsals and upload them to our website so you can catch up later. You’ll find recordings of previous sessions by logging into the project page and clicking ‘rehearsals’.

If you’d like to join us in a Zoom rehearsal, you’ll need to register for a place. Log into the project and open the project schedule to find the links to register. 

Space in the Zoom rooms is limited. If we can offer you a place, you’ll receive a confirmation email no later than 24 hours before an event. The confirmation email will include information on how to join the Zoom room.

If you can’t attend a Zoom rehearsal and need to cancel your place, open your confirmation email. Scroll down until you see a sentence which reads ‘you can cancel your registration at any time’. Click on the link in the word ‘cancel’ to cancel your place.

If you haven’t received a confirmation email, contact us at [email protected]. We’ll check the status of your registration and give you a direct Zoom link if you need one.

We vary the times of our live sessions from week to week. This is so that as many people as possible can participate, regardless of their timezone, work schedule, or other regular commitments.

Log in to the project page to view the full project schedule.

You can view the project schedule in different timezones by clicking the tabs at the top of the page. You can also convert to your local time with this Time Zone converter: www.thetimezoneconverter.com

Tutti rehearsals: ‘Tutti’ means ‘all’, so these rehearsals are for everyone! 

Sectional rehearsals: Our sectional rehearsals are an opportunity to look at your part in more detail. ‘S&A’ stands for ‘soprano and alto’, the higher voice parts. ‘T&B’ stands for ‘tenor and bass’, the lower voice parts.  

Vocal technique/health forums: These are technique sessions with an industry expert. We’ll ask you to submit your questions in advance via a Google Form in our weekly email.  

Drop-ins: These are informal sessions where you can ask the SAHC team your questions, musical or technical! Ask us about vocal technique, recording, technology issues – anything at all. You can drop in for a few minutes or the whole session.  

Global socials: These are relaxed social sessions where you can spend time with the SAHC team and your fellow members! We’ll answer your questions, chat about the project so far, and play a few games together. 

You’ll find a complete guide in the ‘recordings and submissions’ section of each project. Log in to the project page, scroll down, and click ‘recordings and submissions’. Please read this guide carefully.

You’ll also find instructions at the beginning of each of our learning videos. 

If you have any further questions, please email us at [email protected]. 

If your file appears greyed out and you are unable to select it, try clicking and dragging the file into the submission window.

Our system will re-name your file with the full name you used to sign up to the project.

Not if you don’t want to! Every part of the project is optional, and you can take part however you like.  

If you’re just camera-shy, don’t worry! You can submit an audio-only recording for any project.

To submit an audio recording, click the ‘Submit Video’ button and enter your details into the portal. 

When you reach the ‘Upload File’ page, either drag the audio file into the grey box, or click ‘All Files’ in the bottom right hand side of the pop-up and choose the file you would like to upload.

We receive hundreds of recordings for each piece, so we ask that you only submit a recording for one voice part per piece.

You can wear whatever you like!

There’s no dress code and no obligation to wear our Stay At Home Choir T-shirts and hoodies (although you might want to have a look at our shop if you haven’t already…).

Some of our members like to wear a bright colour so they can find themselves more easily in our videos. But please wear whatever makes you feel comfortable and confident!

Make sure you have a strong internet signal, and try moving your device closer to your WiFi router. It may also help if there aren’t any other devices connected to the internet at the same time.

You might find it easier to upload if your file is smaller. You can compress your file using this website: https://convert-video-online.com

We can accept any file type or size. 

You don’t need to compress your file unless you’re having trouble uploading it.

If you’re submitting a video, please make sure you record it in landscape orientation.

Our portal will take the most recently uploaded file as the one you’d like to submit for the final piece. So if you upload the wrong file or feel like you want to have another go, that’s fine!

Make sure that the last file you upload is the one you want us to use, and we’ll discard everything else. 

Our system can’t currently send confirmation emails. Look out for a ‘congratulations’ message on the website after your file has finished uploading – that means we’ve got it!

We’re a small team and hundreds of singers submit recordings for every project. We strive to release the highest quality videos which truly showcase the talent of our singers and artists, so we take every care during the production process – which can take time! Our projects take around 2-3 months to complete after we’ve received all your submissions.

We provide updates about previous projects by email and social media, so make sure you’ve signed up to our mailing list and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram – @stayathomechoir.

We use a computer program to randomise the submissions and place them in our videos. Our visual editor then checks the ‘grids’ and removes duplicates wherever possible. We don’t always catch them all though, because we’re a small team and we receive hundreds of submissions!

We particularly try to avoid duplicates in the middle of the grid, and we actively fill the ‘faded out’ areas around the edges with people who have already been featured in the middle somewhere, so that no-one ends up hanging off the edge of the screen! It’s a complicated process, and we get better at it with each project.

Although we try to make sure every singer’s face is featured in our videos, we receive hundreds of submissions, and we don’t have the capacity to place everyone by hand. This makes it very tricky to make sure that everyone can see themselves. 

If you can’t find your face in the video but your name is in the credits, then please rest assured that you’re definitely part of the track!

You can see our amazing final performance videos on our YouTube channel. Make sure to subscribe and click the notification bell so you never miss a video!

You can also watch the videos right here on our website. Click here to go to our project page, then click on any project marked ‘past’. 

Our performances aren’t available as digital downloads or on a CD – yet!

Yes! Please email [email protected] with any PR requests, and include ‘PR REQUEST’ in the subject line.

If you haven’t found the answer to your question on this FAQ page or elsewhere on our website, please email us at [email protected].