UCMS (University College Music Society) are working hard to continue the music making of the College even though we are not in College to take part in person. Along with running Open Mic Nights via Zoom, we are excited to introduce the Univ Virtual Orchestra!

This new project is open to the whole College community – students, staff, alumni and their families. Our piece will be Ode to Joy, and the aim is to get as many people involved as possible (whatever level of musician you are!). There is currently a OneDrive folder and in there you will find PDFs of parts to download as well as a video of myself conducting the piece. Guidance for recording and uploading can be found below. If you (or a member of your family) happen to play an instrument that currently does not have a part, please get in contact with me and I will be happy to arrange one.

The end goal is to produce a video of the final “performance” that will have been edited so that everyone’s parts are put together to produce a virtual orchestra, where hopefully we will be able to have people’s videos appearing as well.
We would really like this to involve as many members of the college community as possible, whether you haven’t played your instrument for five years or you are a professional musician – so if you’ve been itching to pick up your instrument again then now is your chance!

Guidance to parts
Currently there are parts for all common orchestral instruments, as well as recorder parts. If you happen to play an instrument where there is more than one part available for the instrument, feel free to pick the part that you most like the look of/is best suited to you. For some of the common instruments, I have added an “easy” part (for example easy violin and easy flute) and you are more than welcome to play those too.

If you play more than one instrument or would like to play more than one part for your instrument, feel free to submit more than one recording. If your instrument currently does not have a part, feel free to either pick an appropriate one or email me and I will happily arrange a part for you.

Guidance for recording
In the OneDrive folder you will find a video of me conducting – when you are recording you will need to be able to watch this video at the same time. I suggest that you download the conducting video so that streaming speeds aren’t an issue when recording.

While we would like to produce a final video, and hence video recordings are preferable, if you would rather just record audio that is fine too. If you are recording a video version, please film with your phone/device landscape.

Feel free to have more than one performer in the same video, or feel free to submit multiple videos per household (or person!).

Guidance for uploading
Once you have recorded your performance the next step is to upload it into the OneDrive folder named “Recordings”.

When naming your video/audio file it would be incredibly helpful if the name of the file could be part performed your name, for example, Violin 1 Sarah Chapman. This way it makes the final job of layering tracks significantly easier!

If we could ask for all recordings to be uploaded by 6pm Friday 29 May (5th week) that would be great.

One final note
This project is designed to be a fun adventure to involve the whole College community. If you have any questions, or feedback or suggestions as to how to make this even better then feel free to email Sarah Chapman.

Sarah Chapman (2018, MChem Chemistry)
Co-president UCMS 2020 – 2021

Published: 13 May 2020

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