The choir rehearses at Grays Road Institute in Stockton on most Monday evenings from 7:30 until 9:30. Please use the links below for maps:

Multimap

Stockton Borough Council

The full postal address is: Grays Road Institute, The Institute, Grays Road, Stockton-on-Tees, TS18 4LN. It forms the 4th edge of the square between the A1027 (Oxbridge Avenue/Bishopton Avenue), Bishopton Road, and Grangefield Road.

Rehearsals are lively and lighthearted, although the choir does have to work hard to ensure everything is ready for each concert.Our repertoire is drawn from all areas of music - classical to show tunes, religious music and humorous songs. Although we include many of the well know male voice standards. we often perform other pieces arranged by members of our own choir.

We use sheet music for the majority of our programme, although the ability to read music is not necessary for members. We do not hold any auditions for new members and will fit you into the section we believe you are best suited to as quickly and smoothly as possible. Each section has members who will welcome you and guide you through the pieces providing you with as much assistance as you feel that you need. They will help you learn to read music if you wish and also provide advice with helping to improve your singing technique. Although practice, practice and more practice is always the best way to learn.

The Hon Secretary and the Musical Director have started to provide rehearsal CD's to help new members of the choir learn existing pieces and also all members to learn new pieces. These are available upon request and provide an excellent tool if you do not have a keyboard available at home to practice with. The choir and the Musical Director will assist with any other queries that you have and there is no such thing as a silly question in music!

The choir generally performs in dinner suits at each concert, but please don't let this put you off. A dark suit is more than acceptable, as is just a white shirt and dark trousers, however we do find that members soon want to get the full outfit. We provide choir standard bow-ties and folders to keep your music in.

There is a small fee for membership of the choir, with reductions for senior citizens and special circumstances. This is payable monthly or annually, with your first month free to give you a chance to try us out.

Click here to read about John Frankland's experiences joining the SMVC.

If you would like more details, please contact us via the enquiries page or come along to a rehearsal.