FAQ

You’ll enjoy it! (and bring joy to others)

It is a wonderful opportunity to meet students and employees from various disciplines of the university. If you are new to the university, you will easily be able to make friends!

You can join in the first rehearsal for each respective project. Projects begin in the first week of the summer semester and the first week if the winter semester.

Yes. The rule is, every member of the chorus or orchestra may miss two rehearsals without an excused absence. Often, it is simply inescapable— everyone gets sick, and sometimes people have an appointment which cannot be rescheduled. However, you will of course be expected to make up the work missed. Members who miss more than the allotted number of rehearsals will be asked to leave permanently unless they personally contact the conductor and explain the specific reason for their absence. In this case, members will be asked to make up all the work and be able to prove they have done so.

In chorus, they will be required to sing in front of the conductor. For the first two missed rehearsals, the members of the chorus do not need to give any special notice; this is only necessary if, due to valid reasons, a third rehearsal must be missed.

In the orchestra, the situation is different. There, an expected absence should be reported by email to the conductor, as an absence may influence the rehearsal plan. The earlier this email is sent, the better. If absolutely necessary, a last-minute email will suffice.

For more information about this subject, you can read the “Attendance in Rehearsal” paragraph in this website’s “About Us” section.

Most people can simply come to the first rehearsal. Welcome!

There are two exceptions:
Everyone who does not study or work at the University of Bremen should contact the conductor by email beforehand.
This also applies to prospective orchestra members who do not play stringed instruments.

In Orchestra: yes.

In orchestra or chorus, we develop and support “soft skills”, such as teamwork, discipline, and creativity. An orchestra or chorus can be seen as a prototype for a large and complex team.

You can pick up sheet music before the respective first rehearsals, in the foyer of the GW1 lecture hall at 7:00 PM. For chorus, the piano accompaniment is for sale. For the orchestra, you may borrow your sheet music. 

No, this is a university course and therefore free. Occasionally, members will be required to pay a fee for the sheet music. However, you may always donate to the Association of University Music.

You should search once more time in the "About Us" and "Rehearsal schedule" sections. If you can’t find anything there either, you should send an email to the conductor.

In the words of Susanne Gl??: "When 80, 100 or even 150 people sing and play their instruments together, I receive the gift of a perfect moment, in which everyone collaborates— together, we could move mountains! In these wonderful moments, on the one hand, I unite fully with my voice or instrument. On the other hand, I sense everyone around me and can feel myself being carried by them. For me, moments like these create a utopia out of our human collectiveness. There are not many places in our society in which a team of this size can work together with such a balance of discipline and creativity.”