Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to the Queen’s Choral and Singing Society (QCaSS) webpage! We are a platform for students to start and run singing groups within the student’s union and we currently host a number of singing groups ranging from choral to contemporary. QCaSS hosts a range of social events to enjoy, such as pub quizzes and karaoke nights, with unforgettable performance opportunities throughout the year. Currently our largest ensemble is the Queen’s Quarter Choir, a (mostly) full a cappella SATB choir open to singers of all abilities with no audition required. The Queen’s Quarter Choir meets at 7pm Monday evenings and rehearses for 2 hours, where we build repertoire for performances that raise money for charity, Wintertime carolling on the streets of Belfast, and other events that come our way throughout the year. We also run a group lovingly dubbed the “Micro Choir”, which is an audition-only 8-piece close harmony SSAATTBB ensemble; auditions for this group will be held in the coming month or two and rehearsals will be tailored around those involved. Finally, we’re looking to start a couple of more contemporary groups for higher voices and one for lower voices, where singers can come sing anything from the Andrews Sisters, to Mumford and Sons, to ABBA; weekly meetup dates TBC.

If your typical SATB choir isn’t your thing, QCaSS is a great place to be if you have your own ideas for singing groups. It could be a Jazz band, Barbershop, or any other musical style, however formal or informal. We can provide meeting spaces and performance opportunities for any group throughout the year, and we’d love to hear more people bringing forward music that’s close to their hearts and help make Queen’s a more musical place to be.

If you are interested in getting involved with the society or just wish to find out more please do get in touch with us. You can email us at choralandsinging@qub.ac.uk to sign up or find us on Facebook at Queen’s Choral and Singing Society - Queen’s University Belfast. Membership is £3, however you’re welcome to come and give a rehearsal a try before committing to an annual membership, but do make sure you get in touch in advance so we can ensure proper social distancing measures.

Events

In the 2019/2020 academic year, we held a number of events such as: pub crawls, a lounge night with Mario Kart Tournament and prizes (including a Sony HiFi Speaker System), casual karaoke nights, some charitable Wintertime carolling, and we featured at the Sing for Life Annual Christmas Concert!

Our socials are a great way to meet members of the society in a chill setting; the great thing about socialising within a society is that you already know that you’re going to have something in common with everyone there, and it’s a great conversation starter. 

We try to keep our socials interesting, with themes to our pub crawls with costumes and competitions; notably we’ve hosted a pub crawl at Hallowe’en with challenges and prizes throughout the night, and a “Beat-the-Committee” challenge night where our members were put into teams and scored points with photo opportunities, fun singing challenges, and other silly shenanigans.

Sometimes, though, games nights and challenge nights can be a bit much, and all you need is a good old-fashioned karaoke night in the Speakeasy where you can come see your friends, have a drink if you’d like, and bash out some of your favourite classics and showtunes on the big screen with the members of QCaSS cheering you on.

In December 2019, we were delighted to take part in the Sing for Life Choir’s Annual Christmas Concert, where we helped to raise money for Cancer Focus NI. We’ve also raised money for the Welcome Organisation and Crysis, two homelessness charities with the former based here in Northern Ireland, by hitting the streets and singing carols, including an awesome opportunity to sing under the big sparkly tree in Victoria Square. Though we may be a little slow to perform this year due to COVID, we hope to perform a Spring Concert showcasing all of our talent this coming year. At the very least, though, we’ll be getting together to enjoy making music every week.

Elections

Elections for the society are held at the end of every academic year to establish a new committee responsible for managing the society.