Massed choir

Applications are now open for schools to nominate to be part of the massed choir.

Please complete the Pulse Alive 2025 – massed choir nomination form by Monday 23 September (Term 3 Week 10).

To ensure the ongoing viability of the show, the Pulse Alive team introduced some changes to the nomination process for the 2024 event which remain in place for 2025:

• Submission of the online nomination form commits your school to paying the student resource fee ($52 per student), whether or not you end up participating in the event. All schools who apply will be given access to the choreography and choral music resources, as well as provided with a t-shirt for each student who applies. It will not be possible to issue any refunds if students or schools withdraw after the closing date of the online nomination form.
• The t-shirt order will form part of the nomination process – please ascertain your students' t-shirt sizes prior to submitting the nomination form. There may be limited opportunity for size swaps in early 2025 to accommodate changes in the make-up of your participating group.
• To assist in this process, the Permission to publish and participate form for Pulse Alive 2025 is now available – this will enable you to send information out to your students so you can confirm numbers prior to submitting your online nomination form. These forms should be kept on file at your school and not returned to The Arts Unit.

Thank you in advance for your understanding around these changes. They have been put in place to ensure that Pulse Alive is able to continue providing these opportunities for equity and excellence in arts education well into the future.

Dates: See Key dates for more info
Times: 9:30 am to 2:30 pm
Venue: Netball Central – 2 Olympic Boulevard, Sydney Olympic Park

• All schools involved in massed choir must attend a full day preliminary rehearsal during Term 1 Week 6, prior to Pulse Alive 2025.
• As part of the nomination process, schools will be able to preference which cast they are part of and, therefore, which rehearsal they attend.
• Confirmed rehearsal and performance dates will be communicated to schools on acceptance into the show in early Term 4.
• Each school will only be required to participate in one preliminary rehearsal per category they have applied for. 
• Schools are expected to attend their preliminary rehearsal in person.  
• Schools will be required to attend their preliminary rehearsal for the full day. Transport arrangements must be made to ensure schools arrive before the start of the rehearsal and are able to stay all the way through until the end of the rehearsal.
• Provision will be made for schools more than 2 hours travel time from Sydney Olympic Park participating in massed choir to attend preliminary rehearsals virtually if required.

All music for Pulse Alive 2025 will be distributed digitally, along with teaching tracks. These will be made available to schools on Monday 21 October (Term 4 Week 2). 

Primary choirs will perform in unison for all aspects of Pulse Alive 2025.

Secondary choirs will perform in unison for most pieces in Pulse Alive 2025, but an optional SAB arrangement will be made available for a number of pieces for schools that wish to take up that option.

The performance clothes for all massed choir groups will be as follows:

• Silver Pulse Alive t-shirt – this is the show t-shirt that is included within your student resource fee. All shirts for the choir will be silver.
• Long black pants – these will need to be supplied by students and must be full length.
• Black shoes and socks – these will need to be supplied by students.

As with previous years, an optional hoodie will be made available for ordering for students and staff that wish to do so. This information will be distributed in early Term 4.

Due to the complex nature of managing audio in our performance venue, each student in the massed choir will be required to wear an FM radio pack, tuned to a particular frequency, which will provide them with audio foldback. This will enable them to hear the music they are singing and make singing together easier and more enjoyable.

On the day of the performance, Pulse Alive will provide each student in the massed choir with an FM radio pack. Please note, these packs will need to be returned at the end of the performance.

Students will need to supply their own earbud-style earphones (not headphones that sit over the top of students' heads) with a 3.5 mm mini-jack plug (the normal standard for portable audio devices). Preferably these will need to be black if possible.

Teachers are also asked to bring a packet of AAA batteries with them to the performance (enough for two per participating student). Pulse Alive will place a new set of batteries in the radios at the start of the day, but it may be necessary to replace them prior to, or during the performance.

There will be a resource fee of $52 per student. 

The resource fee assists with the costs involved in the conductors, choreographers and tutors working with the students, supports a number of music copyright costs and the creation of teaching resources and includes a Pulse Alive t-shirt, which will be worn by all performers as their costume during the event.

For school groups participating in massed choir, the resource fee will be direct debited in late Term 4, based on the number of students applied for during the nomination process. It will not be possible to issue any refunds if students or schools withdraw after the closing date of the online nomination form.

Third-party content attributions

Pulse Alive images, photographer: Anna Warr