Joining UCPO

1. The Philosophy

UCPO welcomes orchestral players of all abilities, there are no auditions and we enjoy a friendly, informal atmosphere. If you'd like to find out more, just grab your instrument and come to one of our rehearsals. You will get the opportunity to make many new friends outside of college and if you bring a music stand then the committee will love you forever as well.

You don't have to be an undergrad to join, and we have many members who are grad students, or not linked to the university at all. We are often looking for soloists as well - if you're interested in playing a concerto with us you might like to email the committee.

2. The Theory

We rehearse every Wednesday night, from 7:20pm until 10pm, including a 15 minute interval with coffee, tea and often jaffa cakes. A good chance to mingle. Each rehearsal is followed a visit to the pub (currently the Castle Inn). Don't worry if you don't know anyone - none of us did when we first joined. If you can't make the 7:20pm start, come along anyway - we prefer regular members to turn up on time, but many people have good reasons why they can't - and this is fine.

Membership costs £6 per term, but you can come to your first few rehearsals to decide whether you like us before paying. You can also come along to 'Baby' rehearsals (usually held at the weekends). Especially if you're a string player.

3. The Reality

Our usual rehearsal venue for the 2007-08 academic year is St Giles Church (details at left).

If you're not sure how to find us, email one of the committee and we'll make sure you find us.

Look out for our stall at the Freshers' Fair each October, where you can sign up for our interested mailing list and talk to orchestra members in person.

Once you turn up to a rehearsal, and you like it, you can join our main mailing list and - if you have some time on your hands (or a predisposition for procrastination) and looking for intelligent banter - soc-ucpo-misc.

An old rehearsal Reverse angle rehearsal