Application for a school choir to participate in the Music Festival is made by a school each year. By applying and paying the subscription fee, a school becomes a member of the Christchurch Schools’ Music Festival Association Inc. and this entitles the school choir to participate in the Festival.
School choir registration
School applications for 2025 will open on 13 February
Please read all the information on this page prior to applying for registration.
The person applying for registration on behalf of a school, or a group of schools, needs to be able to make the following commitments on behalf of the school/s:
- That the school accepts and agrees with the objectives of the Festival
- That all members of the participating choir will be in Year 5 – 8 and that younger children will not be permitted to perform
- That the school agrees to teach the songs for the Festival to the school choir
- That copyright has been granted for the pupils’ official songbook and the accompanist’s music. Schools taking part in the Festival must observe that copyright by purchasing extra copies of the songbook or the accompanist’s book from the Festival as needed, and must not reproduce further copies by any means. Please make sure you have read the Copyright FAQs.
- That the school has a School Music Licence from OneMusic. What is this licence and how do we get one?
- That a representative of the school will attend the Teachers’ Demonstration Meeting and will attend for the whole of the meeting
- That the school will support the Festival Executive by providing qualified staff to exercise high-quality supervision of pupils at rehearsals and the performances, and will ensure that the standard of behaviour required by the Festival Executive is maintained by all of the school’s pupils who are involved
Before you register your school, make sure that you have also checked out the information below.
Choir Numbers
- Please try and be as accurate as possible with your choir numbers
- Be aware that you will not be able to increase your choir number from the number advised in your Choir Registration
- We will be asking you for an updated number before the end of August. The number can be less than your registration but not more
- If you are a school that is new to the Festival please keep your number under 50. If you have participated before the maximum number is 100.
- There is no minimum number
- The Festival reserves the right to decrease your choir numbers should the need arise
Please ensure that you have co-ordinated your selections for performance nights with other school activities as once allocations have been made it will not be possible to change them.
Subscription and Song Book Costs
The cost of a school entering a choir into the Music Festival are associated with registration, music and song books, and transport to/from the rehearsals and performance.
2025
| Annual Subscription
This fee includes: one large format song book and Teaching Notes
|
$135.00 |
| Song books (each singer must have one) | $2.20 each |
| Additional large format song books | $4.00 each |
| Accompanist’s Music | $26.09 each |
| Vocal workshop for choir teachers (includes CPD Certificate) | $25.00 per participant |
Costs shown above are exclusive of GST. CSMFA GST No: 13-756-661. All fees relating to the registration of a school choir are payable by the closing date for registrations to CSMFA.
All ordered song books and copies of printed music are distributed to schools at the Teacher Demonstration Meeting. Each school must purchase sufficient copies for each singer to have his/her own song book. Song books are NOT included as part of the registration fee.
Extra copies of the song book and the accompanist’s music can be obtained from the Festival’s Business Manager, Miranda Donnell.
Rehearsal music tracks are made available on the Festival website for download following the Teachers’ Demonstration Meeting.
Each school is responsible for the cost of its choir’s transport to and from rehearsals and performances.
Note: After you have registered your school choir, we will send you an email confirming your application and containing the invoice for your school. If you do NOT receive an email you have not properly completed the registration process – please retry, and contact the Website Manager for assistance if you do not succeed.