Virtual FOCSLE Music
WEDNESDAYs  8pm

See a date-order calendar of all events, virtual and live, here

Contact Paul about any Virtual events

Page updated June 10th '23.  index [details of and links to live and in-person event m.o.’s], was also updated then

8pm is UK time (BST)  = 3pm Eastern / New York Time  = 12noon Pacific
Online music events will continue, subject to demand, alongside our ‘live’ Sings
Not on our e-list?  Please e-mail.  Note we no longer show event-access details anywhere online.
Technical problems with the link, or access-details, you’ve got?  See box below.
Note:  arriving at the Sing but finding no-one there is not a “technical” problem:  IF it happens, apologies:  that’s just me – or a proxy M.C. – running late, for the usual human reasons!
As I’m sole contact, and my tech. is primitive* [e.g. no smartphone, no inter-connection between devices], you can’t reach me by e-mailing* in the ¼-hr. before start-time.
Just toddle off and e.g. put the kettle on, or pour a glass, and somebody competent should turn up…  It’s cock-up, not conspiracy:  honest!     * if I can read e-mail, it means I’m AT the computer!  If I’m at the computer and not at the Sing, THAT’S a “technical” problem!!  :-)
Joining us from elsewhere?  Calculate the time in your area here.  If you need to, dial from other countries using these nos.
For details of other ways to access our virtual space, please e-mail browsers@focsle.org, or portables@focsle.org, as relevant to your device.
We respectfully ask that you keep any event codes you receive from us, OFF social media (Facebook, Twitter, et al.), or in other music Zoom Chat spaces.  To help spread the word, pls. let interested friends have FOCSLE Music’s e-mail address:  virtual@focsle.org.  Thanks for obliging.
New to Zoom &/or need help optimizing your sound settings?  See two boxes down
Need more folk fix?  See this International Calendar of virtual music events, or this US West Coast one or even this – their mag. is worth subscribing to, anyway – FolkLife UK.
Don’t blame the compilers if, as virtual events get replaced by in-person ones, organizers don’t bother to inform the Calendar-keepers and they begin to show inaccuracies.  Use some cyber-nous to root out the event’s web-presence and check via that method what’s happening, and ask them to report that to the relevant Calendar.
We think any predictable technical problems have been ironed out, but try this, if not:

If WE’VE found there’s a problem, too, use these details until it’s fixed.  Unless the problem is a lack of M.C., anyone finding this backup arrangement will be talked through reverting to the main space, by whomever’s in charge, if / when the tech-issue is solved.
  M.ID:  746 8133 7570    Pss:  F0(5B~us1c [“O”= zero]  valid at least until next UK Daylight-Saving Time change [end of October]
If the problem is accessing Zoom at all, of course this option won’t work.  Perhaps try again later?
I get that this precaution isn’t all-events-proof but, without local back-up, it’s all I can do [and, in 3 years, it’s never yet been implemented]

ZOOM SETTINGS:  SOUND, etc.

You don’t HAVE to sign up for an account to use Zoom, or to enjoy our virtual events.  That’s the only quibble I have with these admirably clear directions.  Contact Paul to find out how to use Zoom with no account.
Mac or PC:  Zoom basics, optimizing for music & enabling Original Sound on desktops or laptops
Apple iPad / iPhone:  Zoom basics, optimizing for music & enabling Original Sound on mobile devices
  Most Android equivalents are shown herein;  other controls should be similar, but may use different terms, and show icons in different places
 Original Sound is esp. good for singers with instruments, but most music, esp. any with sustained notes, seems to benefit.
  Even with no audience present, tweak your settings by starting a Zoom from your own a/c.  If you don’t have one, enter our virtual room any time.
Use M.ID:  746 8133 7570    Key:  F0(5B~us1c [1st “O”= zero]
  This space is better than one on your own newly-set-up a/c, since the controls you may wish to toy with have been pre-activated
The Golden Link Folk Singing Society, of Rochester  NY, provided these instructions.  Thanks to them, and their webmaster [and no mean musician] Dan Kuchta, for OK-ing our linking to them.
GL’s online sessions have now ceased, as they’ve reverted to in-person activities only, but I’d like to record here my personal thanks for the Godsend that their virtual events were, during the depths of the Pandemic.
They may eventually decide it’s a waste of website space harbouring these instructions, and delete the pages.  I’d appreciate your reporting this, if you find it before me.  Thanks.
Back up page…
Most of the time, Virtual FOCSLE Music is set up so, if you arrive before the M.C., you’ll be able to chat with others who have, too;  or even to start the music sans M.C. [an ‘accidental’ format, and you’d have to take responsibility for muting yourselves, but it CAN work, in extremis]

Click here for the list of all planned in-person events
or here to return to homepage