Danielle,

First off, not only is it "ok" for you to post on SOJO's message board, but members are strongly encouraged to "sing out," so to speak, whenever they'd like to.

I think your idea for starting an a cappella group is a wonderful one. I, myself, have poked around the Meetup system and elsewhere to find such a group locally, but nothing seemed to fit. Here are a couple of suggestions for starting one up:

1. Although I have no particular loyalty to Meetup, I think it's an excellent vehicle for getting like-minded people together. I know of no other method that can do so as quickly or as efficiently. So...I'd suggest you look around the Meetup site and see what's involved in starting up a group. It's really easy. You just put it out there, and believe me, people will join.

2. Of course, however you do it, a meeting place and time will have to be established. And I can tell you from my experience in starting up two Meetup groups that a recurring time and place is essential. People don't seem to care, understandably, for having to research where and when the meeting is taking place if those variables change constantly. So you might want to consider where you can meet regularly---a party room in a condo or apartment building, library, coffee shop, school, church, etc.

3. You'll also have to think about how to handle expenses. If you choose to go with Meetup, you'll be charged $15 to $19 a month, depending on the plan, an expense I think is well worth it for the exposure and for facilitating communication. There will likely be a charge to rent your meeting space as well. Most such groups ask their membership for a contribution to these expenses at each meeting, and from what I can tell, it works out okay.

4. Meetup's monthly fee will allow an organizer to start up one to three groups for the same price as if s/he had only one group. So, if you like, you could organize the group, and we could place it under my payment "umbrella," so there would be no Meetup costs to you.

Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck. One can never have too much music in one's life if you ask me! (Did my picture of Ethel Merman for the next SOJO invite inspire you in some way?)

For further exposure of your idea, I am copying and pasting your message into an email for the group membership. It seems not many SOJO members read this message board, for whatever reason, whereas we have a captive audience with our email list.

Rick
a steamed flounder


--- On Wed, 9/10/08, Rick <[address removed]> wrote:

> From: Rick <[address removed]>
> Subject: [folk-45] Message from SOJO member Danielle about starting up a new A Cappella group
> To: [address removed]
> Date: Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 10:27 AM
> I copied and pasted this note from Danielle from our message
> board for maximum exposure.
____________________­____________________­____________________­______

Hi
> everyone! Hopefully it's ok for me to post this here.As
> some of you may know, there are a good number of a cappella
> groups in the DC area. The only problem is that they're
> pretty small and some of them are very selective about the
> types of music they sing.I'm interested in starting a
> co-ed group that sings rock, pop, folk, and maybe even some
> songs from musicals. I've been singing for 17 years and
> have sung in both choirs and college a cappella groups.This
> group seems to be full of some great people, and I
> definitely think a group can only be successful if the
> people in it are enthusiastic about what they're doing.
> smileIf you're interested, either reply here or send me
> a message.Again, I hope it was ok for me to post this here!
> I'm unable to make the meetup for this month but
> hopefully I can come out soon!
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message
> will be sent to everyone on this mailing list
> ([address removed])
> This message was sent by Rick ([address removed])
> from The DC Area Folk SOJO (Sing Out Jam Out).
> To learn more about Rick, visit his/her member profile
> To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings,
> click here
> 
> 	Meetup Support: [address removed]
> 	632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA