Artistic Director Sue Swaney is quoted in the Herald-Times, Sunday, Sept. 19.

Artistic Director Sue Swaney is quoted in the Herald-Times, Sunday, Sept. 19 in an article about rehearsal and performance space.

Being small helps

Not all musical organizations have such trouble finding venues.

Sue Swaney, music director for Voces Novae, can easily squeeze her choral group into a variety of spaces.

They've sung at the Restore warehouse, Woolery Stone Mill, upstairs at the Irish Lion and around the pond at Meadowood. Swaney coined the term "guerrilla concerts" to describe performances the group does in unique places.

"The idea is that you just find an unusual place," she said.

They've even performed in the Bloomington Hospital parking garage. The idea came when the group performed in the hospital's auditorium. Needing to warm up, the group snuck down the hallway into the parking garage.

"We were just in love with the acoustics, and we thought, we should just sing there one time," she said.

At most, the group has 24 singers performing at one time. As such, Swaney has been able to try many different venues, including an upcoming show at the Capriole goat farm.

She reasons that singing in unusual places can give context to what they are singing and reinforce the idea they are trying to convey.

"Another reason is that we think music is sometimes heard differently in an unexpected context," Swaney said.

Swaney has ideas of other venues she'd like to try, including an underground limestone quarry in Bedford. She'd also love to set up singers in upper windows around Bloomington's courthouse square.

"I'm not giving up on that idea," she said.

Read the full article at http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2010/09/19/scene.qp-3861448.sto