HoozHear?
Donation protected
“HoozHear?” is not a business venture, their mandate is to provide a place for young musicians to come together, make and perform music, have fun, and support other younger musicians with motivation, mentoring, and role models. HoozHear? is completely run by parent volunteers, and in the past has been supported through fundraising and donations from family, friends and supporters, and local businesses. In the past we would have at least a couple of fundraisers in a year to help pay for equipment, rentals, repairs, music, paper and printer cartridges, and other necessities. This year that is not possible, and we would greatly appreciate online donations if you are interested and able. We still have most our “normal” expenses, and we are working to set up a combined indoor and outdoor rehearsal space so that we can play and sing in safety as far into the cold weather as possible!
Please come and join us online Saturday, October 3rd at 2:30pm to see what we’ve been doing and to give us a chance to play for an audience after all the work that we’ve done. Follow our Instagram account @hoozhear, or contact [email redacted] with names and email addresses of those who want to connect through Zoom. Note that we are limited to 100 connections on Zoom, and slots will be allocated on a first come basis.
And now, a bit of background:
“HoozHear?” started as the house band for Crystalize Music Studio, supporting other performers at various studio concerts. The musicians on stage changed often depending on the needs of the other performers and who is available, hence the name…
The band consists of a core of senior students who sing and play keyboards, drum kit, cajone, djembe, bodhran, electric and acoustic guitar, violin, bass, ukulele, saxophone, flute, harp, stand-up bass and various rhythm instruments. The performers currently range in age from 13 to 20. They are often joined by younger musicians, “Friends” of the band who have the chance to get on stage in a supportive environment and experience all the background work, preparation, and joy that comes with it.
“HoozHear?” have come into their own after a series of performances at the Kingston HomeGrown Music Festival in the Jazz, Soul and Next Generation venues, The Creekside Bar and Grill, repeat performances at the Kingston Fall Fair and their own sold-out concert at The Octave Theatre. You may also have seen them at various community, charity, and private functions or at one of their many visits to local seniors homes.
HoozHear? has been making music all year. We started in person with our last performance at Monte’s on February 17th. Then, things happened…
Without being able to meet in person, HoozHear? went online. Most of our members continued to meet at least weekly by Zoom, preparing song lists, planning, and socializing. We figured out how to record multi-track/multi-performer songs while being in our own homes, spread over 30km!!! We integrated video and audio, and learned a lot. Then, things happened…
Since the “re-opening”, HoozHear? has been rehearsing in person, outdoors, with LOTS of physical distance, and a whole lot of precautions in place. We started with 6 musicians, then 8, and we are now up to rehearsing with 12 musicians while we are “in the woods”. With most venues under restrictions for numbers, and 12 people in the band there were not many options for us to perform, so all summer we have been working towards a concert “in the woods” for family and friends, to show them what we’ve been up to! Then, things happened…
With the new reductions in outdoor social gatherings, an in-person concert is not possible. So, we’re going online! We will be streaming live to our Instagram account and on a Zoom meeting! We will still be performing outdoors to give us lots of room, hence the need for the “rain date”. Actually, no quotation marks required, if it looks like rain we can’t play!
We would like to thank Gary Traynor at Limestone Music for his continued support: weird and rush rental requests, sound consulting, “OMG” moments like finding musicians audio interface units and microphones to record with and monitors and input “snakes” for outdoor rehearsals! Thank you Gary! You’ve been amazing!
Thank you to our families, friends and fan club for their continued support of this amazing group of young musicians!!!!
Please check out the HoozHear? Youtube channel at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiyr0lUtxpVjsAHOBsz4rbg
Or follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
Please come and join us online Saturday, October 3rd at 2:30pm to see what we’ve been doing and to give us a chance to play for an audience after all the work that we’ve done. Follow our Instagram account @hoozhear, or contact [email redacted] with names and email addresses of those who want to connect through Zoom. Note that we are limited to 100 connections on Zoom, and slots will be allocated on a first come basis.
And now, a bit of background:
“HoozHear?” started as the house band for Crystalize Music Studio, supporting other performers at various studio concerts. The musicians on stage changed often depending on the needs of the other performers and who is available, hence the name…
The band consists of a core of senior students who sing and play keyboards, drum kit, cajone, djembe, bodhran, electric and acoustic guitar, violin, bass, ukulele, saxophone, flute, harp, stand-up bass and various rhythm instruments. The performers currently range in age from 13 to 20. They are often joined by younger musicians, “Friends” of the band who have the chance to get on stage in a supportive environment and experience all the background work, preparation, and joy that comes with it.
“HoozHear?” have come into their own after a series of performances at the Kingston HomeGrown Music Festival in the Jazz, Soul and Next Generation venues, The Creekside Bar and Grill, repeat performances at the Kingston Fall Fair and their own sold-out concert at The Octave Theatre. You may also have seen them at various community, charity, and private functions or at one of their many visits to local seniors homes.
HoozHear? has been making music all year. We started in person with our last performance at Monte’s on February 17th. Then, things happened…
Without being able to meet in person, HoozHear? went online. Most of our members continued to meet at least weekly by Zoom, preparing song lists, planning, and socializing. We figured out how to record multi-track/multi-performer songs while being in our own homes, spread over 30km!!! We integrated video and audio, and learned a lot. Then, things happened…
Since the “re-opening”, HoozHear? has been rehearsing in person, outdoors, with LOTS of physical distance, and a whole lot of precautions in place. We started with 6 musicians, then 8, and we are now up to rehearsing with 12 musicians while we are “in the woods”. With most venues under restrictions for numbers, and 12 people in the band there were not many options for us to perform, so all summer we have been working towards a concert “in the woods” for family and friends, to show them what we’ve been up to! Then, things happened…
With the new reductions in outdoor social gatherings, an in-person concert is not possible. So, we’re going online! We will be streaming live to our Instagram account and on a Zoom meeting! We will still be performing outdoors to give us lots of room, hence the need for the “rain date”. Actually, no quotation marks required, if it looks like rain we can’t play!
We would like to thank Gary Traynor at Limestone Music for his continued support: weird and rush rental requests, sound consulting, “OMG” moments like finding musicians audio interface units and microphones to record with and monitors and input “snakes” for outdoor rehearsals! Thank you Gary! You’ve been amazing!
Thank you to our families, friends and fan club for their continued support of this amazing group of young musicians!!!!
Please check out the HoozHear? Youtube channel at the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiyr0lUtxpVjsAHOBsz4rbg
Or follow us on Facebook and Instagram!
Organizer and beneficiary
Anna Moskaluk
Organizer
Kingston, ON
Crystal Lehtimaki
Beneficiary