More than just a week in Whitby

Anyone who has attended SICM knows that its annual Session Week in Whitby is an inspiring, thought-provoking friendly and deeply communal musical experience - but SICM is also much more than this: It is a community of people who share a love of and interest in the music of the church, ministering individually and in congregations across Canada and beyond. Members of the SICM community consult each other on questions about church music, share stories and ideas, make friendships and professional alliances and, of course, receive information on SICM’s activities.

SICM also needs the support of donors, volunteers, students and anyone else sharing its vision for excellent church music and wanting to make a difference in the world. Learn how you can to Get Involved here.

Keep SICM in touch with you by mail - make sure SICM has contact information and details of your work and ministry in Church Music. Keep us up to date on where you’re living, playing, conducting and singing, and we can keep you in the SICM loop. Fill out the online form here.

Keep yourself in touch with the SICM Online Community -
In this Internet age, students, faculty and the Board of Governors of SICM are staying in touch using two Web 2.0 tools - the SICM Yahoogroups E-mail List and the Summer Institute of Church Music Facebook Group. Both of these tools keep you up to date on happenings at SICM, and in touch with friends, colleagues and the SICM faculty and Board in between annual Sessions. To read about how some people use the SICM Online Community Tools click here.

SICM Yahoogroups E-mail List
Summer Institute of Church Music Facebook Group
SICM Online Community Frequently Asked QuestionsTarget=NewWindow
Benefits to joining the SICM Online Community
Notes on Operation (including privacy and posting traffic)

SICM Yahoogroups E-mail list
Receive information from the Board of Directors about upcoming events, news, and information on the Community, and send questions and announcements of your own to the members of the list.
To join the SICM Yahoogroups E-mail list, visit the List homepage on Yahoo!groups at 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sicm. 

Summer Institute of Church Music Facebook Group
Register for Facebook, join the SICM Group and visit it as often or as rarely as you like to see board and member postings of photos, videos, questions, announcements and other information. Configure Facebook to end you e-mail when certain types of updated content are posted. This option makes you available to be contacted by the student, faculty and Board community, and incidentally offers great possibilities for staying in touch with friends and family members also using Facebook.

 To view the SICM Facebook Group Home Page or to join,
click the Facebook logo here.

SICM Online Community - Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to join the SICM Community Online?
   Nothing, Unlike almost all comparable church musical organisations there are no membership fees.

Do I need to be a computer expert, or have a fancy new computer to join?
   No. If you can see this website and read e-mail, you know everything you need to know. Likewise,
   if your computer can handle browsing web sites and sending and receiving e-mail it is all the computer
   you need.

What personal information is shared with other members and other users of the Internet?
   Only what you choose to share. SICM shares no information with any third party; Yahoo! (for e-mail list
   members) and Facebook (for Facebook group members) allow you to control carefully what information
   is shared both with them and with other users, and how much and what kind of information you want to
   receive or see.

How much more e-mail traffic should I expect as a result of joining?
   Both the Yahoogroups list and the Facebook group allow you to control how much e-mail you receive.
   Historically the traffic on the Yahoogroups list is extremely light (10-15 messages per year). Although the
   Facebook group allows and encourages more frequent sharing among members, you are able to specify
   how much, and what kind of traffic you would like to be notified of by e-mail, from all own to none.

Benefits to joining the SICM Online Community

Day-of-release access to news on SICM’s upcoming session and other activities, and day of publication notice of the download availability of the Summersong newsletter and other publications.

Sharing photos and stories of your experience at SICM, and see and hear about others’

A community for your questions as they come up through the year:
   - looking for copies of an anthem?
   - suggestions for a special service? 
   - leads in your church’s search for a used or new pipe organ?
   - grapevine information on positions and programs available?
   - want to contact someone you met at SICM, or someone one of your fellow students may know? 
    (just a few possibilities among many more)

- A safe, stimulating place to discuss ideas around music ministry with others who care and may offer fresh insights when you’ve run dry

An archive of discussions that SICM e-mail list members have had from its inception - research questions using not just those on the list at the time, but all those who have ever belonged and solved their problems using it as a resource

A place to release news (including pictures and other files) about your work (conferences, publications, recordings, tours and other activities) to your friends and colleagues from SICM: a network for connections old and new.

Notes on the SICM E-mail list’s operation:

The only way to be on the SICM e-mail list is for you to choose to join by giving your e-mail address to SICM and/or visiting the SICM page on Yahoogroups: addresses are not added through any other means.

Addresses are kept strictly private and safe from spam senders by Yahoogroups, and are removed immediately upon request.

Postings arrive with the prefix [SICM] in the subject line. Traffic is very light: SICM is not a chat list: replies to member postings are sent exclusively to the address which made the original posting (either the replyer or original poster may then choose to repost responses to the list... but this is not the default.)

Only SICM List members are permitted to post to it, although members may cross-post items of interest from other sources, including on behalf of non-members. 

Under no circumstances will SICM buy, sell, trade or otherwise release its e-mail list or any address thereon.