I mean I am not going to sing in a vacuum  

I was looking at a musician site and it says that for an audience of 3000 people the copyright would cost $150 to $300 a year. But I do not know what it is for a smaller group. The trouble is in Canada that the director has to get permission for the songs or pieces to be recorded and when we have a church concert many of us would want a Cd or a tape to take home.

Most of the songs we sing at concerts are old songs, but it gets rather tired of alternating between singing The Holy City, Oh Holy Night, or something from the Messiah or something Bach wrote year after year.

I guess that the director or the conductor has to pay for the music. It is all right if you sing in the church. There are some pieces that give permission for such, but there are others that no matter where you sing, the one in charge of the music or the concert has to write and get their okay. It does seem frustrated because it might cost a bit.

hmmm never heard of that before.
and what about the school concerts we did?

I think school concerts are all right. They recorded them, but sometimes the Christmas and Spring concerts are recorded and sometimes not. I would like a recording, like someone recorded the song I did last spring, but he ran out of tape. I wanted to know how good I did, just in case.

I have to get that Yamaha 76 keyboard first. We do have a couple at church who can arrange pieces, only one seems to think sopranos are mezzos, and the other thinks we all are near-sighted. I can make up tunes, quite good at that, but my poetry stinks = more into limericks.

I think I will take along my Olympus digital voice recorder and record it so that I can have it for myself just in case there is a voice teacher in the audience.

What you sing from a song purchased for the music and lyrics and a performance not owned by a production company might very well be yours to do with as you please if not for profit. Definitely seek permission for the director of course, but they might not have a problem with you making a personal recording of yourself assuming the recording is not for profit.

The key is you are making copies of your own performance for gifts...

Thanks for the BR and your laws in Canada might be even more relaxed than ours down here. That means the research is on your shoulders to know what your laws are. I'm sorry if I'm making you work for your gifts, but that might be well worth the effort to do a little research upon.

Good Luck,

Sincerely,

Gary