Looking to join a choir - how good do you have to be?

NervousNude

I'm living in Dublin and would love to join a choir for the main reason that I love singing but sound cr*p on my own! Now, I can see how this would be a problem for a choir which brings me back to the question of what kind of standard choirs require (pun not intended!). I sang in school choirs and can read music and carry a tune (just), although my sight singing isn't great.

I've done a google search for choirs in Dublin and the only ones I can find any information on are quite serious sounding (Dublin County Choir, Goethe Choir etc.) and ask that you do an audition. Does anyone know what sort of standard they look for, and would the audition call for sight singing?

Alternatively, I'd be perfectly happy harping away in a 'just for fun' choir in a parish hall somewhere, if I could find one. Any suggestions for such a thing in south Dublin city?

banquo

Depends on the choir tbh. Doshea3 will know more about this than me. Helpful guy.

Doshea3

Unless you're joining a choir with a professional standard, you sound like you should be okay. Any large choir will ask for an audition. Most large choruses such as Dublin County Choir, Goethe Choir, Guinness Choir, Culwick Choral Society, etc. will be happy enough that someone can sing in tune. Reading music is a huge thing. Most choirs don't require a good level of sightreading, but just a basic ability. If you can read at all and sing in tune you should be fine.

Another thing to think of is age. Some choirs like the Culwick and Dublin County Choir have a very high average age, and this can be intimidating depending on your own age. I live in South Dublin myself though I direct a very much "just for fun" church choir on the northside, with an average age of about 75 (no joke).

Any more questions I'd be happy to help!

mambo

Sounds like you'd be absolutely fine for most choirs, especially if you're male, and very especially if you are a tenor!

The RTE Philharmonic Choir auditions are coming up soon if you fancy giving that a shot. http://www.rte.ie/performinggroups/rtephilharmonicchoir/

philopus109

join a parish choir. a good one is in templogue.

carmanach

Don't worry about the technical side. You have already spotted that singing in a choir is very different to singing on your own - there's safety in numbers! Many choirs are coming to the end of their year now and take a break for the summer. However my choir - the Frascati Singers in Blackrock - will be going for the month of May. If you would like to get a taste come along on a a wednesday evening at 8 pm to the Hall at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at the bottom of Mount Merrion Avenue. We are about 30 - sopranos, tenors, altos, basses - and sing a range of music. As many of us have limited sight-reading ability the director usually records the parts and distributes these on CD.

mambo

I'm no expert but I'd say the main requirements for a decent choir singer are:

* Sing in tune, good ear for harmony
* Good sense of rhythm, willing to watch conductor & keep in time (if you watch the conductor so carefully that you forget the next notes/words, you can stop singing and find your place, which as a solo singer would be a disaster!)
* Good diction (don't worry if you don't speak foreign languages, it's more important that you have good general diction and a good ear for the sound of a language)
* Ability to sing runs of semi-quavers, etc. (if singing that type of music)

Some things that would be important in a solo singer are not quite so important, such as:

* Good tone (it helps, but you could have the nicest sounding voice in the world and it would get lost in the middle of a choir)
* Good breath control (as a choral singer, you can cheat, e.g. breathe in the middle of a long note, which you couldn't do as a solo singer. Just don't breath in the wrong places and place a consonant early or late!)

Acoustomatic

Hello. Joining a choir has long been something I have intended to do but never plucked up the courage to actually do! Like the OP I love singing and am often profoundly moved by listening to choirs. Im 33yo, male and am guessing im a tenor and I'm confident I can sing in tune.

But thats as far as I get. Auditions, sight reading etc - ive never done anything like this and most of the serious choirs seem to have a serious attitude to new members. How essential is sight reading usually? Can someone recommend me a friendly choir that isnt too serious, would welcome new members and is city(ish) based? Looks like I would have to wait until after summer judging by the above posts though.

Thanks!

mambo

Acoustomatic wrote: »

Hello. Joining a choir has long been something I have intended to do but never plucked up the courage to actually do! Like the OP I love singing and am often profoundly moved by listening to choirs. Im 33yo, male and am guessing im a tenor and I'm confident I can sing in tune.

But thats as far as I get. Auditions, sight reading etc - ive never done anything like this and most of the serious choirs seem to have a serious attitude to new members. How essential is sight reading usually? Can someone recommend me a friendly choir that isnt too serious, would welcome new members and is city(ish) based? Looks like I would have to wait until after summer judging by the above posts though.

I'd say GO FOR IT! I was about 30 when I started singing in choirs (with no previous experience) and haven't looked back. As a tenor, you will be valued by any choir!

Many choirs don't require sight-singing ability, and may provide a CD with your line on it that you can use for learning the part.

Perhaps try one of the large choral societies:

http://www.iol.ie/~jonmca/Culwick/culwick.html
http://www.guinnesschoir.org/
http://www.olcs.ie/

They'll probably give you a quick audition, but nothing too onerous I'd imagine, just sing a few scales and a tune you know.

sth

Acoustomatic, NervousNude,

I sing with Guinness Choir. While our performance standard is decent, we do not take ourselves too seriously. Choir members are all very friendly and the conductor David Milne is very encouraging. Choir age ranges from mid-late twenties to probably seventies, eighties... There are several of us in the lower end of this range. But I have found that people make friends easily in this choir regardless.

We just had our last rehearsal of the season. We will be resuming in September so come along and do a quick audition. David will ask you to sing some scales, and if you have prepared a piece he will hear it or he may ask you to sing a simple piece... not very onerous. Mostly he is looking for someone who can sing in tune, the rest can be learnt or practised.

NervousNude

Thanks for all the suggestions. Looks like I'll have to hold off until September, maybe get a bit of practice in before then:) I've decided that rejection wouldn't be all that bad so I'm just going to pick a few and go warble at them, the worst they can do is say no!

lovetosing

Hi, I'm with the Culwick Choral Society, and during the Summer break is the very best time to apply for membership if you want to start right at the beginning of the new season on 3 September.

All applicants are invited to come to a rehearsal and then to take a voice test/audition with the Musical Director, who decides what section of the choir is most suitable for each applicant's voice. The audition is very quick and painless! You sing some scales; sing back a very short melody played on piano; sing a few lines from a song of your own choice. Sight-reading is not a requirement (though obviously it helps when learning new music) as learning CDs are usually provided.

In the last couple of years lots of new members have joined the Culwick. The age profile now ranges from students to retired people, all brought together by a shared love of singing. Once the voice is there, there's a place in the Culwick.

Rehearsal venue Dublin 6. Visit the Culwick's website at www.culwick.org or email an enquiry to culwick@gmail.com.

Happy singing!

thelizardqueen

have you thought about a gospel choir? They usually don't require you to read music at all and they're a bit more light-hearted than some of the classical ones. I direct the one on Ballymun (which ain't exactly the south-side!). PM me if interested in joining, will be taking in new members at the end of the summer

leann

does anyone have a contact email or details on rehearsal times for the guinness choir? checked their website but no email there

mambo

Try guinnesschoir@gmail.com (as seen on poster http://www.guinnesschoir.org/MAYFLOWER.jpg )

aislingone

i'm looking to join my college philharmonic choir bit i've never auditioned for a choir before, any suggestions for audition pieces i might try?

bea2200

carmanach wrote: »

Don't worry about the technical side. You have already spotted that singing in a choir is very different to singing on your own - there's safety in numbers! Many choirs are coming to the end of their year now and take a break for the summer. However my choir - the Frascati Singers in Blackrock - will be going for the month of May. If you would like to get a taste come along on a a wednesday evening at 8 pm to the Hall at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church at the bottom of Mount Merrion Avenue. We are about 30 - sopranos, tenors, altos, basses - and sing a range of music. As many of us have limited sight-reading ability the director usually records the parts and distributes these on CD.

Hi,

is this choir still going? I am a 33 year old woman, and i was thinking about joining a choir, nothing too serious. I dont think im great singing but i could sing in tune. I work in Blackrock so this one could be handy for me.

EddyC15

I joined the choir in college there last week. I never sang with one before. It's nothing too serious. There are only two tenors, me included.

I say just go for it. Maybe at the start you'll feel out of place and like you're not good enough but just go to practice and sing along and you'll be fine. It's only a bit of craic anyway, right?

Hearty Beast

I am a member of the RTE Philharmonic Choir and have sung in a few other, smaller, choirs also. It is considerably easier to get a place in a choir if you are male and, even more so, if you are a tenor. In fact, the chorus master of the Philharmonic has declared on more than one occasion, "Bring me a tenor with a pulse and I'll get him to sing".

Auditions are rather nerve-wracking, but they are generally very short and the chorus master will be looking to see what skills you have that he can use rather than highlighting your failings. I am not a particularly good sightreader, although I have improved over the years since I started choral singing. Detailed knowledge of musical theory is not required, but you would certainly need to have an ear for music, be able to hold a tune and understand basic musical notation.

Singing in a choir is an extremely rewarding experience: it is a truly wonderful way to unwind once a week, although there is some hard work involved too. In the case of the Philharmonic, there is a fairly strict attendance policy, such that in the weeks of concerts (four to six per year) there are compulsory rehearsals on three days, but that is to be balanced against having the opportunity to sing with the National Symphony Orchestra in the National Concert Hall under the baton of some excellent conductors. Nothing compares to the experience of standing in the choir balcony with 120 singers above a full symphony orchestra.

motipp

I am in a fairly large community based choir in north county Dublin - anmd must agree with other posts who say how rewarding it is. Our chori has a fairly perfunctory audition and although quite a few sight read it is not a requirement and we use 'line tapes' (CD's nowadays!) to learn the music.

But here's the problem - as another post said, age profile is bordring on 'elderly'. No problem with that per se - but obviously it means that we are always in danger of 'ageing out'. And it's surely healthier to have a good age mix. I wonder if this is a widespread problem - and if so what are the causes and solutions?

tSubh Dearg

I've always felt that choirs such as the Philharmonic, should do a little showcase every couple of years to schools that have strong choral traditions, of which there are many in Dublin and around the country, to try and encourage younger members to join.

Even if they don't join immediately upon leaving school, at least they will be aware that these choral groups exist and I feel they're more likely to join earlier rather than later.

shadowgirl

anyone know if there are any choirs in dublin 1, 3,5 ?

don't think i can sight-read or read music

but i can sing and love singing.

wet-paint

Join this one.
http://www.facebook.com/virtualchoir

Susan Lanigan

If you look up the yahoo choralireland message group, they often have posts from choirs looking for singers. If you're a man and can sing in tune, you're sorted. If you're a woman and can sing in tune, you're generally fine as well, though many of the calls tend to be for men since fewer of them tend to join choirs.

I am thinking that the solution involves deployment of low altos

natnifnolnacs

have a look here
http://www.aoic.ie/information_services/members_directory/dublin/

also, auditions for the Irish youth Choir are coming up this week

http://www.aoic.ie/news/full_article/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=516&tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=24&cHash=140d53ff9a2de5faf3985acb3027d10a