The auditions for the 2016-2017 edition of The A Cappella Group will be held in the choir room on August 11th and 12th. The audition material is now on the website. The two songs are Better, originally performed by Haley Reinhart and The Words, originally performed by Christina Perri. The sheet music for each song is located in the DOCUMENTS section of this site. The music is only the excerpt of the song that is being used for the audition. The learning tracks for each song are locating in the MUSIC - TAG LEARNING TRACKS section of this site.
Audition Requirements:
1. Sing an unaccompanied solo that is 1 minute or less. This should be a contemporary song and not classical or musical theatre in nature. The song should show off your voice in both style and range. If you are a high soprano, don't sing a song that is really low. You must also PERFORM the solo. Don't just sing it. You need to demonstrate a connection to the lyrics and really be expressive in your performance.
2. Perform your part with other singers. You must learn two pieces of music that are currently available of this site.. Hard copies of the music will be available at Cypress starting August 3 and also the first day of school. Choose a part and learn the music. If you are a soprano, most songs have two soprano parts and you can choose which one that you want to learn. If you are an alto, there are usually two alto parts and the tenor 1 part is also sung by altos. If you are a very low alto, you should go for the tenor 1 part. The guys have either tenor 2, baritone or bass to choose from.
Part Breakdown - The Words
Soprano 1 - Any soprano
Soprano 2 - Any soprano
Alto 1 - Any soprano or alto
Alto 2 - Any alto
Tenor 1 - Any alto that has a low range
Tenor 2 - guys who are tenors or high baritones
Baritone - guys who are baritones
Bass - guys with very low voices
Part Breakdown - Better
Soprano 1 - any soprano
Mezzo - any soprano
Alto 1 - any alto
Alto 2 - any alto
Tenor - guys who are tenors or very low girls
Baritone - guys who are baritones
Bass - guys with very low voices
On the day of the audition, you will sing your solo first. After singing your solo, you will be taken into a practice room to sing your first part song. You will sing your part of The Words with the mixdown as your accompaniment. You may use your music. The audition does not have to be memorized. This audition will be recorded. After you have sung your part, you will then go back into the choir room for the second part song.
Once all of the solos have been completed, you will sing Better live in the choir room together with other people with only one person on each part. This will be done in the choir room with 8 or 9 singers. Your audition will be recorded. A group of auditionees will be selected and will stand in a semi-circle. You will be given your starting pitch and then counted off. You will be able to use the sheet music. Auditions do not have to be memorized.
Part Singing is the most important part of the audition. Part singing is the main thing that you will do in the group and you must be able to be independent and hold your part. Devote most of your time to this part of the audition. Students have been selected to be members of the group with an average solo and great part singing. No student has ever been selected that had an amazing solo, but couldn't hold a harmony part.
The learning tracks for the audition pieces are in the TAG Learning Tracks section of the MUSIC page and the sheet music is available in the DOCUMENTS page.
All parts of the audition will be recorded.
If you have any questions about the audition or the audition music, please contact Mr. Stroh using the contact info in the CONTACTS section. Please contact Mr. Stroh early with any questions that you might have. Make sure you give yourself enough time to prepare for your audition. When practicing the part songs, start with the individual learning tracks for your part and then as you learn the music, start working with the mix down. Record yourself as you get better at the parts and listen back. Many times we think that we are singing the correct part, but when we listen back to ourselves, find out that we are making mistakes.
I hope that you will take the audition seriously. This is a group with a national reputation and you must take the audition seriously.