2021 Honors Chorus Audition Piece: I Saw A Child

by Ryan Main
JW Pepper# 10915555 

Audition Process

Every year, the Middle School Honors Chorus is held in November, performing at the North Carolina Music Educator’s In-Service Conference. This chorus provides an opportunity for the very best singers from across the state (grade 6, 7, and 8) to come together and work with a nationally acclaimed choral conductor.  Honors Chorus auditions are held in three regions across the state: East, Central, and West. Normally, over 1,000 students audition for a 200 member choir. In order to audition for honors chorus, students must sing their voice part of the selected audition piece. Each student will audition in front of a single judge in a closed audition. They will also sight-sing a short melodic exercise. Only about the top 10-15% of auditioned singers will be selected for this prestigious choir. Students are strongly encouraged to download the audition tracks in order to prepare for this audition. It will also be the official recording used by the judges in their auditions. All voice parts of all tracks are played on the piano. Each of the part tracks feature a voice part played louder than the accompaniment.  This is intended to teach students the notes for their voice type.  There are no voices only tracks, only piano pitches. The last track is the accompaniment track which will play during each student’s audition as they sing their part along for the judge. 

How To Practice

  • Start by writing in the solfege for every pitch for the part that you need to learn. 
  • Then write in the counts so that you know when to come in on some of those long pauses.
  • Then go listen to the practice track for your part and sing through the piece  MANY times over many days until you can sing your part perfectly with and without the practice track and without looking at the music.
  • Then practice often using the accompaniment track.
  • Then go back to the sheet music and highlight every dynamics marking in pink--then sing the piece often paying special attention to following the dynamic markings
  • Then think about phrasing -- where are you going to breathe. Mark your breath places in the music being sure that you aren't breathing in the middle of a work or in the middle of a musical phrase.
  • When you have mastered all of this, record a video of yourself singing the piece with the accompaniment track playing in the background and send it to Ms. Thomas (awthomas@wcpss.net), or share it in your shared Chorus Google Drive folder. I will then email you back with good things you did and things that you can work on to improve.

NCHC Audition Process: What are they looking for?

Be sure to read through everything in the link above. One additional thing I'd add would be is to practice singing the audition piece for as many people as possible and in as many uncomfortable situations as possible. Sing it for your parents, your friends, your youth group, your summer camp. You will be singing this piece in front of everyone in Honors Chorus -- alone. 
Here is a copy of the rubric that the judges will be using to evaluate you. Make sure you are solid in every area.

Sightreading

The main thing that usually makes or breaks a successful Honors Chorus audition is the sight reading. So make sure you are confident in your sight reading by practicing everyday. Spend at least 5 mins each day this summer sight singing. If you have a Sightreading Factory account, take advantage of this tool and use it for daily practice! Once school starts, we will be sight reading examples that are way harder than the audition examples, so you will be more than prepared when you go to audition. Here are some examples to get you started: