Re-auditioning a large chorus

I know there are some large symphonic choirs that have a policy of re-auditioning their members every year.  It is a monumental task, and our organization has a policy of doing it every three years.  In fact, as I was on leave this past year, they were granted one year of grace, so it's been four years, and I was quite curious as to how things would go with the longer interval between auditions.  We have around 120 active members in the choir now, and scheduled the auditions in the week following our final concert (conducted by our associate conductor) so they would be in good voice.  It's been our experience that a few singers take the cue of a re-audition experience to retire from the choir, and due to travel plans, conflicts, another dozen or so elected to wait until late August to do their audition, when we conduct auditions for new members.  That left around 95 singers who had their 7 minute ordeal last week.  

Well, correct that: to say it was an ordeal might have been true for a few, but my impression was that for the most part the singers welcomed the opportunity to put their best on the table.  We purposely kept the audition short and to the point - each singer prepares an aria or song from the classical tradition (with some exceptions going into musical theatre and folk song rep), of not more than 3 minutes duration - with Baroque arias, the da capo was usually omitted.  We tell them to choose a song which best demonstrates their range and what they are capable of showing technically and musically.  The results are usually very positive, with only an isolated few having a total meltdown of nerves.  For most, the sight singing portion is what they are mostly worried about, and I've always found it important to keep these examples short and graded in difficulty, without pressing the issue when the singer 'hits the wall' in her/his reading skill level.  Predictably, only a minority of singers really does well with this exercise, and in a large chorus it is equally important for singers who don't read confidently to have adept pitch retention skill, so we use various pitch retention exercises to supplement the information about reading ability when necessary.  

Having had audition slots of 10 and 8 minutes in the past, I found the 7 minutes a little tight; we found ourselves getting a little behind on occasion.  That said, using the Filemaker Pro program to record data was a great time-saver.  I had  used this program in the last round of auditions, and those results appeared in a box immediately above my notes from this round, so it has been very interesting to 'compare notes' with the last round for those singers who auditioned then.  This program can be used quite flexibly, to record all contact information, list singers by section, etc., and most importantly, merge my audition comments into a letter format which I will send out to each singer.  I think the personal touch is extremely important especially in a large chorus, where personal accountability is sometimes harder to maintain.  I have frequently asked singers in rehearsal to think of themselves as being in a chamber chorus, where their contribution matters a little more than in a large chorus, so these letters, while time-consuming to run off, are important.  Filemaker makes this work very smoothly.

One other observation has been that the re-audition process inevitably results in a much more focused ensemble, especially in the months leading up to the audition, and also in the year following.  In my comments I have frequently suggested to singers what they need to do to improve, whether it be investing in voice lessons or an aural skills evening class (we have sometimes offered mini classes in the hour immediately preceding rehearsal, and may do so again this time round).  Nowadays, with the plethora of very effective online aural skills improvement programs available, this has been the more common path, especially for singers who can discipline themselves to 'stick with it'.

So, you may ask, what of the results?  The inevitable question is, are any singers sacked through the re-audition process?  In the past, I have had to put some singers on a one-year probation, requiring them to audition again next year.  The re-auditions a year later have inevitably produced much better results, and some of these singers are now leaders in their section.  My decisions are not final this time round, but there may unfortunately be some negative decisions in the offing.  In some cases, the decision is to move the singer to a new voice part, especially if the comfort range of the voice is clearly changing.  Some singers have resisted this suggestion and have decided to withdraw.  I often tell singers, "Just think, if we do Messiah again next year (which we aren't), you have the additional excitement of learning the piece from a whole new perspective!  Be brave!" (or something to that effect).  In one case I've had the benefit of a soprano with excellent sight reading skills but no longer able to sing the upper ranges be of huge benefit to the alto section with her leadership in reading.  She has been able to prolong her choral singing career for nearly two decades through this change. 

This year for the first time, we are factoring in the attendance record of the singer, and in my letters going out next week, comments on the singer's attendance will be included where necessary.  Again, in a large chorus, there can be a tendency to assume that one's contribution is not that important, and we have noted rehearsal periods towards the end of the year where attendance drops off, or where singers will tend to 'sneak out' at the break.  We are being proactive about these issues in asking our attendance captains to record attendance both before and after break when necessary.

The whole process of re-auditioning a large chorus is time consuming but critical to maintain the group's standards.  It is normally a given that chamber choirs are re-auditioned frequently because of the competition element, but large choruses need to do this as well.