Choral scholarship questions

Reply 20

Mimkat

5

Ok cool, thanks :smile:

Reply 21

Sushi24

1

I'm not sure if this really fits in here, but I'm starting at Cambridge next month, and was hoping to audition for the chamber choir in my college (Queens'). I have grade 7 merit, but am really bad at sight-reading, and wasn't able to be in a choir at school. Realistically, do I have a chance of getting in?

Reply 22

je-ne-regrette-rien

OP

1

Thanks! You lot are so helpful :smile:

In the process of finalising the list of choirs here, the deadline's in a week, yikes, but wanted to know what you think of Jesus?

I looked on the website and they said they're looking for potential not necessarily top standard yet - obvs I'd need to audition for their mixed choir. Is it any good? My friends were saying if the famous one's a male choir, the mixed one might be a bit rubbish. My ideals would be reasonably-good standard, good financial support, not too much commitment :smile:

Jesus is great because it's big and very supportive for lang students :smile:

Thanks in advance for your advice!

Reply 23

kiki-b

Original post by je-ne-regrette-rien

Thanks! You lot are so helpful :smile:

In the process of finalising the list of choirs here, the deadline's in a week, yikes, but wanted to know what you think of Jesus?

I looked on the website and they said they're looking for potential not necessarily top standard yet - obvs I'd need to audition for their mixed choir. Is it any good? My friends were saying if the famous one's a male choir, the mixed one might be a bit rubbish. My ideals would be reasonably-good standard, good financial support, not too much commitment :smile:

Jesus is great because it's big and very supportive for lang students :smile:

Thanks in advance for your advice!

The male and mixed choirs at Jesus aren't separate. The tenors and basses sing all services and the boys alternate with the women so they each have a couple of services a week. Both versions of the choir are at the same (high) standard, but it means that as a girl you have a lesser time commitment but still a really good choir. In terms of ranking it is generally accepted to come about third in mixed choirs after Trinity and Clare - probably similarish standard to Selwyn and Caius. However, they are unwilling to look at candidates who haven't placed them first or second, or very occasionally third on their list.
Hope this helps, though I've just realised that you've probably submitted your application already!! however, you can always add colleges to your list when you get to the trials.
What colleges did you put down in the end?
Good Luck for your audition!!!

Reply 24

je-ne-regrette-rien

OP

1

Original post by kiki-b

The male and mixed choirs at Jesus aren't separate. The tenors and basses sing all services and the boys alternate with the women so they each have a couple of services a week. Both versions of the choir are at the same (high) standard, but it means that as a girl you have a lesser time commitment but still a really good choir. In terms of ranking it is generally accepted to come about third in mixed choirs after Trinity and Clare - probably similarish standard to Selwyn and Caius. However, they are unwilling to look at candidates who haven't placed them first or second, or very occasionally third on their list.
Hope this helps, though I've just realised that you've probably submitted your application already!! however, you can always add colleges to your list when you get to the trials.
What colleges did you put down in the end?
Good Luck for your audition!!!

Thanks! Jeepers, I didn't know Jesus was that good - I was going for a middling one. Anyway, it's done now. I put Jesus, Christ's, Queen's (and 7 others, but can't remember the order). My friend who went to Clare hadn't even heard of Jesus mixed choir, so I figured it was OK-standard and fine for me! lol. Oh well. I put Trinity Hall at the bottom because they're just starting choral schol this year so they might be keen for singers... I hope I get somewhere!

Reply 25

wishsella

just wanted to ask what actually happens at the audition, do they do any interviewing for the subject you're applying for while you're there or when they mean interview do they mean just for the choral scholarship?

Thanks

Reply 26

Stretton

Original post by wishsella

just wanted to ask what actually happens at the audition, do they do any interviewing for the subject you're applying for while you're there or when they mean interview do they mean just for the choral scholarship?

Thanks

It depends on the college. King's & John's do the academic interview at the same time, the rest you have to come back in December. Some years a number of people get indicated to them that they are good enough for a choral scholarship but fail to win a place.

I did organ trials rather than choral but I did have one interview that seemed to be designed to check I didn't have a huge aversion to attending chapel. Not a problem if you have been to independent schools but I suppose can surprise people who have done "singing" rather than choral music.

Sight singing is the most important thing plus having a voice (preferably tenor!)
that fits. They don't insist that you have had years of choral training but on the other hand they are not mostly looking for future operatic soloists.

Reply 27

wishsella

Thanks! Really nervous about it. Just wondering does the faculty of music have a nice acoustic??

Reply 28

ilovedogsalot

Hi guys!
So i'm heading over in a couple weeks, and I was wondering if the auditions were 'open'. As in, when you're singing, are other candidates in the same room as you, watching?

Cheers x

Reply 29

emilyb96

Hi guys, I know this is a really old thread, but I have a quick question. I've just got a choral award in the Selwyn choir, and I was wondering how realistic it is to hope to be able to balance work, choir commitments and any other extra-curricular activities. I currently do a lot of dance and drama, and while obviously work and choir will now be my big commitments, will I be able to carry anything else on on a smaller scale? Thanks!

Reply 30

alcibiade

11

Original post by je-ne-regrette-rien

Hi, it's coming up to choral scholarship application & audition time and I am in such a pickle about sightreading :frown:

I'm not aiming for the top colleges like Trinity (too much time commitment, plus I wouldn't be good enough) but plan to put down Emmanuel/Corpus/Peterhouse plus a few others. I sing soprano, do a lot of choir in school (our Chapel Choir is v good, but I haven't been a church chorister or anything) and got a Dist (136) in Grade 8 singing. My sight-reading's always been a let down (got 14/21 in Grade 8, luckily the pieces were good!) but it hasn't hindered me till now because if I can't sing it, I learn it at home. I'd like to be in one of the reasonably-good choirs, but I don't know how to improve before the end of September! It's fine if I'm with others (if I get a note wrong, I get back on the right track) but I did the practice test on the cam website and I could hardly get to the end. Would anyone have any advice/tips?

Any other help (on pieces etc) would also be greatly appreciated - the four-min limit is making piece choice a bit hard. I'm thinking perhaps Mozart's Laudate Dominum if I can get the breathing right, or (as a last resort) something from Messiah.

Thanks v much in advance! :smile:

My advice is: don't look at it as an interview with strict admissions. Sure, there is a push for excellence, but it is mostly for fun and they need people. Plus, the amount of money is rather small, at least in our experience.

My d absolutely loves her chorus, it is a ready source for friendship. They go on really good tours, sang on the BBC, and work pretty hard at it.

Reply 31

alcibiade

11

Original post by emilyb96

Hi guys, I know this is a really old thread, but I have a quick question. I've just got a choral award in the Selwyn choir, and I was wondering how realistic it is to hope to be able to balance work, choir commitments and any other extra-curricular activities. I currently do a lot of dance and drama, and while obviously work and choir will now be my big commitments, will I be able to carry anything else on on a smaller scale? Thanks!

For my d, it is quite timeconsuming, she has little time for other extracurriculars, given how intense the work is. But she absolutely loves it and is discovering new music and forging lasting friendships.

Reply 32

lp386

12

Original post by emilyb96

Hi guys, I know this is a really old thread, but I have a quick question. I've just got a choral award in the Selwyn choir, and I was wondering how realistic it is to hope to be able to balance work, choir commitments and any other extra-curricular activities. I currently do a lot of dance and drama, and while obviously work and choir will now be my big commitments, will I be able to carry anything else on on a smaller scale? Thanks!

Original post by emilyb96

Hi guys, I know this is a really old thread, but I have a quick question. I've just got a choral award in the Selwyn choir, and I was wondering how realistic it is to hope to be able to balance work, choir commitments and any other extra-curricular activities. I currently do a lot of dance and drama, and while obviously work and choir will now be my big commitments, will I be able to carry anything else on on a smaller scale? Thanks!

You should have some time to do other things - I'm pretty sure Selwyn isn't a King's or John's level commitment - but you will often find that dance/drama clashes with choir, and your choir director may be unwilling to budge. So it's likely to be a scheduling issue as much as a time issue.

It will also depend on your subject (if you're a medic, bad luck), organisational skills, and how much maximising your Tripos mark means to you. (Everybody has to make that trade-off.)

Reply 33

wonderland2

8

Original post by charlottesometimes

I'm a terrible sight-reader, and I got in! Definitely take miraclemile's advice and practice, practice, practice - if it's any help, a lot of the stuff you'll generally be asked to sightread will be things like Byrd, and I find motets relatively simple to sightread now, just because I've sung so many of them you get an idea as to how they go. My singing teacher always used to say to me that they're not just looking for people who get everything right first try, they're looking for the people who can fix their mistakes the second time round.

To be honest, the thing that's really helped my sight-singing is singing in a decent choir on a regular basis, so if you do get in, don't fret about not being very good at sight-reading - it's amazing how quickly you improve. I sang 'If God Be For Us' (I'm a sop) from the 'Messiah', which was fun - LOTS of people sing the arias from the 'Messiah' though, so bear that in mind. Just pick something you're comfortable with that shows you off in a good light - I also took a Britten piece which I'd sung for my Grade 8 to sing at another college audition (do do DO take another piece, as you'll likely be asked to sing at a number of colleges, and it helps them enormously to hear you sing more than one thing), which went down well. Oh, the other thing is, don't forget to practice things like simple intervals and cadences, and singing the middle note in a cluster of notes.

To be perfectly honest, the thing that helped me the most was being confident. I was in no way the best soprano auditioning there, and I definitely wasn't the best sight-reader, but because I was cheerful and pretended that I knew what the hell I was doing, it definitely counted in my favour :P Good luck!