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The Ambassadors of Harmony - International Silver Medalist Chorus

Welcome to the Ambassadors of Harmony Audition section.

When you visit our rehearsal, you'll be welcomed by men from every walk of life. We invite you to sing with us when you visit. A Guest book with sheet music to our arrangements will be handed to you when you arrive. Please return it as you leave at the end of a rehearsal. We begin our rehearsals with warm up exercises,

(Click Here for a music sheet containing three of them)

and we always sing a "tag" or two before we begin the rehearsal,

Tag: A coda; the ending of a song, often repeating the final words and designed to make a complete and satisfying arrangement. We learn tags "by ear".

You may audition for membership by

  • Coming to and participating in three consecutive rehearsals, and

  • Completing a live audition with our Music Committee by singing your part to the song "I'd Love to Live in Loveland" in a quartet. You don't have to memorize the song, but you must be able to sing all the words and notes correctly with a tone and quality that will blend well with the chorus.

I'd Love to Live in Loveland - Sheet Music

Learning Files by Tim Waurick

You may also get the sheet music at a rehearsal, along with a learning cassette for your voice part. Take a routing sheet with you to the audition that you can get either by  clicking here or from the Chapter Secretary.

Since our craft has a strong visual component, there is also some initial visual review and instruction which you’ll receive.

Our standard guideline is that you have 3 months and 3 tries to pass the initial qualification. If a prospective member hasn’t been able to pass the initial audition at that point, the Music Committee may suggest other possibilities for further learning of our craft.

Once you've passed the initial audition and visual review, the Directors will initial your routing sheet and you can pay your dues to become a member of The Ambassadors of Harmony. Give the routing sheet to the Secretary. You'll be given a second routing sheet that you'll need to have initialed by several members of our board and music committee covering everything from your uniform to your name badge. Once that's completed, you'll officially be a member of the St. Charles Chapter, SPEBSQSA! Then you'll have an opportunity to become a member of the Performing Chorus.

Members of the Ambassadors of Harmony Performing Chorus are committed to perfecting their skills by practicing on their own, and to attending all rehearsals and performances.

We also are committed to respecting our Directors and each other when we perform either at rehearsal or public performance. Click here to see what we mean.

To audition to become a member of the Performing Chorus, you must first have passed the intital, live quartet audition. Then you'll need to record yourself singing your part with the chorus to the two current contest songs, using your own or a borrowed personal recording device. It's a good idea then to listen to it and check yourself to make sure you did your best job. If you think you can improve on it, try it again at the next rehearsal. It needs to be lyric and note perfect, and of a quality that blends well with the chorus. When you have a recording that you want reviewed, give it to your section leader.

Tenor - Tim Waurick
Lead - Rich Knight, Eric Dalbey
Baritone - Jonny Moroni, David Wright
Bass - Jim Henry, Hal Maples

You'll also need to learn some choreography since we don't always stand still when we sing! Our Visual Performance team will help you learn the movements that go with the song, along with helping you allow your face and body to show the joy you're going to feel when you sing the great music we have the privilege of performing. As part of the performing chorus qualification, your visual performance will be observed during rehearsal.

Our standard guideline is that you have 3 months and 3 tries to pass the performing chorus qualification.

When your section leader approves your audition recording, and you've been passed by the Visual Performance Team, you are a member of the performing chorus. Then you have a lot of repertoire to learn!! We have in our repertoire anywhere from 12 - 15 songs at any given time, plus another 15-20 songs for Christmas. As we add new ones, some old ones may be dropped off the list. Learning files (or CD's) and sheet music for these songs are available. Some of these songs also have planned choreography or stage movements for you to learn.

You’ll be on your honor to learn the remaining chorus repertoire prior to your first performance, and on your honor to take yourself out of a performance if you don't know all the songs we're singing in it. We have found that this works very well. However as performances draw near, the members of the Music Team will visually monitor rehearsals in case there are those who obviously don’t know the words to the songs they’re singing because this truly “sticks out” visually in a performance. In the few cases where this occurs they may ask the person(s) involved to “sit out” an upcoming performance if they are unable to learn the song(s) by then. They will also listen “around the risers” for voices not singing the right notes, and offer feedback and or take action to ask a member to sit out a performance, if appropriate. This information is offered here to let you know that we are dedicated to offering the highest quality, and most professionally presented music in our performances. In most cases, asking members to "sit out" isn't necessary, because our members know to take themselves out of a performance if they know they aren’t fully prepared.

Members also know that their regular attendance at rehearsals and performances is essential to their being “ready” to perform as a member of the Ambassadors of Harmony. Our attendance requirements are that a member be present for 65% of rehearsals throughout their entirety. The requirement is 75% for members who are in the front row. Many of us believe this to be a minimum, and think that 90-100% is what Champions are about.

Our current repertoire is listed below:


All Nations Rise
Almost Like Being in Love
America the Beautiful
And Can It Be
Drunken Sailor
Fare Thee Well Love
Fit as a Fiddle
Friend Like Me
Friends
Goodbye World
Happy Together
Harmony
I Have Dreamed
I'll Walk With God
It's a Most Unusual Day
Loch Lomond
Man of La Mancha
Music of the Night
My Funny Valentine
Ob La Di, Ob La Da
Short People
Stars & Stripes Forever
Star Spangled Banner
They All Laughed
They Didn't Believe Me
Through The Years
With a Song in My Heart

We also have a Christmas repertoire of more than twenty songs.

The Ambassadors of Harmony, being a world class chorus, will present you with both a challenge, and an opportunity to give a most beautiful gift to those who hear us sing.  We welcome your desire to join us and we look forward to singing with you!

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