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
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.
