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MADRIGAL SINGERS AUDITIONS
The West Middle School Madrigal Singers is an advanced ensemble that meets during seminar every M/W/F for about 30 minutes. The size of the group has varied from 20-48 over the past ten years, but has recently been in the 30-40 range. The size of the group this school year is still to be determined. We perform a variety of genres of mostly 4-part SATB music including quite a bit of a cappella music.
Students in Madrigals represent the WMS Choirs in a variety of ways. They are often responsible for performances during and outside of the school day including elementary tours, school & community events, etc. Rehearsals are fast-paced and quite demanding. Significant sight-reading abilities are required. Most students in Madrigals will be 8th graders with select advanced 7th graders.
Preliminary Audition for Madrigals may include any of the following:
Solo Song Performance (SING-A-THON songs and/or select a song from the solo resource page or get approval for another similar style song from Mr. Dee)
Solo Sight-Reading (see examples here)
Group Sight-Reading in 2-4 parts (one person per part) (see examples here)
Music Literacy Test (see the pre-test here)
Basic Piano Proficiency (see more info here)
More information...
1. Solo songs will most likely be performed during students' class period or during advisory and may be recorded for additional teachers to evaluate. Categories for evaluation will include...Tone, Pitch, Rhythm, Diction, Interpretation (Dynamics), and Presentation (Facial Expression and Physical Movement).
2. Solo Sight-Reading may involve...
-Stepwise & some skips)
-Key Signature Identification
-Finding "Do" and playing it on the piano
-Playing the notes in that scale on the piano
-Sing an 8-measure example in solfege with hand signs
-Play the example on the piano
3. Group Sight-Reading may involve...
-Intermediate Level (some skips)
-Sight-Read in 2-4 parts (one person per part)
4. The Music Literacy test will include all of the material in the pre-test and may include some additional questions about intervals, key signatures, and other information available on the music literacy pages of the website.
5. Basic Piano Proficiency might include basic note identification and may also include basic scales as found on the piano page. You may also be asked to play the following simple song...When The Saints Go Marching In.