Audition

A warm welcome from our Artistic Director

Artistic Director Dr. Ryan James Brandau invites you to audition for MCC

(If you have trouble viewing the video here, you can watch it on YouTube and then come back to this page.)

Becoming a member of Monmouth Civic Chorus

Monmouth Civic Chorus values a high level of musicianship among its singers. Interested candidates may submit an electronic application describing their musical experience and schedule an audition with our Artistic Director, Dr Ryan Brandau. Once auditions are completed, you’ll receive an email about your acceptance.

We rehearse on Wednesday evenings from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Tinton Falls, NJ.

Here’s what will happen during your audition.

Solo

Please prepare a short solo piece. It can be chosen from any genre (art song, aria excerpt, musical theater, folk song…) and be in any language. Ideally your selection is a piece you’re comfortable with that lets the Artistic Director hear your voice quality and get a sense of your musicality.
Bring sheet music for the accompanist. You are encouraged to sing an accompanied piece, though that is not required.
You do not need to memorize your piece. Using your score is just fine.
If your selection is longer than three minutes you will likely be asked to stop before it’s finished, just to keep the audition on schedule.

Vocalization

Depending on the range and nature of your solo, the Artistic Director may lead you through a few vocalizes or scales from the piano.

Pitch Memory

The Artistic Director will play a series of four pitches and ask you to sing them back. You’ll do three or four of these exercises.

Sight Singing

You will be asked to sight sing a passage from a piece of choral music while the accompanist plays all four parts.

Members of MCC have varying degrees of music literacy and sight singing abilities. This part of the audition is just one component of a broader assessment of your potential contribution to the ensemble.

Ready to apply?

Great. We’re excited to meet you. Please click here to download the application, fill it out, and follow the included submission instructions. Thank you!