Auditioning: Church/Synagogue jobs

I’m extremely fortunate to be married to a really talented guy, who happens to have made his career as a church musician. For years he has worked as the director of music at several large churches up and down the East coast. Besides needing to be an accomplished organist and pianist, he is also a really gifted choral conductor. Part of his job at his PCUSA church is to audition and hire young singers to be section leaders in our church choir.

For the last several years I’ve heard a fairly regular lament from my husband: “No one knows how to audition any more!”.  Our state university’s music department has more of an emphasis on Music Education… but they do offer Bachelor & Master degrees in Vocal Performance. For some reason though, none of these students ever seem to learn anything about what skills you’ll need to present when you audition for an actual performing gig, especially in a non-opera setting.

This always strikes me as strange, bordering on ridiculous. Even (or especially) for a voice performance major, the chance that you’ll graduate from university and immediately jump into major solo performance gigs that will pay your living expenses (not to mention your student loans) is vanishingly small. EVERY working singer I’ve known started out their performing careers singing in some kind of ensemble or chorus, often for churches, synagogues and choral societies, large or small. It only makes sense that, as you start to think about preparing for actual singing work after your schooling, you would consider what you need to do to land one of those jobs that will put some money in your pocket whilst you prepare to audition for that major apprentice program at Chicago or Seattle, or for that high-powered agent who will get you a series of lucrative gigs. But, to my husband’s sorrow, this doesn’t seem to be the case (at least around here)…

Also, a Sunday church gig can be an important part of a young singer’s professional development. It lets you make connections with other aspiring singers, and with other church musicians/conductors, gives you a steady (albeit not huge) source of income for at least part of the year, and gives you experience at performing in ensembles large and small, and presenting sacred music solos and arias. It also gives you some experience at what it’s like to make your voice work well and consistently at Sunday church services and Thursday night choir rehearsals. Additionally, if you’re fortunate enough to land a job at a largish church that supports real music and concerts, you’ll likely get the chance to learn and perform some of the major bread-and-butter choral repertoire. Are you a baritone who loves the Fauré Requiem? Are you a soprano who loves singing the recits and arias in Bach cantatas? Get a gig as a chorus section leader for a large church where they perform those kinds of works! It’s a GOOD thing, and can make it worth your while to get out of bed on a Sunday morning.

SO, on the way to that fabulous debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera or the Met, let’s talk about auditioning for local concert/ensemble/church gigs in your current home/school town. While you continue your vocal studies with a good teacher, and prepare and learn new arias and roles, AND coach regularly with someone who can help you learn to sing your music accurately and expressively, AND work with a drama coach to help you prepare arias for opera auditions, you’ll want to work on some music that you can use for church/synagogue/chorus auditions. This means picking up an oratorio anthology for your voice type, and actually learning some sacred/concert rep that you might sing in your average church service or orchestral audition (should you be fortunate enough to land a job at a church/synagogue that does classical music, not the contemporary happy-clappy stuff). Learn your arias from Handel’s Messiah, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Learn your solo part in the Mozart or Fauré Requiem. Learn some of the solos from one of the great Haydn Mass settings. Find a Bach aria or two that works for your voice. Figure out how to sing things like Malotte’s Lord’s Prayer setting (or Paul Creston’s, or Ned Rorem’s, if that’s more your cup of tea). If you’re a lyric tenor, try learning “For the Flowers are Great Blessings” from Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb. If you’re a bass-baritone, try learning something like the Vier ernst Gesänge of Brahms, the finale of the Carlisle Floyd song cycle Pilgrimage, or one of the Vaughn Williams Five Mystical Songs.

You may notice I’m not listing options such as songs from Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Poulenc’s Le Bestiare, or the latest song cycle by Nico Muhly. As fun and fulfilling as those things might be for you to sing, they won’t get you hired for a CHURCH JOB. One of the first steps to successful auditioning is choosing audition rep that is useful and appropriate for your voice AND for the gig you’re trying to land. The chance that the church musician you’re singing for actually knows of (much less knows how to play) the Fauré or Schubert song you’ve pulled from your last university recital is also vanishingly small… and the chance of them caring about how you sing it is roughly the same. You need to offer some SACRED MUSIC that they are likely to KNOW and can use in a church/synagogue service. 

Another skill in which you’ll need to demonstrate some proficiency at this audition is sight-reading. Your gig as a soloist/section leader in the church/synagogue choir will require you to lead the section in learning new music quickly… and showing your potential employer that you can accurately sight-read a choral piece will be very helpful to that end. They’re not expecting you to read everything perfectly the first time, but demonstrating that you can read intervals and semi-accurately sing your part in an anthem by Stanford or Howells or Handel is a big plus for you when it comes to landing the job. And in many cases a singer with a “better voice” will lose out to the better sight-reader. It’s a useful skill, and one that you need to practice semi-regularly, if you want to work as an ensemble singer on your way to The Big Time.

To quote the wise man, “It’s hard out here for a pimp”. Double-ditto for a classical vocalist trying to pay the rent and start a career. You’ll want to take advantage of those local ensemble opportunities while you’re getting started. Good luck!!