"If you're on time, you're late."--William Revelli, former bandmaster, University of Michigan.

Aristotle, I'd also put a pointer to the set of written expectations or contract that you ask choir members to agree to. If you're hard nosed, you could ask people to check a box that they've read and understood it.

You could ask their age, if that's pertinent to the choir. And gender.

Other interesting open-ended questions might be:
* What would you hope to get out of being in the choir?
* What concerns or questions do you have?

Make sure that the form clearly says how they will be contacted, and in what timeframe.

Carl

What is the loveliest piece of music you have ever heard?
What is your earliest musical memory?
Did you come from a singing family?

Is there anything that frightens you about singing?

Have you ever had a really bad experience singing?

Have you studied voice privately? For how long and in what setting?

Liam, you've said this before....could you site supporting evidence of this? I'd be interested in seeing it.

Liam, the mezzo/baritone phenomenon is true in my experience, and the accepted view of every voice teacher, coach, and (voice-based) choir director I know.
Larynxologists who treat singers also know this.
Noel,you can check out voice journals and pedagogical texts for this info. Intersting stuff.

For example,True mezzos have a range roughly a third below sops. As such, they are often forced into alto section, where they produce a lovely
midrange but cannot sing lower alto notes with much meat. One needs a bona fide contralto for alto 'money notes'. A true alto is a thing to treasure, I always say!

I think Liam's ? is good for the survey. Folks who know they are mezzos or baritones can make singing 5-6 part polyphony and works with divisi parts amazing. And you want to know if you have 8 real basses or (I'd prefer this) about 4-5 guys with great low notes and 3-
4 guys with meat in the upper range who don't strain on D's and Eb's.
likewise, if you're planning polyphony with a tessitura between low G and D for alto, won't work well with mezzos, and could really hurt their voices hanging out down there.

It's a tough call sorting voices, but I come from the view that choir directors are stewards of someone else's delicate and unique God-given instrument, so understanding these things is important. Classify with care. Wait for a real tenor before making a baritone suffer singing choral tenor 1.
Voice teacher rant over. Sorry, Aris!

Noel

You can do your own research. I am not the reference librarian. When Musica Sacra forums require footnotes for all assertions, give me a holler. I know from footnotes, was EIC of a law review of a well-known law school across from the river from Boston, was an archivist for an undergraduate literary society, et cet. Jeez.

Noel, I'd be happy to do research for you if I had more time. Expecting my 4th child, homeschooling 2 of the other 3 (with the huge help of my husband), maintaining a (smaller as family gets bigger) regional soloist career, and working as as DOM for an FSSP parish has me hopping.
Frankly, I spend too much time commenting here as it is, but its my passion! You know how that goes.

Anyhoo, I can give you a start. Richard Miller's 'The Structure of Singing' is highly regarded and contains a lot on the subject of classification. Buy it if you can, you won't regret it. And, gee, you could just listen to singers as you would organists on the specifics of their instrument. :) But the Miller text will get you started on the evidence you seek.

Liam,
totally agree with your post above. Going with the 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing' assertion, I now have singers face away from the piano at their audition so they don't psych themselves out thinking they can't sing certain notes, etc. I make sure they are relaxed, and give positive feedback. And they are often surprised that they have sung notes with ease they claim they can't.

There are people who read this list who are going to walk away and start telling people that they are just mezzos or baritones because they have been told that most people are mezzos and baritones.

And that's sad as they may have the potential under a talented teacher or director, to discover that they have a voice that is not a mezzo or baritone.

It is true that the human voice of the male and female tend to be centered in a certain range.

But that does not give the them vocal quality of a Mezzo Soprano nor of a Baritone.

That's it! I suppose that I am too concerned about the few here that might walk away telling people that since they are not comfortable singing high or low that they are mezzos or baritones when the timbre of their voice is obviously not of a mezzo or baritone.

I really freak out when I hear people say that they were told they can't sing and to mouth the words in grade school.

But people are not likely to be classified in grade school according to their future adult voices, of course. By the time most people acquire their adult voice, they are not taking classes that require them to sing.... What's more typical is that people get misplaced in a choir according to the needs of the choir. (This is putting aside true outliers like the famed Ysaye Maria Barnwell of Sweet Honey in The Rock, whose range goes from soprano to bass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpiZ1bpGVVA&feature=related)

I had the same problem with one high schooler...good hearted, singing one low pitch. in another post I described what I did. What srprised me that I found the he could play the piano, could hear correct pitches, and even could tell when I tuned one piano string against the two others in and out of tune.

But the reason I am writing is that I talked to him in front of the group about this, especially that he had a good strong voice. And that I did not want to lose his strong voice. Since his voice was strong I told him that he had trouble hearing and getting the notes exactly where they belong so we needed to work out a sign that I would use while they were singing and I wanted them all to learn the sign.

I showed them that I would palm down to soften him, palm up to raise...and palm up would be when he was centering on the right note. And that I would use the sign for the entire group, but would look directly at him in the eye when it was just for him so they would pya attention.

We do this with horses and dogs....clicker training...teaching them a sign that they are doing good, reinforcing good behavior.

The singers I have used this with like it. And it seems to eliminate the negative behavior of other students against them.

Hope this helps.

Form I have been using... we have a very transient community as this is a seasonal town for tourists. Otherwise, the info might interest you.

http://musicasacra.com/forum/?PostBackAction=Download&AttachmentID=136