I would like to know if you have an advanced choir in your parish
  • AbbysmumAbbysmum
    Posts: 105
    Hi all,

    If there's a previous discussion on this, please point me to it! I can't quite find what I'm looking for.

    Do any of you have "by audition" advanced choirs? I would really like to tackle some more challenging repertoire, and that seems to be the best way to do it. We have a "please show up and you can sing" choir right now, but there's a pool of singers I would like to draw in and do more traditional and challenging material.

    This would be a separate group from the existing one (with probably some overlap in members) that would sing maybe once a month or even at Christmas and Easter when there are lots of Masses.

    I'm curious to know what you have done to establish or how you operate your advanced choirs!
  • GerardH
    Posts: 620
    We only have the one choir, but it is fairly advanced, which makes it self-selecting. No audition required, but the pace and difficulty of repertoire means less advanced singers don't join or don't last long. Conversely, more advanced singers are more interested in joining because they like the challenge. I have considered starting additional groups at either end of the spectrum, but so far have not.
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  • kyletoddp
    Posts: 4
    I have my main "all are welcome" group, then a number of them stay for an extra 30 minutes after the main rehearsal to work on more difficult repertoire. My group has very good self-awareness and only those who can handle it and are interested in singing advanced music joined the ensemble.
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  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,212
    Cantius, Saint Agnes (in Saint Paul of course), and other such places have done this (the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale in the latter case is not quite the same but you could make it an advanced parish choir instead of its own thing). Saint Joseph’s in Detroit usually uses the summer for its advanced musician friends-of-the-parish choir and orchestral season. Multiple groups can and should coexist. Of course, there’s bound to be overlap, for practical reasons and for the fact that there are occasionally people who can’t get enough of it. I have in mind a volunteer group that can, at a minimum, sing SATB hymns and chant and possibly do polyphony for weekly Benediction, and that can be the core of polyphony when the main choir is on break or not scheduled.
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  • 32ContraBombarde32ContraBombarde
    Posts: 147
    We have four churches and four choirs at our parish, all volunteer "come and sing" groups. Across these, I noticed that there were a handful of capable singers interested in pursuing more challenging literature. And naturally, I want to prepare more intricate music as well. Rather than making any drastic changes to the existing structure, or forcing volunteer choirs to tackle music they aren't ready for (and don't even want to learn), I settled on establishing an additional chamber group.

    I sent a personal email invite to a couple of singers I knew would be interested, and then a generic invite to all of our 60+ singers describing the opportunity, and clearly laying out my expectations of anyone who chooses to participate (e.g. must be willing to learn notes at home so rehearsals are focused on nuance; must read music; must commit to rehearsal attendance and understand that the "fun" to be had in this group is in the perfecting of challenging music; etc.). It was a gamble sending the invite to everyone. But since I'm so new to my current role, and I can't be at all four churches every week, I decided to try the self-selection method. In this case, it worked brilliantly. We currently have seven singers (SSAATTB), and we've just begun rehearsal bimonthly.

    My intent is for this chamber group to establish a strong repertoire and solid ensemble cohesion, and then sing at Mass once monthly, rotating through our four churches to bring the beauty of more intricate music to all of our parishioners. Of course, they'll also sing for special events and big feasts. They will not, however, supplant the volunteer choir when they sing. It will be a "both/and" situation, where they'll join the volunteer choir for the basics (hymns, ordinary, antiphons, etc.), and will sing one or two bits of polyphony at appropriate moments.

    At least, that's the idea for now! We'll see how it goes, and adjust as necessary.
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  • TimTheEnchanterTimTheEnchanter
    Posts: 230
    It's not by audition, because I can tell who's capable of it, but I have a rotating-cast small group ensemble for Holy Days and other days getting the full regular choir together is impractical. For the ensemble, I require people to learn the parts on their own, and we do a little bit harder material, so I guess it would qualify as an advanced choir.
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  • canadashcanadash
    Posts: 1,537
    I have my main "all are welcome" group, then a number of them stay for an extra 30 minutes after the main rehearsal to work on more difficult repertoire. My group has very good self-awareness and only those who can handle it and are interested in singing advanced music joined the ensemble.


    This is great. I have members that are quite capable and others that have NO self-awareness. I'm sure that one particular person would insist on being admitted and if she didn't, she would probably just sing something she did not know. And I have gently tried to usher her out, but she won't take the message, and I figure she needs us more than we need her so...
  • AbbysmumAbbysmum
    Posts: 105
    This is great. I have members that are quite capable and others that have NO self-awareness. I'm sure that one particular person would insist on being admitted and if she didn't, she would probably just sing something she did not know. And I have gently tried to usher her out, but she won't take the message, and I figure she needs us more than we need her so...


    Yeah, that's sure a delicate situation with no good way to resolve it
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  • Don9of11Don9of11
    Posts: 803
    Advanced Choir? Does almost 50 years of singing qualify me as advanced? :)

    My organist specialty is playing the flute and she is excellent by far. But her organ skills are marginal at best,however she is learning. We have on a good day 4 people myself included ranging in age from 12 to 66, it 3 to1 in their favor. :)
  • Dr_Haze
    Posts: 9
    I inherited an adult choir comprised of dedicated amateur singers some of which had been part of the group for upwards of 50 or 60 years. They sing at every 10 AM Sunday mass between September and June every year. Dedicated and motivated, they were able to tackle serious polyphonic music with enthusiasm and skill, but due to the pandemic the group shrank to about half its original size before I took over. The church was also able to pay section leaders in the choir, usually undergraduate or graduate vocal performance majors at two nearby Universities, which gave the group a much needed sound boost and better sounding harmonies. I was able to start out with Soprano, Alto and Tenor section leaders, but due to a budget shortfall, I had to drop them recently. I've seen new parishioners join the group who are quite capable of sight singing and part singing. The audition is a read through of an ordinary Ordo for our weekend masses. If they can read music in their respective clef, and even sightread at an intermediate level, they're in.

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  • irishtenoririshtenor
    Posts: 1,404
    Sounds like you've got a pretty nice group, Dr_Haze! Bummer the section leaders aren't still in the budget, though. I wonder if the money could be found if someone went through the budget with a fine-toothed comb
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  • Chant_Supremacist
    Posts: 228
    We don't have an advanced choir per se. We do use an all-male schola for the propers, which as it happens is composed of comparatively advanced singers. Every now and then we'll sing something with singers I've handpicked, but this is usually after discovering during practice that not everyone is up to that piece.
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  • francis
    Posts: 11,175
    I would not call our choir “advanced” except for the fact that they sing 4-8 part renaissance music exceptionally well. They are very devoted amateurs, are very prayerful and rehearse two to three times per week. Our men’s schola is comprised of the TB members of the same choir, and it is stunning to hear them weekly for high Mass, requiems and other feast days.
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  • AbbysmumAbbysmum
    Posts: 105
    Thank you everyone for your responses! I've gleaned a few ideas going forward into the new cycle!
  • ghmus7
    Posts: 1,480
    Sure just select 4 of your best singer and call it a schola.
  • SponsaChristi
    Posts: 606
    Our men’s schola is comprised of the TB members of the same choir, and it is stunning to hear them weekly for high Mass, requiems and other feast days.

    We had this, except it was mixed TB after I came along. After our choir director stepped down after Covid and put someone else in charge, I was pretty much pushed out. Their loss.
  • mmeladirectress
    Posts: 1,123
    Present (and only) choir is fairly advanced, and is very small because of severe loft space restrictions.
    Due to retirement & job moves, our number is becoming even smaller,
    while coming up over the horizon is a much larger church with an 800 sq ft choir loft
    Reading this thread is so helpful to me as I try to construct a path from here to there

    maybe should be a separate thread? I'd love to see this one going on though
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