51��ɫ

The 51��ɫ Singers are a group of 51��ɫ College students who are highly diverse in terms of their backgrounds, interests, and talents, but who are united in their love of singing and their dedication to the choral art. The College is now scheduling auditions. 

Audition Schedule

You are welcome to schedule an audition with John Rommereim via Zoom prior to the start of the semester. 

Zoom Session Auditions

• Thursday, Aug. 21 7–9 p.m. Central Time
• Additional times can be set up by emailing John Rommereim.

New students: It’s helpful if you schedule your in-person auditions on Monday to save room for returning students in the later sessions.

In-person Individual Auditions (Bucksbaum Center for the Arts, Room 152)

• Monday, Aug. 26, 9-11 a.m.
• Tuesday, Aug. 27, 4–6 p.m. and 7–8 p.m.
• Wednesday, Aug. 28, 7–9 p.m.
• Thursday, Aug. 24, 4–6 p.m. and 7:30–9 p.m.

Callback Auditions

Saturday, Aug. 31

• 10–11 a.m. sopranos
• 11–12 noon altos
• 1–2 p.m. basses
• 2–3 p.m. tenors

Audition Process: Instructions from Director John Rommereim

During the 10-minute audition, we’ll devote some time to getting to know each other a little, and then we’ll do the following:

• I’ll ask you to sing back short melodies played on the piano (testing tonal memory). This should work fine online.
• We’ll test your vocal range using a simple pattern, such as 1–5–4–3–2–1 on “ee” and “ah” vowels. The pattern will move up and down by half steps. This could be a little trickier online because I’m unable to accompany you as usual. I’ll play the pattern, then you’ll sing afterward; we won’t try to sing and play together.
• You will sing  (PDF, login required), starting at measure 16. To learn your part, you can use one of these four YouTube videos: ,  . (Each of the videos has one of the voice parts highlighted). Please note: If you don’t have much experience reading vocal music and you find this exercise to be too challenging, please do still audition. Sight-reading skills are very helpful for the ensemble, but they aren’t all-important. If you have a good ear (which we test in the first two segments of the audition), you can still be a strong contributor to the ensemble. We also will have extra training sessions during the year for choir members who need to develop their understanding of music fundamentals.
• Optionally, you may sing a prepared piece up to three minutes long. It is helpful to hear how you sound when you’re singing a piece that you know well. Any style is acceptable — whatever allows you to show your musical and vocal personality. Again, this is optional; it is perfectly OK if you don’t have a prepared piece.