Information About the Audition Process: Honors Chorus Introduction

Every year, the Middle School Honors Chorus is held in November, performing at the North Carolina Music Educator’s In-Service Conference. This chorus provides an opportunity for the very best singers from across the state (grades 6,7, 8 and 9*) to come together and work with a nationally acclaimed choral conductor. This year the chorus will be conducted by Jonathan Willcocks from London, England. Mr. Willcocks is worldwide clincican that works with groups of all ages. The Honors Chorus will take place on November 7th and 8th, in Winston-Salem. Once again, the concert will be held in the Stevens Center.

Honors Chorus auditions are held in three regions across the state: East, Central and West. Normally, over 1,000 students audition for 160 places. In order for your students to audition for honors chorus, they must sing their voice part of the selected audition piece. You will need to determine if they are S1, S2, A1, A2, etc. After you register using the form located on the website, your site chair will contact you with information about your students audition time’s and instructions. Each student will audition in front of a single judge in a closed audition. They will also need to sight-sing a short melodic exercise. It is extremely important that your students are well prepared for this audition. Only about the top 15% of auditioned singers will be selected for this prestigious choir. Teachers are strongly encouraged to download the audition tracks in order to prepare their students for this audition. It will also be the official recording used by the judges in their auditions. All voice parts of all tracks are played on the piano. Each of the first 4 tracks feature a voice part played louder than the accompaniment. This is intended to teach students the notes on their parts. The last track is the accompaniment track which will play during each student’s audition as they sing their part alone for the judge. To download go to http://nchonors.podomatic.com/. Download instructions are also linked to the Middle School Website. ASU, UNCG, and ECU offer Honors Chorus Audition workshops which are very helpful in preparing your students for the audition. Please see the link entitled “Audition Clinic Flyers” for more information.

The Honors Chorus application form is located at the bottom of this page and must be sent to your site chairperson at their home address as listed on the following page. The deadline for the form to be mailed is on or before September 15th - that is the last possible day it can be postmarked and be accepted.

Please do not wait until the last minute! It is YOUR responsibility to see that the forms are filled out correctly, signed by your principal, with a school or booster organization issued check or money order for the fees due enclosed and postmarked on or before September 15th. Applications received after the 15th will be returned unopened. Personal checks are not accepted. The audition fee is $15.00 per student.

Please note: any 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th graders in middle school or junior high school may audition. *9th Grade students in a high school are only eligible to audition for the High School Honors Chorus. This chorus is for your BEST musicians and well behaved students.

To view the pdf files, click on the download links below (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader):
2009 Audition Site Information:
adobe_pdf_logo Honors Chorus Audition Info Sheet 2009.pdf
Honors Chorus Audition Application:
adobe_pdf_logo MS Honors Chorus Application.pdf
Sightsinging Example:
adobe_pdf_logo Sightsinging Example.pdf
HHow to Download Audition Tracks:
adobe_pdf_logo Honors Chorus Audition Download Info.pdf