We aim to make our auditions friendly, straightforward and accessible. We want to create a positive environment where you feel comfortable and feel able to give your best. On this page, you’ll find information about what to expect from the audition, and some tips on how to prepare for it.

Your audition will last approximately 15 minutes, and include:

• Performing your own choice of song (unaccompanied, from memory)
• Vocal exercises
• Listening exercises & score-reading
• Informal interview

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Warming up your voice

It’s important to warm up your voice before you sing, and especially before an audition. This will help you get in the zone, and ensure you sound your best. Give yourself plenty of time to prepare before your audition, and you might like to have a water bottle handy as well.

Perform your own choice of song (unaccompanied, from memory)

It’s entirely up to you which piece you sing for this part of the audition. We recommend choosing something you feel confident with, that you love, and which you think plays to your strengths.

It doesn’t need to be ‘classical’; whatever style you choose, we’re looking for sound vocal technique, a suitable level of musical challenge, and great communication. Your piece should be performed without accompaniment, and from memory. 

Please do prepare the whole song; there’s a chance we may have to stop you before the end, but please don’t be put off by this – we will only do this in order to stick to our schedule.

Vocal exercises

After you have performed your song, the panel will guide you through some vocal exercises. We do this in order to help us get to know your voice and hear your vocal range.

Listening exercises & score-reading

You’ll also be asked to do some listening and score-reading exercises with us, using the shared screen function on Zoom. Doing this will help us understand more about where you’re at as a musician and how you respond to musical instructions – they’re not designed to catch you out! For example, you may be asked to sing a simple melody, sing a short excerpt from a choral score, match pitches or identify intervals.

Informal interview 

Finally we’d love to know why you love singing, why you would like to join National Youth Choir, and a bit about your plans for the future. This is an opportunity for you to share your passion with us, and we look forward to hearing all about you and your musical life.

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How do the online auditions work?

• You will receive a ‘Zoom’ invitation via the registered email address on your Singer Portal account. This will include a link to log onto Zoom, the meeting ID and password
• Please log onto Zoom 15 minutes prior to your audition slot, where you will be entered into the waiting room
• One of our friendly administrators will grant you access into the Zoom session about 5mins before your allocated time and will help you check your visual/audio set-up
• The administrator will grant you access into the audition room once the audition staff are ready. There will be 2 members of music staff in your audition who will lead you through the session, so you'll always know what to do next. 
• Once you have completed your audition, you can click on the ‘leave meeting’ button on the bottom right hand side of the screen

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QUESTIONS? 

If you have any questions about the auditions for the National Youth Choir, please contact Rebecca Anderson on [email protected]