Audition

Thanks for your interest in joining the Fog City Singers! This page describes our audition process and the overall commitment expected of our singers.

→ We will next be holding in-person auditions on Monday, April 21st. Please send video submissions at least 72 hours in advance to give our Auditions Crew sufficient time to review, and to schedule your in-person audition slot.

→ ⭐️ We’ve recently updated our auditions process! We are now using a two-stage approach: first a video submission and then an in-person quartet stage. If you’ve read this page before, please read again (relevant changes start in the “Format: How Do I Audition?” section) and make sure you understand our new procedure.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE In the FOG CITY Singers?

The Fog City Singers (“FCS”) are a Tenor-Bass a cappella chorus in San Francisco, aiming to bring a contemporary treatment and appreciation to the barbershop style. The group is currently comprised of about 50 voices—all volunteers—and, in addition to being a great place to sing at quite a high level, FCS is also a wonderful community of humble and friendly humans. Moreover, we’re a chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society, which means we go to conventions where we meet and perform for lots of other singers from around the region, the country, and the world.

To keep motivation high, we organize ourselves around tightly scoped projects that are self-contained, exciting, and slightly too ambitious. We agree with Leonard Bernstein: “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.” Each project is typically a “concert set” consisting of ~3 months of weekly rehearsals to learn and memorize ~8 songs on a theme, with ~2 concerts at the end of the term. See sample concert videos here or concert programs here.

“To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan and not quite enough time.”
— Leonard Bernstein

Some logistical clarifications:

  • You’re auditioning for the group, not just for a project. If you’re in, you can stay in as long as you’d like. If you step away for more than a few months, we may re-audition you—partly to check that your skill set hasn’t rusted, and partly to ensure that you’re truly bought in again!

  • Rehearsals are generally on Mondays from 7pm - 9:45pm. We book the room until 10pm in case we’re on a roll and want to go a little later, and to simply allow our singers to relax after rehearsal, get to know each other, and sing some barbershop tags. We also occasionally rehearse on other days of the week—and sometimes weekends—to avoid holidays or to accommodate a coach’s schedule. We’ll publicize all project dates before each project begins.

  • Singers are asked to explicitly opt into each project. This helps ensure a stable, highly motivated roster for each project (which makes rehearsals more rewarding, helps us figure out part balance up front, and so forth).

  • If you opt in, plan to attend ~all rehearsals. Life and health can get in the way, but generally, we’re hoping that those who opt into a project will attend all rehearsals (save maybe 1 or 2), as well as all performances. We ask that planned absences are communicated weeks in advance if possible. Times the number of members, this policy helps ensure that each rehearsal is worthwhile!

  • By joining the Fog City Singers, we’ll also ask you to become a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society. This allows you to sing with us at conventions and also helps fund our chapter activities, which include booking spaces, paying for our director’s services, and purchasing sheet music and learning resources. There is an annual fee associated, about $340—that fee is far lower for singers 26 and under.

  • FCS doesn’t let money be a barrier to participation. Please know that a central tenet of the Fog City Singers is that finances should never be a reason to preclude anyone from fully participating in all of our chorus endeavors. If you are in need of financial assistance, we will find a way to help you out—whether it’s for chorus fees, travel expenses, and/or any other FCS-related costs.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M A GOOD FIT FOR FCS?

We’re looking for strong, conscientious singers who apply feedback and learn music quickly, yet who are humble and lovely to be around. Vocal tone is a major factor for us: barbershop is all about ringing chords, so we look for clarion, “ping-y” voices rich in both fundamental tone and higher partials. Accountability is also important: we look for singers who would be “leaders” rather than “leaners” in a typical choir setting.

Style

We want the Fog City Singers to be a potluck of masters from different musical styles. Barbershoppers, opera singers, choir nerds, a cappella geeks, jazz geniuses, soloistic riffers, rockers, theater performers, and shower-singing savants are all represented and welcome. We encourage you to demonstrate your stylistic “spike” during your audition. We’re eager to hear anything from Mariah to Mozart!

Musicianship

We memorize all of our music, and we provide learning tracks to help our singers accomplish this outside of rehearsal rather than plunking notes in rehearsal. Many of our singers are comfortable sight-readers, which helps us move more quickly, but some members also rely heavily on auditory learning without reading music that well (it’s quite impressive how good their ears are!). That said, comfort with basic rhythm, phrasing, notation, and musicianship will be important for understanding musical direction and applying it quickly in rehearsals.

MINDSET

We’re looking for singers who are driven, humble, kind, self-aware, a little quirky, and eager to learn (both music and craft). We take our projects and our process seriously, but we never take ourselves too seriously.

Format: HOW DO I AUDITION?

Our audition process involves two stages: a video submission, and an in-person audition.

I. Video Submission

You can do this part of the auditions process at any time. To begin, please record and submit a video to our email address, auditions [at] fogcitysingers [dot] com, in which you:

I. Introduction. Introduce yourself and answer the following questions:

  • What makes you interested in joining the Fog City Singers?

  • How did you find FCS?

  • What is your voice part preference? (Are you aiming to join us as a Tenor, Lead, Baritone or Bass? CLICK HERE to learn more if you are unfamiliar with barbershop voice parts.)

    • For those more familiar singing in TTBB voicing, we typically recommend for FCS auditions that Tenor 1’s audition as Leads, Tenor 2’s as Baritones, Bass 1’s and Bass 2’s as Basses, and countertenors/developed falsettos as Tenors. But everyone is different! Make the choice that you think allows you to sing in your most comfortable voice.

II. Solo. Perform a 90-120 second solo of any song - without any accompaniment in the background or in your ear, that best showcases your voice and personality. It can be anything: an aria, a pop song, a jazz standard, a show tune, etc. We want a new recording that is specifically for the purpose of this audition—this is not the place to share with us a previously-existing snippet from a senior recital or karaoke night. Beyond just “singing”, please perform the selection with all of the expression, emotion and body language that you feel is appropriate.

Most modern smartphones/tablets/computers have sufficient built-in video and audio tools, so please do not feel pressured to purchase or rent high-end equipment for this purpose. That said, please make sure that there aren’t any problems with your submission’s audio or video—and obviously, please submit raw, unedited footage. Once your video is ready, email it to us at auditions [at] fogcitysingers [dot] com along with your voice part preference. Our Auditions Crew will review your submission and notify you within 72 hours whether you are invited to advance to the in-person round.

If you are having any technical problems in preparing a video submission, please reach out to us! We’ll be happy to offer guidance as we can.

II. In-Person Audition

While your video submission can be submitted to us at any time, the in-person round will happen at a specific time, usually in-between chorus projects. Our Auditions Crew will coordinate with you to schedule an exact date and time for your in-person audition via Calendly.

Your audition will take place in front of a small group of chorus leaders. No other candidates will be present. The experience is relaxed, informal, instructive, and collaborative: we want you to do well! Further, you are not competing against anyone else when you audition—if every auditionee meets our bar, we’ll accept everyone!

Your audition will last around 20 minutes.

I. Exercises. We'll first guide you through some scales and other exercises to get a sense of your vocal and musical ability. No preparation is needed for this facet. Remember to sing fully and openly, with the mindset of being a “leader” rather than a “leaner.”

II. Quartet. Perform I’d Love to Live in Loveland, memorized, in a quartet with three of our music leaders filling out the other parts. Please strive for note, rhythm, and word perfection. This will help us evaluate your ensemble-singing skills, memorization skills, and detail-orientedness. After the first run-through, we'll give you feedback and ask you to sing through certain portions again. Here are the learning materials:

SUMMARY: TO-DO LIST

  1. Record your video submission, which should include an introduction and brief solo performance.

  2. Email auditions@fogcitysingers.com with your video submission.

  3. Our Auditions Crew will review your video and let you know within 72 hours of submission if we’d like to advance you to the in-person stage.

  4. Sign up for an in-person audition slot using the Calendly link sent to you by a member of our Auditions Crew.

  5. Prepare for the in-person stage by memorizing your preferred voice part on I’d Love to Live in Loveland.

  6. Show up for your audition!

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That’s everything! Remember that we’re rooting for you. Let us know if you have any questions!