For various logistic and personnel reasons, we are planning a different kind of season for 2011-2012. We intend to schedule fewer rehearsals during the year and we may or may not schedule performances. At least initially, we will be holding each rehearsal simply for the joy of singing the music in that rehearsal. For that reason, this year we do not ask singers to make a commitment to attend all rehearsals, or even to become a member for the full season. Instead, initially we will be inviting experienced singers to commit to attend one rehearsal at a time and to prepare the music in advance of any rehearsal they attend.
Rehearsals are usually held on Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:30 in Berkeley or San Francisco. If you are interested in attending one or more such sessions and have not sung with Mostly Motets in the past, you are asked to audition. Auditions are open on all parts. We especially encourage tenors and basses to audition. Singers who have auditioned and are to be invited to future rehearsals, will be given access to Mostly Motets' member web site, which contains sheet music, sample performances, and other rehearsal preparation aides.
We may schedule performances later in the year. If we do, we will ask specific singers if they would like to commit to specific rehearsal and performance dates. As time goes by, perhaps for the 2012-2013 season, we intend to shape a more regular performance schedule again, based in part on the music we have sung in this season's ad hoc singing sessions.
Some of information below may not apply to the 2011-2012 season.
The ideal complement for our group is 10-14 singers: 2-3 sopranos, 3-4 altos, 2-4 tenors, and 3-4 basses. We encourage anyone who might be interested in singing with the group to contact us, even if there may not seem to be a vacancy in your part at the moment. Please follow the steps below and contact us as soon as possible. You are also invited to attend any of our events and chat informally afterward with the singers and director.
The ensemble normally rehearses about twice a month (does not apply in 2011-2012), usually on Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:30. We rehearse at a couple of different location in the San Francisco Bay Area and try to balance between East Bay and San Francisco and other West Bay locations.
Since we often sing with one or two persons on a part, we are looking for singers who are both skilled musicians and will live up to their commitments to the group. Singers with the following characteristics will probably be the best fit:
For this ensemble to work and in fairness to the other performers (not to mention audiences) we must all commit to and do the following:
Anyone considering participating in this ensemble should probably read this article by Peter Phillips, founder and director of the Tallis Scholars. While some of the ideas presented in that article are quite the opposite of those underlying our ensemble, others of them are so cogent and directly applicable to our genre and our ensemble, that they could form part of a sort of mission statement for our organization. All of the thoughts in the article are well articulated and worth considering.
There is neither any fee from performers nor any compensation to them. It would be wonderful if the ensemble could evolve into one that could compensate performers; however, that is a very difficult feat to accomplish—no one should quit his or her day job just yet.
The normal steps to join are as follows:
We would encourage you to first go through this web site to make sure that you think the group and its repertoire might be a good fit for you.
Please think through your schedule carefully and let the auditions coordinator and director know, in your first conversation or email, what activities you have that might limit your availability for rehearsals on Sunday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:30 in Berkeley, San Francisco, or other Bay Area locations. Please include any specific dates, for at least the next six months, on which you have activities planned that could conflict with Sunday afternoon rehearsals.
If you think you might be interested in joining the group, please email the
address shown in the box to the right of this paragraph.
Typically there would be a conversation or two by phone before scheduling an audition. The prospective singer
would also be welcome to chat with other members of the ensemble and the director to discuss the group. The goal is that any prospective singer have a very clear idea of
what singing with the ensemble involves early in the process.
In most cases, the prospective member and auditions coordinator would next schedule an informal audition. Every effort is made to make the audition as painless as possible. The following link provides details about the audition process.
We wouldn't expect a singer to make a commitment to the group, nor would we invite a singer to become a regular member without sitting in on a trial rehearsal. If, after the steps described above, the prospective member and the director believe it might be a good fit, the singer would be invited to participate in one of our rehearsals. If all goes well, the singer would be invited to become a regular member (or, in 2011-2012, to attend sessions he or she may wish to attend).