All upcoming 8th and 9th grade choir students must audition for placement in 1 of the 3

choirs at AJHS. Please see the “AJHS Choir and Music Program Curriculum Info” section for details on each choir. All students that audition will be placed in the choir that is deemed the best fit for them and the choir program.

The form is attached. Here's more information on the audition form:

Students will fill out the top part of the audition form with their name, upcoming grade, why they want to be in choir, any previous musical or dance experience, and to mark their preferences for which choirs they prefer to be in over others. 

Students will need to prepare to sing 30-60 seconds of a song that confidently shows off their voice by themselves—no backing music tracks or instruments. This will be scored for intonation (singing the correct notes in tune), tone quality (vocal technique and vocal maturity), projection (energy and strength of sound), and diction (clear pronunciation of lyrics) as well as confidence and expression while singing. It is best for the lyrics to be memorized to show confidence.

Students will also sing a short sight reading to show the student’s experience with reading music. The excerpt can be sung on solfege (Do, Re, Mi…), numbers, or on a neutral syllable like “dah” if the student if not familiar with solfege/numbers yet. If a student is not familiar with sight reading, then they can just sing the excerpt to the best of their ability. If you mess up while sight reading, keep going—the goal is to get to the end without stopping. You can go at your own speed and in whatever vocal range works best for you (doesn’t have to be in the written pitch). Make sure the notes are sung and not spoken—the singing of the pitches and rhythms are the most important part. Students will have 60 seconds to look at the sight reading and to state the major key of the key signature if they know it. There are sample sight-reading excerpts included below.

This section is only required if the student is interested in auditioning for one of the competitive show choirs (Adrenaline or Audacity). There will be a short dance to learn from videos that will be assessed for accuracy of choreography, sharpness of moves, and energy while dancing (including confidence and facial expression as well). If a student only wants to be in concert choir, they do not have to do the choreography portion of the audition. Concert choir does less choreography and doesn't compete with choreography.

Here are two sample sight-readings that both start on “Do.” You can read either line—top

(Soprano/Alto) or bottom (Tenor/Bass)—they are the same notes. Make sure you start in a

comfortable range for your voice and sing it slowly and steadily following the correct pitches

and rhythms.

Adrenaline is a highly competitive show choir of 8th & 9th grade boys and 9th grade girls. This group learns and performs standard choral repertoire for their Fall Choral Concert. Then, they focus on learning a competitive show choir show with choreography and costume changes. There will be mandatory after-school practices on Tuesdays from 3:45-6pm from October to February for learning the competition show. In January and February, they travel to multiple show choir competitions in Alabama to compete with other show choirs on Friday nights. They will also perform their competition show at Preview Show in January and at their Spring Show in May.

Audacity is a competitive show choir of 8th & 9th grade girls. This group learns and performs standard choral repertoire for their Fall Choral Concert. Then, they focus on learning a competitive show choir show with choreography and costume changes. There will be mandatory after-school practices on Thursdays from 3:45-6pm from October to February for learning the competition show. In January and February, they travel to multiple show choir competitions in Alabama to compete with other show choirs on Friday nights. They will also perform their competition show at Preview Show in January and

at their Spring Show in May.

Anthem is a concert choir of 8th & 9th grade boys & girls. This group focuses on learning and performing standard choral repertoire for their Fall Choral Concert and popular style music for their Winter Concert. In the Spring, they focus on playing ukulele while singing for Singing Valentines during the school day. They also learn a few show choir songs with choreography and costuming for their Spring Show. Besides the 3 performances that are after school at AJHS, there will only be a few after school practices during

April and May to rehearse for Spring Show.

This class is for 8th & 9th graders interested in learning how to create, record, and produce music with GarageBand. A variety of music technology related topics is covered from songwriting to recording and audio mixing techniques to how to use professional audio equipment like microphones and sound boards. Major grades are all hands-on projects.

This class is offered as an alternating-day, semester-long course for 9th graders. Students learn the basics of reading sheet music and chord charts for piano, ukulele, and guitar. They practice on the instruments each class day and receive individualized and group instruction. All 3 instruments are provided for each student in class. There is an informal in-class performance to conclude each instrument unit for a major grade.