Craigslist and a great day of auditions!

Hey everyone,

So I realize that it has been awhile since either of us has posted an update on the journey of Love Note Sentiment and the steps we have taken leading up to what was a great day of auditions yesterday. A few posts ago I mentioned our use of Facebook advertising in order to get the word out about our auditions. However, while I'm sure that this form of advertising is a great asset to many different groups and organizations it honestly didn't really help Chris and myself with the process of sparking interest in auditions for our group. There was another tool which we used that was simple and put simply got the job done for us.

The Vocal Biz:
I was surfing Craigslist one day looking for furniture for my apartment and used records to add to my collection when the an idea came to me. Why not post an ad for auditions and for Love Note Sentiment on Craigslist and see what happens. I realized that while we had attempted to advertise in other ways these simply were not working and it wouldn't hurt to at least try it. I would just like to say that if it weren't for the wonderful Craigslist auditions would probably not have happened at all. The great things about posting an add for auditions on Craigslist are first that it is a simple way to get the message out to anyone who happens to be surfing the net and stumbles upon it. Another great thing about it is that if someone is interested you provide an email for them to contact you at right on the page where the ad has been posted. So rather than see the add and then call or look up more information anyone interested can just shoot you an email right from the ad itself. I highly recommend this resource to everyone especially those who may be having trouble finding a way to get the word out.

So as for auditions let me just say that at the beginning of the day Chris and myself were both anxious and nervous at the same time but I feel like the day couldn't have gone any better than it did. We met a bunch of really great guys with a lot of talent and looking at the group that we have put together we're both extremely excited for what's going to come next. Perhaps it might be of interest to those reading the way in which we conducted our auditions so I will make a short list of how and why we did what we did.

1. Upon arrival we had the auditionees fill out a sheet with basic contact information as well as their particular musical skills, their voice part, and also their availability during the week. I feel that this may be a no-brainer to some but it was great because we had contact numbers and emails, we had schedules to look at so we could start planning rehearsals after we picked members, and the voice part also helped us in a later point in the audition.
2. We then had each auditionee sing a song which they had prepared for the audition, surely another no-brainer. The great thing about this is that you get to see what the singer is comfortable with musically, where there voice sounds the best within their range, and also what kind of music they're into themselves.
3. This next section of the audition was Chris' idea and I think that it worked even better than we planned. For the third section we had each auditionee sing a barbershop tag with Chris and myself. For those who do not know what a barbershop tag is it is the end of a barbershop song in which there are many moving parts and blend is very important, if you want more information on this please feel free to comment on this post and we will explain further. The great thing about these tags is that in one excericise we were able to judge each persons tonal memory, and their blend.
4. Our next section of auditions was definitely an experimental one and it may not be useful to all groups that are holding auditions however it was a very important one for us and our group. At this point of the audition we had each auditionee simply improv with us based on their voice part. For instance if the auditionee was a tenor or baritone Chris would sing a 12 bar blues bass line and myself and the person auditioning would simply improv or in a way scat over Chris' bassline. If the audtionee is a bass or may specialize in vocal percussion we would simply switch things around so that they can show off their abilities on the spot. We had a lot of fun with this because it showed us personality, creativity, and just the comfort that each individual had withing a creative setting.
5. Finally we ended the audition with questions and answers. Before we asked any questions however we decided it would be better to let those auditioning ask the questions first for two reasons. The first is that the answers they recieved from us may help them answer the questions we would ask them. The second and more important reason was that we felt if they asked questions first it would help them to relax and make our questioning a little easier to manage. As for questions to ask those auditioning my suggestion is to have some questions you ask everyone and some which you have prepared to ask the individual singers themselves.

That got to be a little longer than I had originally planned but I hope that it was helpful to anyone out there reading this blog or those who may need help with either audition structure or even a way to advertise auditions.

Ryan

Concern/Idea

Hey folks!

Chris here, and I realized that its been about a month since either of us updated. So here is some up-to-date stuff.

-I officially have a degree in Music Education, which is nice to accomplish in the music world.
-Auditions are less than a week away. Ryan and I have posted at local music stores, sent facebook messages, talked to local music directors/instructors, and even posted on Craig's list. We haven't heard too much, but we are keeping our fingers crossed!
-I haven't had a voice in three weeks. It started as a sinus infection, and now I can breathe again, just not talk. I think it may be laryngitis. I am calling my otolaryngologist on Monday. For those of you that don't know, an otolaryngologist is the super official person to go to about your voice. Especially as a singer, its important to know one.

I Should Arrange That

So I had a recent idea that I think would be awesome. Yet again, another mash-up of two songs, which seems to be my addiction.
"Handlebars" by the Flobots mixed with "Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake. I think that the rhythmic feel and the chord progressions of the two can blend together very well. At least have "Handlebars" with a reference of "Cry Me a River" thrown in during the chorus or something. It would be sweet.


More updates to come, especially after auditions.
Later Days,
Chris