It appeared in the NYT a month ago, but I just found it . . . a great article about auditioning for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
It features brief interviews with Craig Jessop and Mac Wilberg, two men the nations choral directors hold in very high esteem. Here's an excerpt of the article:
The first to audition this evening is a baritone and computer consultant of 51 who has tried and failed twice before. He is wearing a blue blazer that offsets his pale expression of calm terror. It is time to stand naked, vocally speaking; it is time to sing.Full article here.
Two men in white shirts and dark ties sit at a foldout table before him, pencils poised. What they are listening for, the untrained ear may not catch: the sound of one’s ability to meld with many in singing glory to God. They know it when they hear it.
*****
Occasionally a voice fills the room and carries listeners away, as when Holly Abel, an administrative assistant and soprano, demonstrates her vocal reach by singing the phrase “Sweet hour of prayer” over and over, higher and higher. Years ago she promised herself that at age 40 she would try out for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and now here she is, sweetly hitting high notes at 40.
More often, though, voices break, crack, fall short of the spirit felt. “Oh my gosh,” one woman says after emitting an errant la. “I can do this at home so easily.”
1 comment:
This was quite an amazing experience. Imagine having the usual audition jitters, and then adding the New York Times reporters into the room! Out of the corner of my eye one is scribbling notes and the other keeps readjusting his flashing camera! I invite you to visit my blog mormonsoprano dot com.
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