SJH CHOIR
Ways to get involved this year!
Honor Choirs:
ECOCDA District Honor Choir and OCDA Jr High All State Choir
1. How do we join these choirs?
These are auditioned groups. We will meet each week on Tuesdays after school to work on the audition music to help students prepare, and before the auditions Oct 5th, Oct 31st, and Nov 17th, we will have mock auditions after school. Students will be provided a CD of all of their music and their parts being played for them as well as tracks of their parts being sung by me. Music packets are provided for an $8 charge.
2. Is it easy to make these groups?
ECOCDA is a district choir and competition is not nearly as stiff as OCDA Jr High All State Choir. ECOCDA chooses approximately 150 students in total from surrounding school districts, and OCDA chooses 225 students from around the entire state to sing in a festival and concert.
3. Is it free to audition?
It is not free. There will be a $15 charge for ECOCDA (which includes music packets) and a $10 charge for OCDA. These costs cover registration for audition only. If students decide not to audition after they’ve registered, they must still pay the fee, as the school is responsible for paying for all student registrations.
Should your child be chosen for the choir, there will be a $16 participation fee for ECOCDA and a $45 participation fee for OCDA (plus hotel expenses for OCDA). They will need spending money for lunch during the festival times. We can do fundraisers to help with their expenses!
4. How often should singers practice for these auditions?
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. They will not make it otherwise. You MUST know your music like the back of your hand! (Wait....what is THAT.....) When nerves kick in, preparation does too, and if you’re unprepared, you’ll be up a creek!
5. Do you sing the entire song at auditions?
NO! The contest administration will pick a 90-120 second cut from two pieces they have been working on and THAT’S IT! They will sing a small section from two songs, receive scores based on their “performance,” and the highest bracket of scores will make the choir (or in the case of OCDA, will make it from Round 1 to Round 2 if they are singing Soprano or Alto). Students WILL get to practice these cuts before they audition that day in what’s called a “cut room” where they will hear the CD played exactly as it will be played in their audition room.
6. Will the judges see you in the auditions?
NO! In fact, if they do, you’re disqualified! Students will actually go to a normal classroom in another school or a church, and they will see a black screen and a music stand. They simply put their music on the stand, the judges behind the screen will press play on the CD of the 2 minute cut of the music they will sing, they sing, and they leave. Easy as that!
Websites for organizations:
(go to Jr High Mixed Chorus information on the left for the JH page)
SJH Choir
Because we do not have a designated choir class this year, I will be staying after school all year on Thursdays from 210-330pm every single week (unless absent/out of town on choir event) starting August 27, 2015.
This choir is free of charge, but will just require a uniform t-shirt purchase, which will most likely be around $8 or less. The uniform bottoms will be black pants/knee-length skirt and black shoes. Sequins, black denim, and flip flops are not allowed.
SJH Choir will perform with the HWJH choir (as I teach at both schools) and we combine every year with Southmoore HS choir to perform in their Winter and Spring Concerts. Dates/calendar will be attached!
This choir will not compete, but will prepare students for next year when we will have an 8th grade choir class that will compete at OSSAA contest and at Music in the Parks at Frontier City in May.
Please visit my HW choir page for information (updated OFTEN):
If you have ANY other questions, please email me at