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UCD Philarmonic Choir - questions about taking elective module

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  • 15-07-2015 1:09pm
    #1
    DreamByDay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 169 ✭✭


    Hi all,

    Just wondering if anyone here has ever been part of the UCD Philarmonic Choir? I am hoping to join for one, maybe both semesters this coming school year (as an elective) and would like to hear more.

    In particular:

    1) How selective is it? I don't have any choir experience but my pitch is ok and I can read music (played violin for almost 10 years), and I love to sing.

    2) How do the auditions work? Are they group auditions or..??

    3) How time-consuming is it?

    4) How does the assessment of this module work? And do people get As easily. I've kept my GPA high enough for a 1.1 so far and would like to keep it that way in order to be competitive for the Masters I like (nothing more infuriating than when your electives tank your GPA).

    Thank you for your help!!

    Lucie


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    #2
    errlloyd
    Registered Users Posts: 12,611 ✭✭✭✭errlloyd


    Do you mean the philharmonic choir or the Choral Scholars?

    The Choral Scholars is a pretty big deal, they are quite selective and very demanding, but you get your grant, and it's one elective. The Philharmonic is a little easier to get in to and a little less demanding, but I didn't realise you could earn credits doing it.

    The nature of competition possibly makes it a little easier for guys, who generally face a little bit less competition.


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    #3
    DreamByDay
    Closed Accounts Posts: 169 ✭✭DreamByDay


    errlloyd wrote: »
    Do you mean the philharmonic choir or the Choral Scholars?

    The Choral Scholars is a pretty big deal, they are quite selective and very demanding, but you get your grant, and it's one elective. The Philharmonic is a little easier to get in to and a little less demanding, but I didn't realise you could earn credits doing it.

    The nature of competition possibly makes it a little easier for guys, who generally face a little bit less competition.

    Hi, thanks so much for answering :)

    I am talking about the Philharmonic Choir indeed - you can take it as a level 2 elective apparently.

    Bit miffed to hear it's more competitive than I thought as I'm a girl with no choir experience...I thought the audition was just meant to cut out anyone who really can't sing or match pitch, didn't think it was really competitive or anything...

    Oh well, I'll still try out and see how it goes! Any advice?? :D:D


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    #4
    toreilly102
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭toreilly102


    DreamByDay wrote: »
    Hi all,

    Just wondering if anyone here has ever been part of the UCD Philarmonic Choir? I am hoping to join for one, maybe both semesters this coming school year (as an elective) and would like to hear more.

    In particular:

    1) How selective is it? I don't have any choir experience but my pitch is ok and I can read music (played violin for almost 10 years), and I love to sing.

    2) How do the auditions work? Are they group auditions or..??

    3) How time-consuming is it?

    4) How does the assessment of this module work? And do people get As easily. I've kept my GPA high enough for a 1.1 so far and would like to keep it that way in order to be competitive for the Masters I like (nothing more infuriating than when your electives tank your GPA).

    Thank you for your help!!

    Lucie
    Hi!
    I did philharmonic choir last year, hopefully I can answer your questions!
    1. It's not that selective if you can sing some scales and can sightsing a basic melody you'll get in no bother!
    2. You put in an application into the School of Music and they will tell you when the audition is taking place! It is by yourself, you go in and talk to the conductor (not sure who the conductor is this year as the previous one left) and talk about your experience with music in general and then you do some scales and sight reading.
    3. The Audition? 5 minutes. The module itself? 2 hours every Tuesday, 5-7pm.
    4. It's based on attendance, small group exam and concert night! The small group exam is in your sections, you sing an excerpt of what your singing for the concert, together as a group, and the conductor and another member of staff from the School of Music walks past and hears you sing. It's about 10 mins. If you want to get an A, you must come to attendance every week!

    It is a nice module and the good thing about is, is that you can do it again and again! They change its title every year. E.g. it could be Philharmonic Choir 3 in the first semester and then Philharmonic Choir 4 in the second.

    Hope this helps, if you have anymore questions, fire away!


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    #5
    aFunnyWorld
    Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭aFunnyWorld


    toreilly102 wrote: »
    Hi!
    I did philharmonic choir last year, hopefully I can answer your questions!
    1. It's not that selective if you can sing some scales and can sightsing a basic melody you'll get in no bother!
    2. You put in an application into the School of Music and they will tell you when the audition is taking place! It is by yourself, you go in and talk to the conductor (not sure who the conductor is this year as the previous one left) and talk about your experience with music in general and then you do some scales and sight reading.
    3. The Audition? 5 minutes. The module itself? 2 hours every Tuesday, 5-7pm.
    4. It's based on attendance, small group exam and concert night! The small group exam is in your sections, you sing an excerpt of what your singing for the concert, together as a group, and the conductor and another member of staff from the School of Music walks past and hears you sing. It's about 10 mins. If you want to get an A, you must come to attendance every week!

    It is a nice module and the good thing about is, is that you can do it again and again! They change its title every year. E.g. it could be Philharmonic Choir 3 in the first semester and then Philharmonic Choir 4 in the second.

    Hope this helps, if you have anymore questions, fire away!

    Hey, thanks so much - that's really useful :) I am starting to think that I will take the module just for fun (since I already have electives I'm interested in + the Masters I want to do looks at individual modules to see if they're relevant). That way there'll be no pressure and I'll still get to sing with other people :)


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    #6
    chatterboxxx95
    Registered Users Posts: 306 ✭✭chatterboxxx95


    aFunnyWorld wrote: »
    Hey, thanks so much - that's really useful :) I am starting to think that I will take the module just for fun (since I already have electives I'm interested in + the Masters I want to do looks at individual modules to see if they're relevant). That way there'll be no pressure and I'll still get to sing with other people :)

    Can you join and not do it for credits? I tried to join last year in 2nd semester and it was full, I'm a science student btw


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    #7
    toreilly102
    Registered Users Posts: 5 ✭toreilly102


    chatterboxxx95 wrote: »
    Can you join and not do it for credits? I tried to join last year in 2nd semester and it was full, I'm a science student btw
    Yes you can but I would try to register in the first semester!


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    #8
    aFunnyWorld
    Registered Users Posts: 13 ✭aFunnyWorld


    chatterboxxx95 wrote: »
    Can you join and not do it for credits? I tried to join last year in 2nd semester and it was full, I'm a science student btw

    According to the wesbite you can join either as part of the BA in Music, as an elective, or just for fun. Don't know if they try and keep quotas of electives versus "for fun"...personally I'll try and sign up for an audition ASAP because I think they just fill the places as a first come first serve basis and I'm a pretty common tone (alto).


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