What choirs want

This e-mail is from a singer we heard audition last weekend, but could not accept into Portland Symphonic Choir:

---------------------------------------------

Thanks for your feedback and for hearing me at my audition.

I wonder if you could answer a few questions that would help me perform better in the future:
What do you look for in members of the PSC? What can I do to improve my voice as you heard it, and how can I perform better in future auditions? How can I improve my chances of getting into an auditioned choir in the near future? Thanks for your input--- and good luck with the coming season of song!
Sincerely,

- [name and e-mail withheld]

--------------------------------------------------

Hi!

Gary Shannon, Portland Symphonic Choir tenor section leader here. Mark in the choir office forwarded your e-mail to me.

Generally, any major choir is looking for strong voices with a free, natural tone color. We cannot accept voices that are regularly out-of-tune, forced, nasal, swallowed, throaty, shouting, inaudible, strained, quavering, breathy, or pinched. Preparing music on your own, adequate vocal range and sight reading ability are secondary considerations.

Voice lessons are always recommended - even our very best singers take voice lessons, sometimes from each other. A free, well-supported sound, without much strain or effort is the goal, and it usually takes an outside ear or two to help develop it.

The audition committee generally does not generally give out details on why we select some singers and not others. However, if you will write back to me and tell me what song you sang for us to jog my memory, I will answer what I can regarding your own audition, and preparing for your next one.

Yours, Gary Shannon
I teach online voice lessons! www.voice-mentor.com My passion: Your art.
4022 SE 100th Ave. Portland OR 97266 503-761-1837
( 8-{D} Balding, bespectacled, mustachioed, happy, bearded guy, usually open mouthed.

Renato Fabbro

I've had the good fortune of connecting to this ace pianist through Portland Symphonic Choir. Since he has no web-page yet, here is a note about him. Ron deserves a web presence.

Officially, per Tualatin Presbyterian Church::

Renato Fabbro received both Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in piano performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he studied with Larry Graham and Angela Cheng respectively. As a fellowship student at Rice University, he received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree under the tutelage of John Perry.

Dr. Fabbro has performed at the Aspen Music Festival, Sarasota Music Festival, Boulder Bach Festival, Idyllwild Arts Academy, and was recently invited to give a master class at Marylhurst University in Oregon. Competition prizes include top honors at the Fort Collins Symphony National Young Artists Competition, Young Pianists Competition, MTNA Wurlitzer Collegiate Artist Competition, and the Lee Piano Competition. Concerto performances include those with the Fort Collins Symphony, Grand Junction Symphony, Centennial Philharmonic of Denver, Colorado University Orchestra, and the Grand Junction Youth Symphony.

Dr Fabbro has served on the faculty of Lee College, and has also taught at Rice University and the University of Texas at San Antonio Summer Music Institute.

Un-officially, Ron simply plays piano beautifully, accurately and reads music like nobody's business. That, and he knows all the same cartoons I do.