MSC is hosting open auditions on Sat., May 18 and Sat., June 8 – at Spring Hill Presbyterian Church, 10 Westminster Way, Mobile, AL.

Is musical experience required? No. MSC has four choirs: Preparatory, Intermezzo, Concert and Encore. This allows for placement based on multiple criteria, including musical experience. Most students spend a season or two in Preparatory or Intermezzo, our training choirs. For more information about each of the four choirs, please click here.

Does my child need to prepare for the audition? No. During the audition the potential singer will be asked to perform several exercises. Parents should expect the student to make mistakes – part of the process is to evaluate how the child accepts instruction to correct the mistakes. The student may also be questioned about other musical experience and music theory.   

Do we need to bring anything with us? Yes. Before your child’s audition, please click here for a link to the 2013/2014 season audition form. Just complete the form and bring it with you the day of your audition. 

How do I schedule an audition? Auditions will be held in the morning on May 18 and June 8. To schedule your time, please contact Director, Susan Hoitt at mobilesingingchildren@gmail.com or call 251-285-2285

For more information about the individual choirs and membership expectations, please click here.

Photo’s from our concerts have been posted to our Facebook page.  The links below will allow those who do not have a Facebook account to see them as well.

“An Evening of John Rutter” – Featuring Katie Ott, Guest Harpist (12/8/2012)

“Believe” – The Mobile’s Singing Children 2012 Christmas Concert (12/1/2012)

Please feel free to join us for either of our concerts this month — no ticket is required.  Details about each event are included in the graphics below.  (Right click on the graphic to view larger, or to print.)

In order to assist us with measuring our outreach, our ushers will be asking each guest to provide their home zip code.

Mobile’s Singing Children will perform two holiday concerts this December.  The first,   “Believe”, is Saturday, December 1, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.  This concert will feature all four of Mobile’s Singing Children ensembles: Preparatory, Intermezzo, Concert and Encore. Attendees will be treated to a variety of pieces including traditional Christmas songs such as Sing We Now of Christmas (Becki Mayo) and Hungarian Christmas Carol (Austin Lovelace).  The choirs will also perform an anthem piece entitled I Believe, which was composed by Mark A Miller.

The second concert is titled  “An Evening of John Rutter” and will be held Saturday, December 8, 2012 at 7:00 pm at St. Mary Catholic Church.  MSC’s two advanced choirs, Concert and Encore, will perform at this concert. 

As the title denotes, this special event will feature compositions by John Rutter. Rutter’s choral music is very popular, particularly in the USA (NBC’s Today Show called him “the world’s greatest living composer and conductor of choral music”)   Over 3 billion television viewers recently enjoyed Mr. Ruttter’s work as a part of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton when the Choir of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal Choir jointly performed a Rutter choral anthem commissioned as a wedding gift for the couple. Performing Rutter’s compositions is especially endearing to MSC choir members who had the privilege of being conducted by John Rutter himself in a 2009 Carnegie Hall performance of his work, Mass of the Children.

Both concerts are free of charge, with donations gratefully accepted at the door.

Check out this wonderful graphic developed by onlinecollege.org.

Simply listening to music offers significant educational benefits, but music performance boosts scores even higher.   A child’s voice IS an instrument!  Formal, classical, vocal instruction paired with music theory instruction (learning to read music) offers the same advantages as playing a physical instrument.

MSC offers all of this and more!  Our members and alumni are “proof positive” of the positive impact of music!

Excerpt from  http://www.onlinecollege.org/Music-Makes-You-Smarter:  “Studies show that music has a strong effect on your mood levels and emotions, and also on how you think and your general intelligence. The music you listen to can have a profound effect on your test scores and your ability to quickly process information.”

It’s that time of year!  We are in the midst of our Pecan Sale Fundraiser and our singers are out selling.  Our pecans are always super fresh — never frozen from last years crop.  They are shelled and shipped to us within days of harvest.  (This is one reason that we can’t give you an EXACT delivery date, because the exact harvest date is whenever the pecan trees are ready.)  We can promise that they should be in singers hands by November 12, so they can deliver to you in time for your Thanksgiving baking.  Pecans are $10 per one pound bag and available in pre-shelled halves or large pieces. 

This year our singers are also selling HoneyBaked Ham Gift Cards.  These gift cards are available in $10, $25, $35 and $50 increments. They never expire and they are good at any HBH store around the country or at HoneyBaked’s online store.  They make a great gifts or can serve as a great way to plan for your own holiday meal.  The actual gift cards will be in at the same time as Pecans, just in time for you to include them with your 2012 Christmas Cards.  These cards make great gifts for friends, family, co-workers, clients and employees.

Singers must turn in orders by October 16th.  Personal checks are accepted only from our choir members and their parents, so singers will be asking for cash or for checks made payable to them (or their parents). Company and business checks will be accepted for orders placed by the business.

If you’d like to order pecans or HoneyBaked Ham gift cards, and haven’t heard from your favorite MSC member, just send us a note with your contact information and we’ll get your ordered filled.

On behalf of MSC and all of our singers, we want to extend a huge THANK YOU to the Mobile community for supporting this fundraising event for many years!  We’re looking forward to a great year of pecans!

Concert Choir will not meet on Labor Day, Monday, September 3rd.  Our next rehearsal will be on Monday, September 10th from 4 to 6pm with a tour meeting (for parents and singers) immediately following rehearsal.

Preparatory and Intermezzo Choirs will meet for regular weekly rehearsal on Tuesday, September 4th.  Rehearsal will begin promptly at 4pm.

Have a great Labor Day Holiday!