Who May Join and How

The North Coast Men’s Chorus is open to men, whether gay, bi, or straight, whether cis- or transgender, and to non-binary singers who can sing in the appropriate range for a TTBB chorus. To join, just show up during the first few rehearsals in a concert cycle—September, January, or April. We’ll welcome you and get you set up.

“Auditions” (Don’t worry! Piece o’ CAKE!)

When you join the chorus, you will spend a few minutes with our Artistic Director and Conductor, Rich Cole, who will give you some simple things to sing. This is mostly to confirm which section of the chorus you’ll be joining. You don’t need to prepare anything. You don’t need to submit recordings or sing whole songs. It’s simple. It’s fun. It’s totally no pressure!

Can’t Read Music? Join Anyway!

It’s very helpful if you know how to read music to perform in a musical ensemble, but most chorus members are not “professional” musicians by any definition, and some have never studied music seriously at all. They probably couldn’t read music when they started.

Yet some of our members have more extensive musical training, and everyone learns from their experience, just by singing along with them. Diversity of all kinds—even diversity in musical backgrounds—is key to the chorus’s mission and values, so you’ll be right at home, no matter how much you’ve studied music, or not studied music, as the case may be.

Growing as a musician, however, is an important part of membership—for all of us, even those who’ve studied music seriously—so do your best to pick up the skills, like reading music, and learning to sing better and better. The Artistic Director actually teaches us a lot while we’re learning our music, and so a lot of musicianship and other musical know-how can be absorbed just by attending rehearsals. Join us, pay attention, do your best, and we’ll all keep growing in excellence together.