<p>How hard is it to make the selective a cappella groups (Pitchforks, Rhythm and Blue) as a freshman? </p>
<p>Also, I was recently in contact with the head of the music department at Duke, and he mentioned a small 16 member, auditioned group that sings strickly classical (and the members are chosen from the chorus). How difficult would it be for a freshman to join such a group? Thanks!!</p>
<p>Along with that, what would you all say the most respected, and selective, classical singing group on campus was?</p>
<p>I don't know anything firsthand about the selectivity because I didn't audition, but to answer your 2nd question, I'd have to say the Pitchforks. It's also the oldest. That small, classical group you're referring to may be the Chorale...which I had a number of friends in, and they all enjoyed it. Someone else has to do a better job of answering the selectivity questions, because I really don't know much, but from what I heard from friends who auditioned, apparently it was pretty tough...</p>
<p>The selective group that sings strictly classical would be the chamber chorus. Yes, it is chosen from members of the chorale. I was considering doing chorale last year, but it seemed like too much of a time commitment for me. It only practices for four hours a week, but then there are also concerts and tours. I am not sure how selective the chamber chorus is, but I know that a lot of people do chorale for fun, so if you have enough experience in music (probably with reading music and foreign pronunciation) you would be fine.</p>
<p>As for a cappella groups, I tried out for Pitchforks, Speak of the Devil, and Rhythm and Blue last year. I royally messed up my R&B audition, but I got callbacks for Pitchforks and Speak (they each called back 10-15 out of ~80 auditioners), so I can speak rather confidently about the audition process. I unfortunately didn't get in to either of these groups, but I'm going to audition again this fall, because it has always been my dream to be in an a cappella group.</p>
<p>The first round of auditions is simple. You go in, they have you do vocal warmups so that they can determine your range, and then you sing like 30 seconds of any song that you want. That's it. For the second round, each group provided us with sheet music of some of their songs for us to learn (in a matter of a few days... we didn't have to know it well). They had marked which voice part they felt we would be in their group. During our audition, we sang a second song of our choice, and then were asked to sing our part in one of the selections they had given us with the rest of the group. I think there may have been some recall exercises, where someone would play a few notes at the piano and we would have to sing it back to them. They started off with easy intervals, and then got progressively more difficult. </p>
<p>After this round, Pitchforks made cuts, but Speak had everyone come back as a group, and we were split into quartets to learn one of their songs.</p>
<p>So that's all that there is to it. Don't worry, it's a lot more laid back than reading it makes it seem. The guys are really cool about helping out and such (I'm assuming at least the mechanics are the same with the female groups). I hope I helped.</p>
<p>And Pitchforks don't sing classical... if you want to sing classical, the chamber chorus would probably be the way to go. I agree that the Pitchforks are probably the most respected a cappella group on campus because a) they're the oldest, and b) they're really good.</p>