Village Voices

Work one-on-one with two of the most respected jazz/harmony singers in the business, learn repertoire other than the standard fare, and learn to play with your voice as an instrument? Janis Siegel and Lauren Kinhan will teach you how to own a groove whether it's swing, bossa nova, R&B, or bebop, how to find your solo sound within the group framework, and how to deepen your strengths as a harmony singer. We want you to be flexible, musical, and bookable out in the real world, and this ensemble will provide real insight into building the chops, vocabulary, and attitude you'll need to achieve that.

Auditions are Open:

We are filling all parts for Fall 2024 - Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass.  We meet once a week on Mondays, 6:45-8:45 PM, in building 35 West 4th Street, room 779. Please fill out the audition form by Monday, August 19, 2024. We may need to hold call backs. The sooner you audition, the sooner we can request additional materials.

Who Can Join:

Vocalists and instrumentalists who pass the audition can join. Priority is given to Vocal Performance majors. Freshman are not able to audition for vocal performance ensembles.

Audition Information:

We are looking forward to hearing from you and getting Village Voices Fall 2024 populated. This is a fast paced vocal advanced ensemble that requires outside class preparation to maintain the speed at which the music must be learned while maintaining the high level of performance this group is known for.  Over the years we have won DownBeat magazine's student music awards for both the ensemble and individual soloists.  We look forward to continuing that trend while also, and most importantly, sharing our passion for group singing and the skills and life lessons that arise from this kind of musical community.

For starters, we want you to audition! You will find the audio materials in this Google Drive. The audition songs are not necessarily a reflection of the pieces we will learn in the semester, but they give us the information we need in order to know if you are ready for the Village Voices vigorous and ambitious set lists. We would like you to sing the part you are best suited for on "Bli Blip", "Sometimes I Do", and "It's Alright With Me."  One is a medium swing selection, one is a medium bossa and one is an uptempo swinger. There are two versions for your part – one with only your part isolated and one with all the parts except for yours (music minus one). Auditioning with the "music minus one" would be the best way for us to hear you hold your own part while also simulating the feeling that you are singing with the other parts in the recording. We hope you find this feature helpful. And if you are interested in showing your improvisation skills, you may take a solo on "Bli Blip." The track extends to include a section for you to do that. We would like for you to video record yourself with the provided piano tracks playing in the background, singing with confidence, appropriate style and accuracy. Good camera framing and lighting is always appreciated and is good practice for the world of self tapes that you'll be doing for all your future auditions!

In addition, we would like you to sing a piece that you feel shows off your solo chops. It can be any style. The range of repertoire for the class is jazz and contemporary, and that encompasses a lot, so be creative and show your talents off.

In the Fall semester of 2023 we were invited to record our repertoire at WBGO Jazz Radio in Newark, NJ and were featured on the radio on three different occasions.  We also did a musical exchange with a visiting high school from California where we performed and mentored the up and coming students.  We are always looking for performance opportunities for the group as well as collaborations within the NYU community. 

If you have any questions, please contact: jbs12@nyu.edu and ljk6@nyu.edu.

We are looking forward to hearing and meeting you. It’s going to be another exciting semester of musical collaboration and singing together.