Joining AUCS

AUCS is the ultimate combination of quality singing and having good fun. We are a choir of over 100 members, with a typical stage presence of 60-80 singers. We aim to perform high-class choral music and have lots of fun while we do it. It can be a fantastic experience to sing with a huge choir and orchestra.

Dr Kate says: "Come and join AUCS!"

Anyone can join AUCS. There are no auditions, and you do not have to know how to read music or sing in order to join - you can learn from the other singers around you. Aside from singing, AUCS offers plenty of social opportunities for members, from regular things like dinner before the rehearsals and coffee afterwards, to rarer occasions like quiz nights and formal dinners.

Membership

AUCS tries to keep membership costs as low as possible. Inflation and other things do unfortunately mean fees rise from time to time. This year membership costs $15 for full-time SA University/TAFE students ($5 if it's your first year in AUCS), $30 for part-time students, public-transport concession holders and Adelaide University staff, and $50 for everyone else. Being a member entitles you to sing in every concert for the year, as long as you attend rehearsals.

Rehearsals

AUCS at the pub

Being a choir, we like to rehearse. It makes our concerts sound better. AUCS rehearses on Tuesday nights, from 7pm till (mostly) 9:30pm, in the University of Adelaide’s Madley Dance Studio.

Where's that?

To find this, enter the North Terrace campus of the university through gate 14 and go straight ahead until you hit a glass door, with a carpark on your left, and some stairs on your right. Go up the stairs, and Madley Studio should be on your left, a big room with a glass wall, at the northern end of the grassy area that is Pfitzner Court. (See map below.)

What happens if I miss a rehearsal?

We'd love you to come to every rehearsal, but we understand that every so often something else comes up which will cause you to miss one. If you miss a rehearsal, then you miss out on an opportunity to practise your part with the rest of the choir, but you also miss any directions the conductor gives about how pieces (and bits of pieces) should be sung. That's not a big problem, as long as you don't miss too many. If you miss more than a few rehearsals, then you are missing a lot of the musical direction which makes for a good performance, and the conductor may decide that you are not sufficiently rehearsed to sing in the concert.

Rehearsal Camps

PK conducting at camp,
with Audrey at the ivories.

For each concert, usually early in the rehearsal season, there is a weekend rehearsal camp. These are held at a campsite not too far out from Adelaide (e.g. Macclesfield or Meadows). People head up on Friday evening (after they finish work and uni), and head home again late Sunday afternoon. Aside from being a lot of fun, camps are where much learning of the music is done. Four rehearsals (Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday after lunch) are held at camp, and it is usually here that the music really starts to come together. While we encourage you to come for the whole weekend, some people choose to drive up just for the rehearsals (or some of them). These are important rehearsals, and missing them is no different from missing a normal Tuesday rehearsal.

Want to know more?

If you are interested in joining AUCS, come along to one of our rehearsals! If you have any questions, please contact the secretary, Andrew Moschou, at secretary [at] aucs [dot] org [dot] au. Answers to some common questions are provided on the FAQ page.