I was recently told that there’s a surplus of singers in Bristol at the moment and so all the choirs have waiting lists. I couldn’t help reflecting, firstly, on how things change over time. Not very long ago there were too many choirs in Bristol for the pool of singers available; this, I think, was what made the Brandon Hill Singers go under. Secondly, I wish good luck to the people on the waiting lists! I have been on several in my time: two choirs in Manchester, and round here the Paragon Singers and the Bristol Bach Choir (I’d enjoyed singing for Peter Leech so gave them a try, but they never contacted me when the season for auditions came round). In none of these cases did the wait lead to an audition and in at least one case I suspect the ‘waiting list’ to have been a total fiction rather than just carelessly maintained or scrapped after a certain length of time. It is a miserable alternative to singing.
[February 2015: A member of the Bristol Bach Choir told me that prospective members used sometimes to have to wait years for an audition, but now they get auditioned quickly.]