The Generals try-out process's sole aim is to hear how you sound as a soloist and as a member of a background (both of which you'll be doing as a General).

Tryouts are divided into two components: (1) Initial Tryout (2) The Callback
The Initial Tryout is open to every male student at Davidson College. ALL ARE ENCOURAGED TO TRYOUT! The Initial Tryout is comprised of standard scales followed by the singing of a song of your choosing. No formal singing experience (whatsoever) is necessary to try out.

Here's a good example vocal scales:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqVzi36AlNA

When choosing your tryout song, consider a few things:

(1) Make sure the song is in your range and you're confident singing it acappella [we will provide the starting note]

(2) Make sure the song showcases your singing abilities. The most important thing in all of this is that you feel comfortable.

(3) Staying on key is important, and especially difficult when you sing acappella. There are many ways to work on ear training and perfecting your pitch, if it's something you need to work on. Everyone (except for a very small few) struggles with pitch, and we all have to work on it.

(4) Most importantly, be yourself. Stay relaxed. Our group's chemistry is just as important as our musical abilities. We try to make the tryout atmousphere as relaxed as possible.

From those initial tryouts, we will call back several of the guys who we'd like to hear more of, and from that group that has been called back, we'll select our newest members. The whole process takes between three and four days and then we hit the ground running.

**Anyone with an interest in singing is encouraged to try out.**

If you have any questions about the tryout process or about our group, please email me at bipowers@davidson.edu.