Audition slots for Spring 2024 are currently closed, but stay tuned for information on auditions for the upcoming fall semester!
Auditions are typically held during the second or third week of the semester. All first round auditions are held in the basement-level practice rooms of Morrison Hall on the UC Berkeley campus. Should you receive a callback, the time and place of your callback will be emailed to you individually.
In addition to scheduled auditions, we also have walk-in auditions towards the end of the week. Walk-in auditions will be held on a first-come, first-served basis. There is no sign up required, so you may come whenever you’re available. Walk-in auditions will also be held in Morrison basement.
The most important thing you need to know about being in DeCadence is that you will be sure to find a community of talented musicians, thoughtful friends, and fun-loving Golden Bears always seeking to learn more about and uplift each other. We are a bunch of musical hooligans, but in our free time we like eating good food together, jam seshing, watching movies, group studying (go bears), and enjoying each other's terrible puns.
In DeCadence, we are committed to musical excellence. This involves each member being fully engaged during rehearsal, taking time to review their music outside of rehearsal, and putting forth their best effort as a musician and as an essential part of the group.
Events we traditionally perform at include the UC Berkeley Welcome Back Showcase, West Coast A Cappella Showcase, and our own DeCadence end-of-semester concert. We have often attended the California A Cappella Festival at UCLA and have competed at ICCAs (The International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella). Throughout the year, we perform at birthdays, alumni events, student outreach programs, staff parties, the occasional proposal or wedding, and whatever else people hire us to do! Wherever we sing, it's always a great experience.
| What type of experience do I need? |
| While the experience of our members varies, we look for our singers to have good intonation/pitch, be able to read sheet music, and be able to carry a part in a group of other people singing different parts. We also greatly appreciate the ability to listen to musical feedback and adjust your performance accordingly. Also, if you’re interested in vocal percussion or arranging music, that’s a big plus! |
| Do I need to be able to read sheet music to audition? |
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For singers, yes, BUT you don't have to be great at it. Since we learn our parts primarily from written music, we expect auditionees to have some level of sheet music skills. But no worries if your music-reading is rusty or if you can't sight read super well. For people who can't read music at all, we encourage you to take Music 25 or learn on your own, and then once you have the basics down, come audition for us! For beatboxers, no. If you're auditioning for vocal percussion, it's okay if you can't read music. This is because our vocal percussion parts are typically not written in sheet music, but instead created by the beatboxer themselves, or learned by ear from recordings of previous performances. |
| What do I need to bring to the audition? |
| Please fill out the audition form and prepare a thirty-second-to-one-minute solo (a verse and a chorus would be great!) that you feel shows off the best of your voice! |
| Wait, I have to prepare a solo?! |
| Yes, but don’t worry! It doesn’t need to have mad Beyoncé runs, nor does it need to hit the absolute lowest/highest note you can go. Just pick something that best showcases your voice and go with it! It would be helpful to choose a song in a comfortable range for your voice that has some dynamic contrast (soft/loud) and doesn’t have too much empty space between lyrics. |
| I beatbox. What will my audition look like? |
| Our vocal percussionists sing backs in some songs, beatbox in some, and solo in others. We ask that in addition to preparing a short solo that highlights your singing voice, you also prepare a short solo that highlights your beatboxing abilities. |
| When will callback auditions be? |
| Callbacks will be held on Saturday and Sunday, January 27th and 28th. Should you receive a callback, the time and place of your callback will be emailed to you. |
| What kind of time commitment is involved? |
| As a member of DeCadence, you will be expected to attend two 2.5-hour weekly group rehearsals (usually Monday and Wednesday evenings), a 1-hour weekly sectional (timing decided by the section members) and our weekly Sproul performance on Wednesdays 11:00am–12:30pm (Sproul attendence is more flexible). In addition to this, we often have small performances throughout the year and a big concert at the end of each semester. While not required, we also love to hang out just as friends throughout the semester! Most of our members stay for at least a year, and we also hope that auditionees will consider committing at least a year in the group. |
| How competitive are auditions? |
| Each audition season, there can be anywhere from a dozen to over a hundred auditionees. Fortunately, DeCadence does not have any sort of quota on group size for any given semester (the group has been 10–18 members historically). Many of our members actually did not get into the group on their first or even second audition. That’s why we strongly encourage singers who don’t get in to take some music classes and/or audition for other groups to build experience, then come back and audition again! |
| Can I audition for other groups at the same time? |
| Absolutely! Since the beginning of each semester is new and exciting, we understand the importance of exploring new clubs and activities. You're more than welcome to audition for other groups, and some might be a better fit than others. By doing so, you’ll gain valuable audition experience in addition to learning more about our great a cappella community at Cal. Whether it be for DeCadence or others, we want you to find the perfect fit for your a cappella interests (but we really hope it’s us)! |
| I have other questions! |
| Don't hesitate to reach out to our audition coordinators at decadence.berkeley@gmail.com! |