Music Ministry

Music at St. Mary’s is a blast! Our mission is to make beautiful, joyful worship, and good friends. Experience is great but not necessary.

Music at St. Mary’s

Music at St. Mary’s is a blast!

Our mission is to: Make beautiful, joyful music for worship - Make good friendships - and grow in discipleship of Christ together.

Experience in music at Mass is great, but not required. Many of our members were in high school choir, band, or orchestra. Many other members have no prior experience, and trying it for the first time.

Some of our ensembles or roles are for musicians with a particular type of training, or by audition. But most of our music opportunities are open to all, and we tailor the music so that people of different skill levels can all achieve beautiful results, and grow in skill and confidence.

How to start in Music Ministry:

#1 - Fill out the interest form at the button below. Tell us your music interests, desires, or other individual questions, and will follow-up with you:

MUSIC INTEREST Form

#2 - Attend a Music Howdy Dinner the first week of class this fall. You'll meet other students who love music and dinner, figure out which of our groups/schedule work for you, and sing/play some songs together:

  • SINGERS - Monday August 24, 6:30pm - Monday night is for those who like to sing. Any style (including Choral, Praise & Worship, Chant) or if you’re not sure, or you like it all.

  • ORCHESTRA - Wednesday August 26, 6:30pm. Wednesday night is for those who play a String or Symphonic Band instrument. Bring your instrument if possible! (We have some instrument lockers if you need to drop it off early let us know). It is required that that you already proficient playing your instrument (i.e. HS band/orchestra), and that you can provide your own instrument.

  • PIANO &/or ORGAN - By appointment. If you play Piano or Organ we will want to set up a time to meet individually at St. Mary’s to see where you’re currently at, give you some music to work on, and connect you to a group (either now or when you’re ready). Start by uploading an audio or video example of you playing (see #3 below).

  • PRAISE BANDS - date tbd - If you play Guitar | Bass Guitar | Drums/Percussion | Piano (by chordsheets/improvisation) | or a Solo instrument (by improvisation, often Violin or Cello but sometimes flute, clarinet, sax, etc) we will have several opportunities in August for you to come meet us and play, but those exact dates/times are still tbd. First complete step #3 below, and you can come to the Monday 8/24 dinner to meet other musicians and sing/lipsync with us.‍ Singers who are interested in the Praise Band format need to complete step #3 below, and attend Monday 8/24 singers’ dinner.

#3 (OPTIONAL) - Upload a short example of you singing or playing. Just a simple phone voice memo or video is great, nothing fancy. This is not an audition or a pass/fail. The purpose is just for us to have an introduction to your voice and style. If you’re an experienced singer/player this is probably no big deal. If you’re new to this, or just nervous about it, don’t worry it’s optional:

  • This is NOT required to be a regular member of our music program, or the main choir groups. We encourage you to try it because it helps get us started. We see through the nerves to the voice hiding behind! And sometimes it provides us a chance to notice something we can give you starter tips or a little coaching on. But it’s ok if you skip this step and just come to the dinner.

  • This IS required if you would like to apply to a smaller or specialized ensemble for this fall (such as a Praise & Worship band, or a Choral motets ensemble, etc) so that we can match people with complimentary skills to succeed in those formats, or advanced difficulty levels of music.

  • What to do on your recording:

    • 1) Sing a couple verses of a classic hymn such as: The King of Love My Shepherd Is or Amazing Grace.

    • 2) Then sing or play a chorus/verse from a song of your choosing that you think is a good example of your voice /instrument. It can be sung a cappella (i.e. without instruments/tracks). It doesn't need to be a religious song (but radio version please!). If you’re a musical theater person Do-A-Deer from Sound of Music is great. Or a pop tune, something you did in high school choir, God Bless America, or a favorite chant or hymn.

    • Please no autotune, filters or ai haha!

    • If the upload button is unavailable, email your audio/video examples to music@aggiecatholic.org instead.

Back to #1 - Please fill out this short INTEREST FORM if you didn’t already, to put us in touch and gives us an idea about your musical interests:

MUSIC INTEREST Form

Some of our music groups:

  • Symphony Chorus (an SATB choral ensemble for all singers)

  • Orchestra (string and symphonic band, combines with Symphony Chorus)

  • Women's Chorus  (an SSA choral ensemble for all singers)

  • Men's Schola (specializes in Gregorian Chant)

  • Vespers Choir (an SATB choral ensemble of singers with advanced choral experience)

  • Praise & Worship bands

  • Wedding & Funeral cantors

  • No. Whether you just like to sing in your car, have some choir experience, or you are a veteran at cantoring at mass, we welcome all experience levels!

    Sign up for an Intake Interview or Audition and if you're ready, we'll put you out there, and if you're not quite ready, we will grow with you!

  • Intake Interviews and Auditions help us match up students with similar skills and musical chemistry into groups that will work well together. They help us get to know everyone better, and identify strengths and weaknesses so we can give tips to improve. Or just to find the right place to start if you’re new. Some of our music groups are matched up by auditions, for others, it is not required.

    Our auditions are not competitive, because Music Ministry is not a competition - it’s prayer, worship, and fellowship. Music Ministry has an important role of leadership for the congregation in worship (and a schedule of liturgies to fulfill!) so there is a lot to organize for the Fall!

  • Specialty groups & ensembles - This is an open invitation to any student (new or returning) who is interested in a specialty group (i.e. smaller ensembles) such as: Vespers Choir, Sunday Praise & Worship bands, Magnify/Special Events, Wedding/Funeral cantors, String Quartets, etc. For these groups it is important to match students with similar skills and styles.

    Symphony Chorus cantors - Auditions are also for members of our primary choir (Symphony Chorus) who would like to be in the rotation for solo/cantor opportunities such as the psalm, antiphons, and other solos during a song. At choir rehearsal there are so many people that it’s difficult to know each individual’s voice or interests, so we can unintentionally overlook people that way. The audition time will help us give everyone an opportunity, and to plan for being successful when it’s their turn.

    New people or incoming freshmen & transfers - If you are new here, or don’t know where you would fit in music ministry, sign up for an Intake Interview time and we’ll go from there when we meet. Just choose “Intake Interview” when it asks what type of time slot you are signing up for.

  • It varies a little depending which group you are interested in, but our simple Intake Interviews & Auditions consist of (you do not need prior experience, if you’re not familiar with any of these things that’s ok):

    Scales - We will do some scales to find the high and low ends of your range.

    A Song - We will ask you to sing a song that gives us an idea of your vocal style, melody, harmony. In addition, you can sing/play sa song of your choosing that you feel confident with, and feel presents your musicality well.

    Sightread - If you read music, we will do a short sightreading exercise to see what level. For some groups (Vespers) sightreading is a requirement, for others it is not.

    Schedule - We will talk about your schedule and other commitments, to help us form groups that can practice and perform together consistently.

    Other - We can talk about other interests or desires you have related to music.

  • No, the audition is not required to be a member of our primary choir (the Symphony Chorus). Just come to the rehearsal at 8pm on Monday. 

    Symphony Chorus is St. Mary’s primary choir. The group has a mix of both experienced and new singers, and we sing music that is tailored to be very beautiful and prayerful without being too complicated. Ability to read music is helpful, but not required.

  • We want to meet you; hear you play to get a starting point; give you some music that we often play so you can start working on it; and and talk about which groups might be a good fit for you. 

    If you are play a symphonic band or string instrument, the Symphony Chorus orchestra rehearses on Wednesdays at 7-8:30pm, please reserve that time in your schedule! An audition is encouraged but not required (if you played this instrument in your HS orchestra/band).

  • A use of the “Returning Choir Member 1-on-1s” time is an opportunity for a few minutes of individual coaching for any choir member or instrument player (even if you’re not interested in a cantor role). This will help us get to know everyone’s strengths, weaknesses and desires a little better, or give you some tips in an area you’d like to improve. Choose “Coaching” when it asks what type of time slot you are signing up for.

FAQ’s:

Email Mike, Truely and Nhat at music@aggiecatholic.org with individual questions.