The Wham Bam Big Band
The Wham Bam Big Band
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  • About
  • Meet the Band
  • Little Band
  • Auditions
  • Media
    • Photos
    • Videos
    • Recordings
  • Contact Us

Audition for the only student-run jazz ensemble at W&M!

Auditions for Wham Bam have concluded for the 2017-18 school year! Thanks to everyone who auditioned!

Fall 2017
Auditions will be held on Sunday 9/3 (and Saturday 9/9, if needed), from 10:00am to 4:00pm on both days. Each audition will be 15 minutes. Auditions will be held in the Music Building, Ewell Hall, in Room 207. That's the Band/Orchestra room upstairs; if you can't find it, text Liam at 203-685-3877.  If the slots fill up for the first day of auditions, we'll open up more slots for the second day. If you'd like to audition and you cannot make either of those times, contact us and we'll work it out!
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Sign up for auditions at the Activities Fair in Kaplan Arena on Tuesday 8/29 from 7:00-9:00pm or outside the band room in Ewell Hall (near Room 207).

Wham Bam's top priorities this year are: Trombone, Trumpet​, Saxophone (2 Tenor/1 Baritone) and Vocals. However - if you play Alto Sax or play anything in the Rhythm Section, please come audition regardless!


Our audition process differs depending on the instrument, but, as you would expect from a jazz ensemble, is centered around how good you are at your instrument. Acceptance to the group for horn players is based on tone quality, rhythm, technical ability, range, and sight-reading. For rhythm section players, acceptance is based on rhythm, style of playing, technical ability, and comping. If you know how to improvise, it will be a huge boost to your audition - but many of our current members did not improvise at their auditions - improvising is not required!

For those instruments not listed below, the auditions will vary, but will generally consist of a scale, sight-reading, a prepared piece (optional), and improvisation (from The Real Book).

Prepared pieces are in the PDF below. Download it and print the pages listed for your instrument: Bring a copy to your audition (we have extras, don't worry!)

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​Pages
Guitar: 9-10
Bass: 11-12
Trombone: 7-8
Trumpet: 5-6
Tenor Sax: 1-2
Alto Sax: 3-4
Bari Sax - Separate File

Wham Bam Prepared Pieces
File Size: 7812 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Bari Sax - Wham Bam Prepared Piece
File Size: 509 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Horns

Saxophone
  • B Flat scale, 100 bpm, 2 octaves
  • Range test (chromatic: lowest - as high as you can)
  • Prepared piece: Vehicle
  • Sight-reading
  • Optional improvisation from any charts from The Real Book
Trombone
  • B Flat scale, 100 bpm, 2 octaves
  • Range test (chromatic: lowest - as high as you can)
  • Prepared piece: Vehicle
  • Sight-reading
  • Optional improvisation from any charts from The Real Book
Trumpet
  • B Flat scale, 100 bpm, 2 octaves
  • Range test (chromatic: lowest - as high as you can)
  • Prepared piece: Vehicle
  • Sight-reading
  • Optional improvisation from any                               charts from The Real Book

The Real Book Song list in the Vocals section ->


Rhythm

  • Prepared Pieces: Soul Man for Guitar, Deck the Halls for Bass
  • Piano and Drums: No prepared piece, just sight-reading and comping​
  • ​All sections: Comp 3 different styles (Swing, Straight 8, Bossa Nova) with other rhythm  section members

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Vocals

  • 2 songs from The Real Book in any key​ 
  • If you want to pick a different jazz vocal song, let us know ahead of time so we can get chord changes for it
  •  Song List
  • Our expectation is that you’ll be able to find your songs and learn them.
  • A copy of the real book can be borrowed from the Ewell Music library
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