Part of what we do at Sing Montana! is to put the right people together to make special things happen. And when it comes to instrumentalists of various kinds, we have a hunch that we’ve got a very special situation on our hands, in which we’ll be able to put our singers together with skilled musicians who are also in it “for the love of the game”.

Generally, we’re looking for skilled musicians who are looking for modest involvement in something that’s not only fun and rewarding, but that’s easier than getting your own gig together. We’re confident that the Billings market has enough skilled players that we can get all we need once we’ve had time simply to get the word out.

Here’s a brief run-down of what we think we need as of Fall of 2023. And please keep in mind that we’re inventing a lot of this as we go, so flexibility is the name of the game!

• Piano Accompanists. We need some number of skilled accompanists to play for Freedom Choir (mostly unaccompanied), and for the three new homeschool choirs. Also, Troubadours will need somewhere between 1 and 3 piano accompanists to play for their solo and small ensemble pieces. This could possibly be arranged piecemeal, to some extent, or if we ended up with an accompanist wanting to take on large chunks of this work, that would work out, too.
• Guitarists. Troubadours could certain use one or more guitarists from time to time to play for solos and small ensembles. Meanwhile, if we had a guitarist conveniently on hand, it would be very easy to include at least one guitar-accompanied piece in every major concert.
• Bassists. While we’re not necessarily looking to start a combo for Troubadours just yet (and let’s talk about it if you’re interested in that!), we do think we could use a bass player (electric or upright) on somewhere between 1 and 4 numbers in each of our two major concerts each year.
• Percussionists. What we said about bassists just above, we would say about percussionists, but with a bit added. We do have occasional call for some auxiliary percussion, such as bongos, congas, djembe, tambourine, etc. We could probably keep one or two skilled percussionists busy with something to do both Fall and Spring.
• Horn players. We do have a piece or two that calls for moderate wind sections, including flute, clarinet, trumpet, saxophones, and trombones. Beyond that, though, it’s easy to see making the occasional use of a solo for one of these instruments here and there. (We do our own arrangements largely, so if we’ve got a good thing going on with a horn player, we can certainly write more of the same!)
• String players. We have an occasional violin/fiddle part, for sure, and we even have one song that calls for a string quartet. (We’re wanting to do that one in the Spring 2024 show!)
• Bluegrass Band. We even have an original piece for Freedom Choir and a Bluegrass band! We’d like to perform it as early as Spring 2024.

Fees

At Sing Montana!, we’re in it for the love of the game. Our singers don’t get paid, and we think it makes a lot of sense to have the same policy for our instrumentalists, too. Whether you’d like to come on as a long-term volunteer accompanist, or to join us for a single number on a single show, we’d love to talk to you! We need skilled players, of course, who are reliable and easy to work with. And once we’ve got a good thing going with an instrumentalist, we could see having a long and stable relationship, including them in our shows here and there as the repertoire calls for it.

Starting in Fall 2023, every member of Sing Montana! from 7 years old to 107 pays a $100 program fee per semester to keep it all running. This is our business model. It’s what it takes to do it right and to build a sustainable organization.

If this sounds interesting to you, let’s talk!