Musical Club Puts Candidates For Membership To The Test

Usually, an audition is to try for a role in a play, movie or television show or for a chair in an orchestra.

Spokane’s Monday Musicale, however, requires prospective members to audition for membership. They are voted into the club - or not - based on their audition performances.

Monday Musicale requires auditions because membership is limited to 25 people. The group meets in members’ homes, which means limited space.

Also, since it is a musical club, members must either sing or play an instrument.

The group’s monthly meetings center around a performer or type of music, and members perform appropriate music.

They also perform for the general public and private groups.

“The purpose is study and to share music with the community,” says Carol Lewis, publicity chairman.

The club, begun in 1922 by a group of Spokane women wanting to make music together, is the oldest group of its kind in the state, Lewis says.

Lewis has been a member since 1977 and sings in the Monday Musicale’s Madrigal Group. (Madrigal is a type of early music that uses a lot of repetition.) The Madrigals also perform other types of music.

Other member musicians play the flute, violin, cello, viola and piano. Many are active in community music groups, such as the Spokane Falls Community Orchestra.

The Monday Musicale usually stages a recital every spring and performs for nursing homes and civic organizations without a fee.

Some audience groups, however, make a donation, which is used to help buy the always-needed sheet music.

The Monday Musicale helps support other music groups like the Greater Spokane Musical Festival, held each May, and Music for Youth, a volunteer program that runs in the schools.