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🚀 Joining info - 2025/26

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Welcome!

Thinking of joining Big Band Society? We’d love to have you. We’re open to anyone and everyone who wants to come and play!

We’re a group of students who have a passion for all things jazz. We meet every Friday evening for a chilled out rehearsal with drinks and chat. We are a welcoming and supportive community, and hold a variety of socials throughout the term such as formals, scavenger hunts, karaoke, and our family scheme. Oui oui!

Our two incredible bands feature some of the most talented musicians in the university, and we regularly play gigs throughout Bristol and further afield. Here are a few things to expect from us:

  • Gigs! (lots of them) – highlights include sell-out gigs at The Fleece, Bristol Beacon, and others. We usually aim for 1 or 2 big gigs per term, plus an opportunity to play paid small-band gigs in between.
  • Socials – as mentioned above, we run various socials throughout the year! They are a great way to get to know others in the society, and we run a mix of alcoholic and non-alcoholic events 🙂 We’re very proud of our “family” scheme which helps especially to introduce our new members to our returning ones.
  • Rehearsals – these are the staple of Big Band. However your week’s been, you can rest easy knowing that come Friday you’ll be relaxing with all your mates, playing some cheeky refreshing jazz and maybe even sippin’ a cold bevvy at balloon bar 😍 “it’s what you love to see, and what you love to hear” – Ali Barton 👂
  • Tours and excursions – Every year we take Big Band overseas to play jazz for an international audience and see the sights; over the past few years we’ve been to Amsterdam, Madrid, and Bruges.
  • Battle of the Big Bands – a friendly (cutthroat) competition between south-west university Big Bands that takes place every year in the spring. We send BUJO to bring the crown home, this year we’ll be going to Plymouth. 
  • Soul Divas – Soul divas is an all-women big band that play a charity event at the end of the year. It’s organised as a collaboration with Jazz Funk Soul Society and is our biggest event of the year, usually constituting a sold-out show at the Fleece. Rehearsals don’t kick off until TB-2, but if you want to get involved then watch out for updates on our Instagram

What if I don’t play Jazz? Don’t worry, we accept musicians from all backgrounds and would love to be your gateway to jazz. You can still audition, and of course every horn is welcome at BUJO. 

What if I’m out of practice? If you haven’t picked up your instrument in a while, BUJO is the perfect way to get back into it in a relaxed and social environment. We welcome all abilities and would love to have you!

We have two bands:

The Bristol Hornstars:

  • The Bristol Hornstars is our fully auditioned band. Rehearsing in the Stephenson Room (in the Richmond building) this band is smaller but tends to take on a more challenging repertoire and consistently delivers some of the best big band performances in Bristol and the surrounding area. Highlights of this year included exclusive gigs at Pizza Express Soho and Old Market Assembly, along with producing professional recordings which you can find here: https://open.spotify.com/album/6FV8tGlfboDdnz0TFdXVqU?si=phd1aRqZRQ6N6coXlTQ1RQ 

BUJO (Bristol University Jazz Orchestra)

  • BUJO is our larger band rehearsing in the Carpenter room. If you play a horn, just turn up – no audition necessary. However, if you’re a singer or rhythm player, you’ll need to be auditioned to come to rehearsals. While BUJO’s rehearsals may be a little more relaxed than The Hornstars’, the quality of music is certainly no less, and the band has achieved a lot this year. Last year in Bath we were crowned the winners of the south-west Battle of the Big Bands camon🏆! 

While we have two separate bands, we are ultimately one society and socialise together at the end of every rehearsal with a cheeky pint at the Balloon bar followed by a social at a local pub.

How do I join?

Membership is, and will always be, free! If you’d like to be in Hornstars, play a rhythm instrument, or sing then you’ll need to audition (read more below). Otherwise, just turn up to rehearsal on a Friday!

Here are the steps to joining our society:

1. Register via Bristol SU

Use the button below to find our page on the SU website. You’ll need to log in with your uni account, then look for the button that says “join this group” or similar.

Our SU page

Once you’ve registered, you should get a welcome email from us. Hopefully we won’t end up in your spam, but it’s always worth a check 😉

2. Follow us on social media

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bristolbigbandsoc/ (BUJO & Hornstars), https://www.instagram.com/thebristolhornstars/ (Hornstars) 

Our Instagram is the best place to get accurate updates about auditions, gigs, events etc We also have a Spotify – tasty stuff coming soon! Find us using the buttons below:

Instagram Facebook Spotify

3. Come and say hi!

If you play a horn, just turn up to rehearsal! It’s at 17:30 every week in the Richmond building – head to the Carpenter room on floor 2. Our first rehearsal will be on Friday the 25th of September, but we’re also holding a Give It A Go session on Wednesday the 16th September, which you can sign up for on the SU website. See you there!

Unfortunately, due to strict new rules imposed by the Student’s Union, we are now only allowed to audition people who are members of Bristol SU. We are very sorry to those who have been disappointed by this decision.

Auditions

This section contains a lot of information. The audition process has also changed slightly from past years, so make sure to read the following information carefully.

If you would like to be in Hornstars, play in either of the rhythm sections (so bass, keys, drums, or guitar), or sing, you’ll need to audition. Unfortunately it has to be done – we obviously can’t be having unlimited drum players!

This year, instrumental auditions will take place between Monday the 21st and Thursday the 24th of September.

The most important thing to remember is that we’re nice, friendly people (we’ve been told) and we want you to feel happy and relaxed. This is a fun and social society, so don’t stress, but do take the audition process seriously – there’s some tough competition!

Audition standard

First off, it’s worth mentioning that the standard to play in our big bands is high, and the places we have are limited for rhythm and vocals in both BUJO and Hornstars. Nobody has a guaranteed place, even if you’ve played in our bands the year before.

As such, we do unfortunately have to turn away some very talented players each year. However, the bands change every year as people graduate and new members join the society, so come back next year and please audition again!

With that said, if you’re on the fence about auditioning (especially if you’re a horn player) – do it! You might surprise yourself, and it’s good experience. If you’re a horn player, you’re always welcome in BUJO 💖, so you might as well give it a go!

Instruments

For clarity, here is a full list of instruments that we accept auditions for:

Hornstars only
  • Trumpet
  • Trombone
  • Alto Sax
  • Tenor Sax
  • Bari Sax
BUJO and Hornstars
  • Vocals
  • Drums
  • Bass guitar
  • Guitar
  • Keys

Logistics and timings

We have a lot of auditions to get through! For this reason it is VITAL that you are there and ready to begin your audition (instrument out + warmed up) by the time slot you have chosen. We will have warm-up rooms available for you to use on the day, and recommend that you turn up at least 20 minutes prior to your allocated time.

If you’re going to be late on the day, text us (contact details will be provided) – but we can’t offer any guarantees that we’ll be able to rearrange. We have limited overflow slots available at the end of the week, but will prioritise these for students that are unable to attend their instrument’s allotted day.

Due to the limited time we have for each audition, you may be asked to stop so that we can move on to the next section. Please realise this is not indicative of your standard, it’s just so we can get through everybody, and we may need to be fairly ruthless about it. Thank you for your understanding! If you’re going to need a little more time to set up (e.g. leftie drummer), also drop us an email so we don’t forget!

Experts

In our audition process we like to bring in experts on each instrument to help the panel differentiate between high-level auditionees. This also helps us as an external person to the society will be less susceptible to biases and means the process overall should be fairer. Most of these experts will be there in person on the day, however it’s looking like it’ll be difficult for this to be the case for everybody. Although not ideal, this means that some auditions may be recorded so that we can send them to an external expert for their opinion. Please get in touch if you are not happy with this, and we’ll try to sort another solution.

Panel

The panel will consist of some committee members including the President or Vice-President and conductors, and an external expert in the instrument being auditioned.

We know that jazz is a male-dominated space and understand that for people of other genders entering this field can be intimidating. To ensure everyone auditioning feels as comfortable as possible and to eliminate any biases, we will have at least one woman or gender diverse person on the panel at all times. So please get involved! If you have any more questions or feedback please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Audition format

The process is different for vocal and instrumental auditions – expand the relevant toggle for full info.

Vocal auditions are the most popular (and competitive) auditions, and we’re always grateful to receive lots of them! Unfortunately this does mean we have to turn a lot of people down every year 🙁

As such, we have a two-round process for vocalists which we believe will make the experience fairer and more streamlined.

Stage 1: Video submission

Stage 1 audition submissions will close at midnight on Saturday the 19th of September.

For the first stage, you are expected to send us a recording of you performing an own-choice song. This can be anything you like, but we strongly recommend choosing a song from one of the following genres: Jazz, Swing, Big Band, Funk, Soul, or similar. Choosing the right song will give you the best chance of being successful, it’s really important for us to determine whether you will be a good fit for us; we’re looking for candidates that are a good fit for the type of music we perform!

Your submission can be unaccompanied or accompanied, and we recommend that you keep the length around 3 minutes – we may not be able to listen to all of your recording if it’s longer than this!

We’ll aim to let you know if you’ve been selected for the next stage by Friday the 26th of September.

Submit a video by filling in the form below.

Stage 2: in-person

We’ll aim to accept as many applicants as possible through to the second stage.

The second stage will be held on Saturday 25th September – we hope this will allow you to recover from fresher’s week and give you a bit more preparation time.

Second-stage auditions will be held in-person in front of a panel we’ll expect you to perform three songs:

  1. An unaccompanied own-choice song, open to you in style and genre. This should aim to be around 2 minutes long. This should be different to the one you sang in stage 1.
  2. An accompanied song, chosen from a list that will be released soon
  3. Another accompanied song, the options will also be released soon.

Accompaniments will be provided by our amazing jam band đŸ„°đŸ˜, which will be a small rhythm section (bass, keys, drums). We’d prefer you to sing them in the original keys if possible so the band knows what to expect – if this doesn’t work for you, please let us know when booking your slot. You’re welcome to use any lyrics/sheet music that you want.

All other instrumental auditions will be conducted in-person in front of a panel. These auditions will be structured as follows:

  1. An unaccompanied piece of your choosing
    • Aim for roughly two minutes – if it’s too long, we might have to cut you short for the sake of time.
    • Any style or genre is welcome, but we strongly recommend picking a piece from the following genres: Jazz, Swing, Big Band, Funk, Soul, RnB, or similar. This is important for us to get a better feel for what you’d be like in one of our bands! That being said, play to your strengths, auditions with classical pieces have occasionally been successful.
    •  No metronome will be allowed
  2. A short sight reading exercise
    • This exercise will use a short extract taken from a big band chart.
    • You’ll be given thirty seconds to prepare.
    • This will be tricky, but that’s intentional. Again, try not to stress too much – we’re interested more in your approach and confidence as a player rather than the final performance. We’re not expecting perfection!
    • A metronome will be available on request
  3. An improvised jam
    • This section of the audition is your chance to show off! You’ll pick a song from our “jam playlist” to play along with our amazing jam band đŸ„°đŸ˜. This part of the audition is your main opportunity to show us your musicality, your ability to play alongside other musicians, and your improvisational skills – basically a musical vibe check x
    • Access the Jam Playlist here.
    • This part should last around 3 minutes, which for most tunes will be about 3 repeats of the chart. We’ll expect you to play the head (tune) the first time, improvise in the middle, and return to the head the final time.
    • If you’re auditioning for drums or bass, you’re not expected to play the head.
    • You don’t have to memorise the head or the changes, but music will not be provided for you in the audition. Please bring your own if you need it, or maybe iReal Pro 😉

A quick note if you play bass, make sure to include some walking in either your unaccompanied piece or jam tune; this will give you the best chance of being successful.

Audition here!

Vocals submission (UoB sign-in required)
Book an instrumental audition

Our booking portal is now open!

Got questions? Drop us an email at contact@bigbandsoc.co.uk and we’ll do our best to sort any issues ASAP.

FAQs

A traditional Big Band has 5 Saxophones (2 Altos, 2 Tenors and a Baritone), 4 Trombones and 4 Trumpets as well as a Rhythm Section and often a singer. The Bristol Hornstars, our fully auditioned band, follows this format with one player per part. However, BUJO our band with unauditioned horns boasts around 40 members each year.
This varies year to year and is dependent on the Conductor of the band. However, expect a variety from old swing standards to modern pop and funk tunes that you will love and hopefully in some cases recognise.

Unfortunately no. This is because Big Band parts are not usually written for your instrument however you can still get involved with music in Bristol. Our sister society Jazz Funk Soul Society is a great way to get involved; they host a weekly jam session.

Yes, there’s no downside, it’s good experience, and you can always come to BUJO if you play a horn and are unsuccessful

In Jazz, a jam is when a group of musicians give an improvised performance. For your audition you will be expected to play “the head” (the melody) of a piece from our set-list and then take an improvised solo over the chord changes. You will be accompanied by a live band. This is your chance to show your musicality and ability to slot in with other musicians as well as to improvise. Make sure to communicate during the jam and don’t be afraid to tell the other musicians what you want to do with the piece, it’s your audition and they are there to support you.

Freshers flu has previously been a barrier for vocal auditions, so hopefully the two step process will give singers enough time to recover, and we recommend recording your video before term starts. For instrumentalists, we hope that fresher’s flu won’t impact your audition as much, but will try to bear it in mind provided you make us aware of this. Ultimately, it is down to your performance in the audition.

If you need an adjustment let us know on the booking form and we will do our best to accommodate you. We want everyone to have the best and fairest chance of being successful :). If there’s anything you need to let us know, you can always reach us at contact@bigbandsoc.co.uk.

We have rooms allocated for warming up and you should have between 10-20 minutes depending on timings. This is not factored into the schedule, so the time you book will be the audition start time (i.e in the room and ready to play), not the time you should show up at. We’d recommend getting there about 20-30 minutes before the start time for your audition otherwise you will miss out on warmup time.

YES. You can request feedback including an opinion from the expert, just pop us an email after the results are out.

YES. Actually, we’d really encourage you to! Especially if you’re auditioning on a competitive instrument, it may well improve your chances of getting in 🙂

Got more questions?

Please feel free to get in touch! Just drop us an email at contact@bigbandsoc.co.uk and we’ll get back to you ASAP.