Open house night at the choir room. Two sign-up tables by the door. Concert choir on the left. Show choir on the right.

Your daughter is standing between them with a flyer in each hand. The choir director, who has been talking for fifteen minutes at the front of the room, just announced that show choir auditions are in April and decisions have to come in this week.

You are standing next to your daughter trying to read both flyers at the same time. Here is the actual difference.

Concert choir

This is the main choir class. It meets during the school day. Most high schools have at least two levels: a beginning concert choir for 9th and 10th graders, and a top-tier concert choir for upperclassmen.

Concert choir sings standing still. They wear formal concert clothes, usually a long black dress or a tuxedo. They sing classical, sacred, folk, and contemporary repertoire. Concerts are at the school auditorium. The audience is parents, grandparents, and maybe a music critic from the local paper.

Most kids in the choir program are in concert choir. It is the foundation. The top concert choir is often the hardest group to get into, because the level of musicianship is high and the seniors hold most of the chairs.

Show choir

This is the other choir. It is part chorus, part dance team, part traveling competition group.

Show choir wears costumes. They do choreography. They have a band behind them. They learn five to seven songs that connect into a 20-minute themed show. They travel to competitions on Saturdays from January to April.

Show choir is usually an extracurricular at the high school level. Some schools have one show choir. Some have two or three at different competitive levels. The top group is auditioned in spring of the previous school year.

The time commitment is real. Most show choirs rehearse three or four times a week, with extra Saturday rehearsals during competition season. Costume fittings, choreography days, and competition Saturdays add up.

How to tell where your kid fits

A few questions.

Does your kid love singing more than they love performing. They are concert choir.

Does your kid love performing more than they love singing. They are show choir.

Does your kid hate dancing. They are concert choir.

Does your kid have a competitive streak about the experience of putting on a show. They might be show choir.

Most kids start in concert choir in 9th grade and then audition for show choir in their second year if they are interested. A few kids audition straight into show choir as freshmen. That is fine if they have the dance background.

The dance requirement

Show choir is half dance. If your kid does not dance, they are going to feel behind in show choir auditions.

This does not mean they have to be a serious dancer. Most show choir directors teach the choreography from scratch and the choreography is not as technical as a dance team. But they need to move with confidence.

A summer of intro contemporary or jazz dance at a local studio is the most common preparation. Six to eight classes over the summer before audition season. The kid does not need to do leaps. They need to be able to count music while moving.

If your kid is a strong singer who hates moving, the answer is concert choir. There is no shame in that. The top concert choir is the more selective ensemble at most schools.

The audition itself

Show choir auditions usually have three pieces.

A solo song. Sometimes a cut of a Broadway tune. Sometimes a pop song. The audition packet will say. Most show choir directors want to hear a strong belt and a clear head voice.

A dance call. The director or choreographer teaches a routine in about 30 minutes. The kids learn it together. Then they perform it in groups of four to six. This is the most stressful part of the audition for non-dancers.

A vocal exercise. Range tests, sight-reading, and maybe a piece sung in unison with two or three other singers.

Some auditions also include an interview. The director asks why the kid wants to be in show choir. The honest answer is best.

What to budget for show choir

Costumes are usually $300 to $600 per year, often more for the top group with multiple costumes per show. Some programs include this in dues. Some bill separately.

Competition fees, charter buses, and hotel rooms for overnight competitions add up. Most show choirs budget $800 to $1,500 per kid per year all in.

Booster fundraisers offset some of this. Many show choir programs have aggressive fundraising calendars. You will be selling candles, washing cars, or working concessions.

If money is tight, ask the director quietly about a scholarship or a payment plan. Most programs have one. Few advertise it.

A note on switching

A kid can move between concert choir and show choir if they need to. Some kids find show choir is not for them after a year and step back to concert choir. Some kids do the opposite.

The choir directors usually expect this. The kid is not failing if they make a change. They are figuring out what fits.

Where to put your bet

If your kid is a strong singer with no dance background and they want to sing seriously, concert choir is the path. They will probably audition for all-state, work on their voice, and look at college choir programs.

If your kid wants the social and performance side of choir and they like to move, show choir is the path. They will travel, compete, perform in matching outfits, and have a peer group that is wildly close.

If your kid wants both, they do both. Most show choir kids are also in concert choir during the day. Concert choir is the class. Show choir is the extracurricular.

Either way, your kid is singing. That is the win.