Q: What’s all this, then?

The Other Reindeer are professional holiday carolers in beautiful Dickensian costumes (usually, sometimes other costumes) who not only sing, but also interact with and delight audiences of all ages. We perform a cappella 4-part holiday music in SATB quartets (or sometimes octets). We book about 120-160 gigs per year in the Greater Los Angeles area.

Traits I look for in Christmas Carolers:

• Cheerful, entertaining performers
• Beautiful, loud voices with easily suppressed vibrato
• People who check their email often
• Experienced ensemble singers (experienced at singing a part by themselves)
• Excellent pitch
• Ability to sing jazz harmony
• Ability to read music
• Willingness and opportunity to practice music
• Stylistically versatile (classical, pop, jazz, Broadway)
• Has most weekends and evenings between Thanksgiving and Christmas available
• Reliable transportation

The Other Reindeer perform with a “contemporary a cappella” sound. This means some voices may not be a good fit for us, regardless of musicianship or professional experience.

Q: How Much Do You Pay for Gigs?

The pay per gig varies, but here is the range of what was paid for caroling gigs in 2023, and I expect 2024 to be similar:

$100 - 125 for a 30-minute gig

$110 -135   for   1-hour gig

$140 -165   for   2-hour gig

$170 - 190   for   3-hour gig

$215 - 260   for   4-hour gig

Gigs on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and gigs involving travel and/or filming will always pay more.

Some of the pay differences may be based on what kind of costuming is involved, how hard it is to get to, whether or not it’s a weekend, if you will need to learn any new music, and many other factors.  

NEW FOR 2024: Paid Rehearsals! In the Los Angeles Region, I now offer paid rehearsals at a rate of $20/hour. Most rehearsals are 3 hours long; some are 2 hours or 2.5 hours. Singers who are new to the roster and who can reserve two Saturdays in December between 10am and 8pm for TOR may attend up to four paid rehearsals in exchange for receiving $20 less per gig for up to 10 gigs. After completing 10 gigs, new singers can receive full pay for gigs.

Q: Where Are The Gigs?

Gigs may be anywhere between Orange County and Ventura county and sometimes even outside of that geographical area if the money is good enough. Most of them are in Los Angeles county. The farther they are from West LA, generally the better they pay. 

I expect most people to be willing to travel about 30 miles to do a gig, but I do my best to book singers on gigs as close to their residences / workplaces as possible. Please indicate “NO” on the Gig Sheet if a gig is too far for you to travel to.

All the gigs that are booked or which I expect to book are listed on a large online spreadsheet I call the Gig Sheet, and each singer has a row on which they can indicate their availability and interest for that gig. The Gig Sheet is available for singers to start indicating the gigs they want starting around September 1st each year. You can see the 2023 Gig Sheet here.

Q: What Music Will I Be Singing?

I have a caroling Book that currently has about 100 songs in it, painstakingly compiled over the past 15 years. Many songs are straight-up vocal jazz and need to be sung with minimal or non-existent vibrato. The music will be shared with you in PDF format and you may either print it out or use a tablet/iPad on gigs. Click here to see the list of songs.

Even if you are an experienced caroler, there are songs in my book with which you are not familiar and which are not always easily read. To aid you learning the music, I provide vocal reference recordings of the music, both evenly balanced and some versions with your voice part pushed louder and panned to one side.

Q: What is the vocal range 

required for each voice part?

Q: Will I Be Wearing A Costume?

Yes, most gigs will be in period Victorian (also called Dickensian) costumes. Providing the costume is your responsibility but I can help you in putting this together; the basic costume guidelines can be found on the Costuming page. 

Some gigs may not be done in Victorian costumes - sometimes you may be asked to wear something else, up to and including a silly hat, but after Victorian costumes the most frequently requested outfits are cute/ugly holiday sweaters; occasionally we'll be asked to wear suits and/or cocktail dresses. I will need to see your full traditional costume before I can offer you gigs, so the costume deadline is November 1st of each year for new carolers. Since specialty pieces can take some time to order, I suggest that you have everything at least ordered by mid-October, but definitely focus on the music first - if you don’t learn the music, you won’t need the costume, after all!

Q: How Many Rehearsals Are You Going to Have, and When Are They?

I expect to schedule about 8 rehearsals in the Los Angeles region. Most professional singers need to attend 3 or 4 rehearsals or commensurate time spent practicing before they are adequately prepared to gig; amateur singers may require more rehearsals and practice time. Please check out the Rehearsals page for more information about how many rehearsals you should attend. I try to locate them in places that are central, but not all locations will be convenient for you. Many rehearsals end up being on Saturday and Sunday afternoons because that seems to be a time many carolers are available to meet, but there are exceptions. Rehearsals are mostly in September and October. Sometimes I will have one "last chance" rehearsal in early or mid-November.

You are not required to attend a specific number of rehearsals, but at least one of your rehearsals must be a “small group” rehearsal to demonstrate that you are musically prepared and can hold your own part. You can arrive late or leave rehearsals early if you need to as well, but you will only be paid for the time you are actually at rehearsal. 

Each rehearsal will have a different focus: 

1) Core Rep - the easier songs we do on gigs all the time

2) Advanced Rep - difficult, new, and obscure songs

3) Scaroling (Not applicable to new TOR singers)

4) Small Group rehearsals - You will hold your own part in a small group

The rehearsal schedule is expected to be determined beginning of August.

ALL SINGERS NEED TO LEARN THE ENTIRE CAROLING REP!! I break the rehearsals down this way for the convenience of returning carolers, who don’t need to rehearse the songs the Core Rep as much, and because there is too much music for us to be able to get through it all in three hours. 

If you are a NEW Caroler, I suggest you attend one Core Rep rehearsal, two Advanced Rep rehearsals, and one small group rehearsal. There may be only one or two of each kind, so I suggest you try to attend as many appropriate rehearsals as you can.

If you cannot demonstrate by the end of your last rehearsal that you are ready to gig, unfortunately I will not be able to offer you any gigs. 

Q: How Many Gigs Will You Offer Me?  

This depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to: 

• your availability 
• how musically prepared you are
• how quickly you update the Gig Sheet / indicate your availability
• how good your costume looks (clients hear with their eyes)

My busiest carolers will do 15-20 gigs in a season, but most carolers do 5-15. I try to ensure that new carolers get at least 7 gigs their first season to justify the investment of their time and their costume. Most end up getting more gig offers than that. About a third of all gigs are on Saturdays. Fridays and Sundays are also fairly busy, together comprising about another 40% of the gigs each season, but there are still weekday and weeknight gigs as well, albeit very few on Mondays and Tuesdays. 

If you are ONLY available weekends that is fine, just be sure to let me know.

If you are generally NOT available either weekends or evenings in December it is probably not worth your time to learn the music, as I probably won't have many gigs for you. If you are not available ANY Saturdays in December, I will probably not be able to work with you. 

Q: What if I’m already singing with another company?

I do not require or expect you to work with me exclusively! There are both advantages and challenges to working with multiple caroling companies. I would prefer if you decided to work with only TOR, but if you can keep the TOR Gig Sheet updated as to which TOR gigs you are available for, it will head-off most problems. 

If you work with another caroling company in an administrative or directing capacity, or if you have any other obligations that I feel constitute a conflict of interest for you, I may not be comfortable having you on the TOR roster. (Simply being on another caroling company's roster or doing gigs with another caroling company is not considered a conflict of interest. If you are not sure, please talk to me about it.)

Q: What Do You Expect From your carolers?

Communication: I expect you to return emails ASAP, and definitely within 24 hours. If you cannot reply to emails in a timely fashion you may be dropped from my roster completely.  I may send texts about gigs, and I expect the same or faster response time for those. 

Technology: You need to have the ability to send and receive texts from your mobile phone, and you need to have a google account or gmail email address (this does not have to be your email address for general communication or gig offers) and a device or computer which can easily access the Google Sheets where you will indicate which gigs you would like.

Adequate Music Preparation: Although you will be holding music, you should not be sight-reading when you perform. You should be familiar enough with your part to be reading the lyrics and just be using the music as a reference. Occasional slip-ups are not a big deal - I don't expect perfection, but I do expect about 95% note and rhythm accuracy. You will be expected to learn most of the music on your own, with the aid of the part recordings. Rehearsals are mostly for me to assess your progress; I don't pound notes at rehearsals. I rarely even touch a piano because I expect you to have the music prepared in advance.

Please understand that the music is likely harder than music you may have sung with other caroling companies, and it will take more time to learn than just the time you spend in rehearsal. 

Q: Do TOR singers perform on microphones?

Sometimes yes, usually no. Gigs with amplification will generally be offered to more experienced carolers, and they typically have an earlier call time than most gigs. Another way to earn some income is by providing the sound system for a gig, if you own that kind of equipment. You will need to bring your sound set-up to a rehearsal to demonstrate that it works and that you know how to run it and to set it up, but bringing a complete sound system to a gig (and I do mean COMPLETE) can earn you an additional $150-200 per gig. Even bringing a partial sound system to a gig can pay extra if someone else on the gigs brings the rest of the pieces. 

Q: Is there anything else I should know?

You have a couple options regarding the caroling book:

1) You may print and make your own book from a PDF I will provide. Caroling books should be made using a plain black 3-ring binder, with no colors or decorations on the outside. Sheet protectors are not required, and you may print two-sided pages if you want to save paper, although that makes it harder to update in future years.

2) You may read music from a tablet as long as it is in a folder that looks like a caroling book to people observing you sing. You can buy folders specifically made for this, or you can jury-rig a 3-ring binder. 

Regardless of the format, you agree not to use any of the music for any other purpose other than practice, rehearsal, and performances for The Other Reindeer Carolers without my express written permission. You also agree not to share the sheet music or audio recordings with anyone else without my written permission.

If you have other questions, please email me, and I will be happy to answer them!

--Colleen Keene

This page last updated on: