How would you go about recruiting for a college choir amongst non-music majors?

Two ideas: See if you can talk to the choir directors at neighboring colleges and churches. You might do something where their members can join yours and vice versa.

Utilize social networking. Make a FB page for the choir and link to various community pages.

Fall back to old fashioned printed and posted ads in places like supermarkets. There may be some elderly members who don’t use FB or don’t access computers so much, but will see the postings in their local markets and places like that.

Get some members of the existing group to stand and sing by the cafeteria, or the classroom building, or some place with a lot of traffic. Have a sign that says “join the choir” or something like that.

When I was in college, we had a madrigal group, and that’s how we got attention to ourselves.

Sure, some folks will laugh, but some will walk over and ask “what is this?” and follow up.

Posters and stuff, don’t accomplish much.

I would ask myself and the choir master if the choir was relevant. Is their music relevant? Do they contribute anything to the community around them in a relevant way such as enhance charity events? (Good PR). Are they out there being seen and heard? How is their morale? How can it be improved? What will it take to make these 35 people really good at what they do? What will it take to make these 35 people a valued asset to the community around them—and thereby become an attractive group for someone to want to be a member?

(Where is Strauss?)

All good suggestions, especially the last one by @Espiritus_Corvus.

Start a recruiting drive, play public places, as mentioned above. Tweak the repertoire, maybe include some more contemporary arrangements, at least for the recruitment process. As you’re probably aware, Hal Leonard Publications has a huge library of “pop” and other styles.

Consider contacting former members who might still be around the area. Sometimes a little nudge will remind them of the fun they had.

Think Billy Rose, the greatest conman in showbiz.

Does the group give concerts? You could recruit from the audience. I know of two choruses in my area that make such announcements at concerts and also put “Join us!” notices into the program along with information about auditions.

And how about a flash mob thing on campus or in town?

First thought here is, has the entire student body been invited to join or audition? Kids are busy and may not seek out a place in choir, but if if they know they can be a positive contributor (sing, read music, etc.) an invite will go a long way.

@Jeruba had a good idea with the flash mob.

Many thanks for such wonderful ideas!! Just another reason to love this place. So many of these ideas are excellent and I am excited to pull something together to present to the current director.

For clarification, this is to get students to join. There are two community choirs already – one for men and one for women. They do one or two concerts each year, and generally combine both of these choirs at performances for a couple of songs.