<p>@KaMaMom - so very sorry about the foot. Sending wishes for quick healing.</p>
<p>@KaMaMom - how awful! Do you have an estimate on healing time? There are about 2 1/2 months before Unifieds so she has some time if she is auditioning there!</p>
<p>@KaMaMom - how did she break her foot - come down on it wrong? Was it at the beginning, middle or end of the dance call? Hopefully the end and that they had already seen enough to make a decision!</p>
<p>Did your D have a lot of auditions scheduled soon? If so you might want to contact the schools and see if you can move her audition dates to Unifieds or a later date so that she will be fully healed (just a thought). I feel terrible for both of you! Remind her though that the phrase is “break a leg,” not “break a foot!!” Sending many healing thoughts your way…</p>
<h1>KaMaMom so sorry to hear that! Does she have any other auditions before January?</h1>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>@KaMaMom - so sorry to hear. Perhaps we should all be saying “merde”, as the dancers do - rather than “break a leg”. Hope it’s not a bad break and she heals quickly.</p>
<p>@KaMaMom No!!! So sorry!!! Ugh! Sending healing and well wishes. Hang in there!!</p>
<p>Sets a new bar for the successful audition- walked out on your own two feet. Well, I am certain your D’s was a memorable audition! Seriously- all good thoughts and wishes for a speedy recovery. </p>
<p>OCU Audition Day Review:</p>
<p>No broken bones to report. SO sorry to hear about your D @KaMaMom! Best wishes for a speedy recovery! </p>
<p>Arrived Friday PM and got comp tickets to two amazing, short operas (no MT shows this audition weekend) Voice is certainly OCU’s strength. D ran into one of the voice teachers she had worked with in the summer 30 min. before the show & inquired if D was ready for her audition the next day. D told faculty member she was having trouble shifting gears from legit to belt in one try (D usually has no issues with belting so this new development was worrisome on the eve of her audition.) It was taking her a couple of tries after singing her legit song to find her full-out-belt. (YIKES! We all know they only have one shot at auditions!) The faculty member whisked D to her office, where a baby grand piano conveniently awaited, worked with D for about 15 minutes and gave D instruction/tips on how to overcome her issue. It was like magic. Whatever she told D to do worked wonders.</p>
<p>Saturday
Registration/check-in was from 8-9
After check-in all parents and students were ushered to a recital hall for informal Q&A with a panel of five students. It was informative as well as entertaining as said students performed humorous “mock auditions” for us. This went a long way to putting everyone at ease. </p>
<p>The Dean of the school gave a brief, dignified welcome to all, spoke a few words and introduced Dr. Herendeen, the Director of MT & Opera studies. He entertained us all while being informative. He knows all of his students by name and one can tell he has a close relationship with them. He has a great sense of humor too! You can tell he simply loves his job!</p>
<p>Dance call was a 10:00 a.m. Parents listened to reps from Financial Aid, Housing, & Campus Police and were able to ask questions. Campus tours were offered several times to work kids auditioning at different times. Coffee, tea & water was available for parents all day long.</p>
<p>Individual Voice calls and monologue calls followed & were in different rooms & at different times. 20 kids auditioned on Friday, 60 auditioned on Saturday (for vocal performance, opera & MT) so there were two rooms for vocal auditions. These were video recorded, I assume, so that all of the faculty may review all of the candidates before making acceptance and scholarship offers. Short interviews followed the vocal auditions, students should hear results in about four weeks.</p>
<p>At OCU kids had to prepare 3 songs:pre-1960 MT, Contemporary MT/belt & an art song. Full songs, not cuts. Kids got to pick 1st song, panel picked 2nd. Most D’s friends were only asked to sing 2 out of the 3. D was asked to sing all 3. However, they did stop her about halfway through that one. </p>
<p>One mono in the next room an hour later. Quick in & out on that one. Then dinner in Brick Town with friends from camp.</p>
<p>Overall, she felt great about her day. I had a great time hanging out with another mom friend from my hometown whose D was auditioning, as well as catching up with two other CC moms I had met last summer after the OCU summer intensive. It was a cold and windy weekend. Hours after we left OK, the campus was blanketed with its first snowfall of the season! D was sad to miss that as we don’t get snow where we live, but I was glad to be ahead of it on the long car ride home!</p>
<p>Millikin Audition Day Review</p>
<p>We drove through snow storms and blizzards, but got to Forsyth, Il Thursday evening around 11 pm (late start – my daughter had rehearsal after school). </p>
<p>Friday morning, we reported to campus around 8:45 a.m. My D had a friend from the OCU summer program that was there, so it was nice to immediately know someone. It was a fairly small group of kid auditioning (11).</p>
<p>First, there was a combined meeting with parents and kids in the smaller auditorium. Sean Morrissey lead the conversations, some other faculty was there as well. They have some interesting aspects – fall semester junior year you can study in London, new works project where prospective new shows are brought to campus where the kids act them out while writers make changes, etc. </p>
<p>At about 9:30 parents were taken into another part of campus – then for a tour, while kids stayed and performed their songs and monologues. Monologues were kept to 45 seconds, and they did stop kids – which startled my D. The kids did perform them in front of each other. After the songs and monologues, the kids were given time to change and prepare for the dance call. The dance was a ballet piece – my daughter has studied ballet for years, so it wasn’t too difficult for her – sorry about your daughter’s foot @KaMaMom! 
</p>
<p>After dance, the kids joined the parents in the cafeteria, where both the kids and parents were treated to lunch.</p>
<p>After lunch, everyone returned to the original, smaller theatre. They then met with the kids and parents and were told if they were accepted into the BFA MT, BFA Acting or BA programs.</p>
<p>Interesting note about the program here, my daughter had heard they were a “cut” program. They were very upfront about this and referred to as a “juried” program. At the end of the first year, there are certain expectations on where you should be in acting, dance and vocal. If you aren’t there, you are put on probation. We had a chance to talk to a senior who was placed on dance probation as a freshman. It really sounds as if the process is to help them focus on their weaker areas – not to punish them for them.</p>
<p>That evening, we were given tickets to see their production of Peter Pan. Beautiful facility and the production was wonderful. </p>
<p>A very nice audition experience, for us.</p>
<p>Hi all … just a quick bit about my D … she’s a tough cookie. She went on to do 3 shows this weekend with a broken foot - including the night she broke it! (She’s in Mystery of Edwin Drood.) I don’t know where she gets it … not me, I would’ve been in a ball crying in the corner. </p>
<p>Anyway, no more auditions scheduled til Unifieds … and we’re (hopefully) meeting w/ the surgeon tomorrow to get options. </p>
<p>Onward & upward! </p>
<p>@kamamom good for her, but really make sure she heals properly. Good luck with the surgeon.</p>
<p>@KaMaMom Wow…so sorry to hear about your D! What a trooper though! This will be one that you laugh about in the future when you are telling the tales of her senior year auditioning for MT programs. Her story will probably go down in CC history!</p>
<p>@addicted2MT Thanks so much for the detailed review of OCU. My D will be there in February. I appreciate the heads up about the FULL songs. I remember reading that she would need an art song, but I haven’t looked at the detailed accounting of what they need to prepare. If I hadn’t read your post, I may have waited until just a couple of weeks before her audition to do that. Knowing now will give her plenty of time to prepare! Love the reviews…they are so helpful!</p>
<p>I agree, @MTRaleighmom! These are very helpful. I am glad that I can pay it forward for others as CC has been a great resource for learning about this unique college audition process. i have to tell you that at one of the keep-the-parents-entertained meetings a young man who just graduated was introduced. Apparently he was invited to auditions by an agent after his senior showcase and landed the lead role for the tour of It’s Nice Work if You Can Get It! Upon hearing this announcement, I started clapping. (it was a reaction. Maybe I was projectinghow I would react if my D was met with a similar fate?) then everyone else joined in! Lol! Then we found out that he wasn’t even an MT major! He was straight drama but took voice, because you just gotta if u r at OCU, right? So many different roads to the same/similar dream…</p>
<p>@addicted2MT - there is another recent great story from the BFA Acting program at OCU - Katie Posotonik has had the lead role in the national tour of Ghost. Kelsey Griswold, who was Miss Oklahoma, was also in the BFA Acting program and is now touring and entertaining the troops as part of the USO. And VP major Eryn Lecroy who just graduated in May has the lead role of Emma Carew in the current national tour of Jekyll and Hyde. So if your student is offered a sport in either of these programs instead of or in addition to the MT program, they are definitely worth consideration. And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the dance majors who can currently be seen in On the Town, Pippin, the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and other shows. You can reach your dreams via many different majors at OCU.</p>
<p>If anyone is auditioning at Otterbein on 12/6 let me know. My S will be helping with the dance call (he probably forgot it was so early when he volunteered LOL). He is a MT with dance concentration major, in case you have questions. He loves it when people tell him “I know your mom from College Confidential” :)) </p>
<p>PENN STATE UNIVERSITY 12/6</p>
<p>Here’s the report from today’s audition:</p>
<p>Call time was at 8:30 a.m. Kids were instructed to come dressed for their dance call. Met in the Playhouse Lobby where they chairs and benches set up for folks to sit. D filled out a short form and turned in headshot and resume. I am not sure, but I think there were 23 students auditioning – 6 boys and 17 girls. They had coffee and tea from Panera for the parents. At 8:45 a.m. Cary Libkin came out and greeted everyone and then they took the kids down to their dance call. They go straight from that into songs and monologues so they need to bring all of their stuff.</p>
<p>The parents had a Q&A with Cary Libkin and two seniors and an MFA student in Vocal Pedagogy. Who also assists Cary with the auditions.</p>
<p>Oops let me try that again.</p>
<p>PENN STATE UNIVERSITY 12/6</p>
<p>Here’s the report from today’s audition:</p>
<p>Call time was at 8:30 a.m. Kids were instructed to come dressed for their dance call. Met in the Playhouse Lobby where they had chairs and benches set up for folks to sit. D filled out a short form and turned in headshot and resume. I am not sure, but I think there were 23 students auditioning – 6 boys and 17 girls. They had coffee and tea from Panera for the parents. At 8:45 a.m. Cary Libkin came out and greeted everyone and then they took the kids down to their dance call. They go straight from that into songs and monologues so they need to bring all of their stuff.</p>
<p>The parents had a Q&A with Cary Libkin and two seniors and an MFA student in Vocal Pedagogy who also assists Cary with the auditions. The numbers are daunting. Last year, they saw 520 and accepted 14. They do a wait list in case someone doesn’t accept an offer. They say they pass about 80% of the prescreens – they screen out those who “don’t have the tools to be successful.” It was a great session – Cary Libkin is passionate about the program and his students. He is retiring next December and they will have the new program chair selected by this spring. They will have a one semester overlap in which Cary will help train the new chair. Current students are in the selection committee. Meanwhile. . .back at the dance call.</p>
<p>They did a ballet combo from the Dream Sequence in Oklahoma. They learned it as a group and then performed in groups of three. Students taught the combo and teachers observed. Then, they did a jazz combo – “You Can’t Stop the Beat”. D said it was fast paced as far as learning the combos and they really emphasized acting the dance. Overall, good experience.</p>
<p>Then, super quick change and back for a group vocal warmup. D was first to audition. All of the faculty sit in on the auditions. She did her two songs – they cut her off toward the end of her second one and then she did her monologue. No adjustments, just a “thank you.” She walked out and was asked to sit in a holding area and about a minute later the MFA student told her she was asked to stay for the interview portion. Phew. I think the faculty texted the coordinator with the thumbs up. </p>
<p>So, D came upstairs and told me she was asked to stay and then went back downstairs to the holding room. She did a brief music theory test – they played melodic patterns and she had to sing them back. Then, they played a scale and ased her to sing the same scale a third above. Finally, they asked her what notes were in a B flat major scale. Also asked about choir and instrument training. </p>
<p>She waited a little longer and then had her brief interview. Basically, why MT and what do you do when you are not doing MT.</p>
<p>The hardest part of the day was watching the kids who were not asked to stay. They had to go back to the parent holding area and then walk out. Hard for everyone – a few tears, some quivering lips, but everyone was gracious and those parents who were still waiting were all very sympathetic.</p>
<p>We were done by 12:30 p.m. Cary Libkin emphasized that very few offers go out until the end of the audition process and they do “selection Sunday.” It sounded like they winnow down to around a hundred and then get in a room together and select the class holistically. They video tape the auditions and use that in the selection discussions.</p>
<p>A very well-run process and impressive program. We will keep our fingers crossed. I will post separately about the class visits the day before.</p>
<p>P.S. I met charming parents and there were no PBB’s (parents behaving badly).</p>
<p>PENN STATE UNIVERSITY</p>
<p>The day before auditions, students were invited to observe several classes and there was a long information session with Cary Libkin. The parents and students were able to observe a senior workshop where they were rehearsing excerpts from Merrily We Roll Along. The talent was impressive. The students D met throughout the day were warm and welcoming and clearly thriving in the program. The students and faculty we met were confident in the program but not pretentious or arrogant. </p>
<p>The department also arranged for us to see the straight play currently in production – Motherf**kerwith a Hat. It was an intense show, funny and dramatic. Extremely well-acted. It was a nice evening.</p>
<p>Overall, a great visit except for the rainy, rainy weather. Now a break until Chicago Unifieds. BAL all!</p>
<p>Any talk or discussion about Cary Libkin retiring?</p>