Advice for Current Juniors and Parents

<p>You also need to know your material thoroughly. Ideally you should not only have read the entire play, but be familiar with the playwright and the era. </p>

<p>Training will also help by giving you more experience. You have to expect the unexpected. If you prepared the monologue as if the character is a sweet young thing, don’t be surprised if the director asks you to do it again as a slut. Or asks you to stack chairs or do sit-ups while you do it. Or sits there giving you mean looks and brandishing a stopwatch. All of these have happened to people I know, during the last part of college audition season.</p>

<p>My son’s favorite adjustment of the audition season was being asked to do his monologue as a mob boss. You really can’t prepare for stuff like that except to know your material really well and be ready to leave inhibitions behind and go with the flow. He did use a coach that specializes in college auditions and felt that it helped him a lot. Mock auditions with experienced coaches can also be very helpful.</p>

<p>actor12, my D has seen some very talented friends from last year’s college audition rounds get rejected everywhere. There are many threads here that discuss the fairness (or unfairness) of the current system…some people believe that the kids who can afford college coaches have a leg up. The bottom line is that your child can get into a good college program with or without a coach. But, if you ARE going to hire a coach to help your child through the college audition process, I would urge you to do your homework. Find out what experience the coach(es) have with getting high school kids into college programs. How knowledgeable are they with the various college requirements? Do they hold master classes with the directors of these college MT programs? Do they know what the various schools like or don’t like? Coaches that help kids get into college programs are very different than coaches that help kids prepare for a professional audition. College auditions are a world unto themselves. </p>

<p>Sitting outside in the hallways of Unifieds and various other auditions for my D this year, I heard some stunningly amazing things. I heard girls sing Sondheim songs for schools that beg you not to do Sondheim. I heard the same songs over and over, and the same monologues over and over. And yes, if your child does that song or that monologue well, it shouldn’t be a problem. But if you are an auditor, and you have been sitting in a room for 8 hours straight, and are hearing the same song for the 25th time that day, it is hard to hear past it. Why make the auditors struggle?</p>

<p>If I had to hire my D’s college coaches again, I would do it in a heartbeat. Not only did they find her the perfect songs and monologues (that no one else was doing this season, and that were an incredibly good fit for HER), but they helped get her the 16 and 32 bar cuts perfected for her sheet music. They helped her narrow down her college list so we didn’t waste time or money auditioning for schools who would not know what to do with her voice type. She had song coaches, monologue coaches, acting the song coaches, and dance coaches, whenever we needed them. They had mock auditions where she got great feedback. They had master classes with directors of college MT programs. They told her which schools she had to dress conservatively for, and which ones she could be a little edgy at (i.e., more herself). And they were there for her 24 hours a day when she freaked out about something. And, most importantly, they have a track record of helping kids get into good college programs that are a great fit for them. </p>

<p>There are a lot of good coaches out there, and a lot of good programs. And you do not need a coach to get into college. But for us, it helped immensely. And doing virtually all of the coaching sessions by Skype throughout the year made it easy. </p>

<p>So, I guess this was a long-winded way of seconding what PelkyAgain just said. Look for coaches that specialize in the college auditions.</p>

<p>I believe actor12 has already auditioned no? I had wondered myself what everyone was talking about with respect to the audition preparation. If it was anything beyond the things that are mentioned above which seem somewhat second nature probably to most of us that read this forum. But I agree that there are PLENTY of students at the auditions that didn’t get the memo. I’m not sure if that places them at a disadvantage or not or if the auditors are sympathetic. I do know that my daughter was with a group of 5 girls last year waiting to go into one audition and 3 out of 5 were singing “Gimme Gimme” so that sort of thing must be common enough that I would assume the auditors know that some of these kids just don’t know better but that doesn’t mean they are not talented and eager to learn.</p>

<p>Also I’ll second the “you don’t need a coach to get into college”. Many of us did not use coaches and things turned out fine. I have no doubt that others found them invaluable.</p>

<p>halflokum, if I had a dollar for every time I heard “Gimme, Gimme” through the doors this year, I could pay for my D’s college!</p>

<p>Very good advice monkey13. Not all coaches or programs are created equal. If you are looking to prepare for college auditions or professional auditions going to a theater camp will not give you that preparation. Theater camps are great but they usually focus on putting on a production. In response to EmsDad books are a great place to start but acting is about doing. You cannot learn how to audition just by reading a book. Having seen so many kids and adults audition I am always surprised by how little some of them know. No one has taught them and they do not always know enough to ask. It would be nice if these colleges would give kids the benefit of the doubt but they rarely do. Their programs are highly competitive and they would prefer the people they are going to train to have some basic knowledge, skills and of course talent. The thing is that there are so many talented kids auditioning that they can be very selective. Just because you were the best thing at your high school does not guarantee you spot at a top BFA program. All the best things from all the high schools are also auditioning.</p>

<p>One school my D auditioned at corrected her resume and told her certain things didn’t need to be on there. We did research through this site, books and asking those in the field. Her thought was isn’t that part of what you are going to teach me?</p>

<p>I agree, TheaterMom18…theater camps will not prepare you for college auditions. (I do know, however, that my D was asked about her summer camp when a top school saw it on her resume this audition season. The summer camps give you a lot of skills and connections, but it is not a substitute for preparing for college auditions). My point was, though, that COLLEGE auditions are very different from PROFESSIONAL auditions. And if you are going to get a coach to help your child get into college, then you need to find a coach who has experience getting kids into college programs, and who knows the ins and outs of all the various programs. And who can help expose your child to the college MT directors and professors.</p>

<p>Example of summer program focused on college auditions:</p>

<p>[TAP</a> Advanced (Ages 15-18) | Texas Arts ProjectTexas Arts Project](<a href=“Impact Arts - Professional Arts Training”>TAP Advanced – Texas Arts Project)</p>

<p>There are more (off the top of my head I know ArtsBridge is focused on college auditions and PAP, Indiana’s and OCU’s have an audition component). We have some at the local level.</p>

<p>Didn’t say you could get everything about auditioning from a book, only that:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>You also have to be able to heed the advice that you are given. I know kids that completely ignored excellent professional advice on song and monologue suggestions because they wanted to do what they liked (I think this may explain some of the many, “Gimme Gimme’s” and “Maybe This Time’s”). Some of them got in, anyway.</p>

<p>^^Some summer theater intensives (ones that are not structured like “camps”) do prepare kids for auditions: CMU and BU are two of them, for sure, and I know there are others. You do have to scrutinize the website and talk to former participants or their parents. Summer programs that are geared toward putting on a show at the end are pretty different from those that may have an evening of scenes or student-devised work but not an actual production at the end (horrible sentence, but I hope it made sense!).</p>

<p>@Times3 - exactly!</p>

<p>Another example - Ithaca has a nice one:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.ithaca.edu/summercollege/threeweek/musicaltheater/[/url]”>http://www.ithaca.edu/summercollege/threeweek/musicaltheater/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My city has excellent theatre resources and my daughter did take a very valuable college audition prep class through one of the local theatres. </p>

<p>Small point but I’d like to think there is no such thing as a coach that “gets high school students into college”. The high school students get themselves into college. The coach is just that - a coach that helps students prepare for their application effort. Am I wrong?</p>

<p>halflokum, I think you are correct. My kids were very fortunate to be surrounded with many talented adults who helped the in their preparations. However, my kids are the ones who practiced, read and auditioned. We did not have a college coach for the auditions, but we did hire a college consultant to help with narrowing of the list and to help with getting the application finished (ok, to be honest, to get them started too!!!). I think either way it is done, either with or without a coach, the bottom line rests with the dedication of the kids.</p>

<p>What I said was (albeit unartfully), “And if you are going to get a coach to help your child get into college, then you need to find a coach who has experience getting kids into college programs, and who knows the ins and outs of all the various programs.” The key word is “help.” Just like SAT/ACT tutors “help” get kids higher scores, which help kids …well, it helps them get into college! The preparation for the audition certainly helps them get in. Otherwise, why do it? Yes, it absolutely comes down to the students themselves. They have to be dedicated and talented and all of that. But I view the assistance we got with song choice, monologue choice, etc. as “help” to get in. Yes, they are helping with the application effort…but to what end? Ultimately, it is to get into a program. So, sorry I spoke in shorthand. You need to find coaches who help with the application effort so the student has a better chance of getting in. I don’t know of ANY coach that will get a student into a program just by virtue of being their coach, and I did not mean to imply that.</p>

<p>I knew what you meant monkey13 but I wanted to make the point anyway. There are people who can read this forum and get the impression that coaches have special access to certain schools and that can create anxiety about whether or not one must hire one to succeed. </p>

<p>Though I know it is true that there are coaches that hold private auditions which a number of programs attend, at the end of the day I’d like to think that there is no such thing as one of these coaches whispering in any college’s ear in a magic way that gets a student with lesser grades/talent etc. into a program over one that comes un-coached but with superior talent/grades and equally good preparation. (Removing type from the equation… though we know that matters too.) I could be na</p>

<p>I completely agree with halflokum. This is a great comment:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>There are many ways to get in. Its nice to be able to afford expensive coaching and clinics, but, as my friend the college sports coach likes to say:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Of course, to be successful you generally do have to prepare carefully for college theatre auditions and you have to have a high level of talent/potential. Years of training really, really helps. But if you put in the effort to understand the process, follow the do’s and do not’s (CCM and Otterbein publish some great ones, by the way), research and carefully select your material, get some advice from people who know what they are talking about, and practice, practice, practice, then you are a long way home.</p>

<p>Halflokum and EmsDad, I agree 100%! I cannot believe there is ANY coach that can get someone into a program over someone who is more talented (yes, setting type aside). Coaches help refine existing talent. Period. And following the do’s and do not’s is critical.</p>

<p>D had her first consults with her voice and monologue coaches with MTCA on Saturday, and it was definitely emphasized that the process is all about her and the work she is going to have to put into it.
Yes, it does make me feel confident knowing that we have great people helping with song/monologue selections that will fit my D’s type. I love their expertise and their enthusiasm about what they do and about my daughter.
I don’t expect them to get my daughter into college, but I expect that my daughter will have the tools to do the best auditions that she is capable of doing.
I also want to say that although I didn’t shop around a lot, the prices of local coaching were basically the same hourly rate as MTCA, so I thought why not go with people who really know what they’re doing versus people who are professionals who may or may not really know the latest info?
Since we’ve just begun the whole process, I’m not an expert – just giving my thoughts on the matter.</p>

<p>Merlehay,good for you to get your daughter started at this time. It allows for flexibility, the ability for the coaches to tailor her material and the opportunity to get instruction along with coaching if she wishes. As an MTCA alum parent from two years ago, when nothing was available in a tristate area to move my daughter from excellent classical training into the mix/belt she would need, I strongly stand behind MTCA’s professionalism, knowledge and dedication. Watching another group of their kids sweep this year’s acceptances already, only continues to show that CoachC and her folks know what they are doing! For those who aren’t aware, you don’t need to be in the NYC area to profit from their expertise. We successfully skyped with them from across the nation, and although we made a couple of visits to NYC during the year and a half of working with them, know of many who only met their coaches personally during Unifieds, where they provided so much support! MTCA offers a full menu of coaching and instructional choices, and you pick what you want and can tailor your choices to your budget. In city, a multitude of dance and college rep classes are offered, as well as sessions with big names from throughout the MT college community. For us, one of the big perks was having all the accompaniment tracks for auditions completely recorded and provided to my d to use on I-phone or CD, as was needed. This was a HUGE stress reliever, along with the monologue choices and song choices tailored for my D’s best skills. I strongly continue to recommend MTCA services for all who are considering getting audition coaching in the coming years. I, along with many others who have posted here on CC have been mroe than satisfied and will always continue to feel part of the MTCA family. It is because of them that my daughter is now a satisfied sophomore at one of her top choices of universities! Please feel free to pm me if you would like any further information.</p>

<p>merheley, good luck in this process and I think you will find great peace of mind getting outside advice. It will save you money on the long run.</p>