<p>Would there be any negative impact to those evaluating a college entrance audition if the auditioner transposed the original key of the music performed to make the song better fit their vocal range?</p>
<p>dramadad, I can give you my two cents worth. When my son was planning his auditions (completed now -- he's going to NYU), we were told by several coaches and auditioners that transposing a piece was perfectly fine.</p>
<p>Thanks - that's kind of what I expected, but I saw something that said to be careful about doing that.</p>
<p>My daughter auditioned and had songs transposed into the key that worked best for her. She is an alto, and many songs need to be transposed. She auditioned at both the Unifieds and on campus and was accepted by both, using these songs. So do what makes you sound your best. Just have clean music that can be easily read. Good luck!</p>
<p>At the CMU audition, a girl my daughter knew slightly went in a sang her pieces. she came out red-faced a few minutes later and told my daughter that the auditioner had seemed very unhappy that she had chosen to sing a transposed song instead of choosing one she could sing as it was written in the original key, and he made a comment about the fact that she sang a transposed piece. Dont forget, in the musicals the schools is planning to stage, the music is going to be performed as written and will not be transposed to accomodate voices: it will be cast according to who can actually sing the music as written. Obviously there are variations on the theme as documented by divasmom.</p>
<p>i would say a SMALL transposition (half- or whole-step) isn't a problem at all. if a HUGE transposition is needed, i'd say find a different song.</p>
<p>Just wanted to add my two-cents worth. I agree that a small change is probably best but I also think that whether or not to transpose a song is also related to whether the singer is a boy or a girl.
Some young men are not totally through voice change when they audition. My son's voice "broke" when he was 13. We have had it confirmed by a number of people, including my husband, who is a vocal coach, that he is not through voice change and probably won't be for another year or so. He is 17 now. As a result he sang transposed songs and was accepted at 3 of the 4 schools at which he auditioned. Girls voices tend to be more settled at age 17 or 18 so many of them are able to sing songs in the published keys. With young men it can be a different situation. They may have the vocal quality of a tenor but not the top notes to sing tenor songs. The lower and darker baritone songs often do not suit their voice quality so a transposiiton of a half or whole step makes the higher songs accessible.
Also, I know this may sound strange, but transposing a song changes something about it at an elemental level - composers don't randomly choose keys for songs. Keys have "colors" that can enhance the lyrics and composers are aware of this when they write. Even though I'm a musician I don't even pretend to be able to see these "colors" but there are some very sensitive people who claim that they actually see colors when they listen to music in a particular key. I heard part of a a program on this on NPR. So, transposing a song even a half-step does "change" the song in more ways than just making the notes a little higher or lower.
As far as the young lady who came out of her audition upset because the auditioner made a comment about her transposed song I have a couple of thoughts. Perhaps the person has perfect pitch. I had 2 very good friends in grad school at UMich who would cringe when they heard a piece they were familiar with in a key other than the original. It seemed their visual image of the piece (the notes on the page) was in direct conflict with what they were hearing. It used to drive them both crazy. On the other hand the auditioner might have just been a bit of a "snob" - a "sing it in the printed key or don't sing it at all" type of person. Luckily, I believe that most auditioners realize that the voices most 17 or 18 year olds bring to their college auditons are not the same voices that they will leave with 4 years later. This was brought home to me recently when I attended a benefit concert given by a UMich MT grad and a young lady who will graduate from Cap 21 this spring. I hadn't heard this young lady sing since she went off to school and . . . WOW! She had a wonderful voice before but now, at 22, she sounds amazing. I don't know who taught her at Tisch but they did a magnificant job!</p>
<p>The vocal range a song is written in often has alot to do with the TYPE of the character who is singing it. An alto should never sing a transposed version of Green Finch and Linnet Bird and imagine the reaction to a tenor singing Old Man River! </p>
<p>In an audition, you want to help the auditor SEE you as the character you are portraying and when you transpose the song at all significantly, you are telling the auditor that you really are NOT right for that part. It is amazing but true that auditors (and accompanists) at this level know the original key of almost every song they will hear all year in auditions. Search a little more and find a song that you can sing in the key in which it was was originally written. Why would you want to raise a red flag about your UNsuitability for a part? It also says that you didn't do your homework about the character and the show.</p>
<p>MTaussie, is the CAP girl from Michigan? My D's good friend is a fourth year Cappie from Michigan and they have spent many summers performing together. I don't know if you are talking of the same person but just thought maybe...since you are also from Michigan. This girl has a great set of pipes.</p>
<p>Yes, the girl is from Michigan. Her initials are DS. Maybe we're talking about the same girl. My kids starting working with her in community theatre shows about 12 years ago. She had an absolutely amazing voice as a small child - and she has an even more amazing voice now. She's just been picked up by Kristin Chenoweth's agent.</p>
<p>theatremom:you hit the nail squarely on the head. that is exactly what the CMU auditioner was implying when he commented about that girl's decision to change the key of the song she was singing. it raised a red flag in his mind. who knows how many other red flags it raised in her other auditions? there are anthology books available loaded with songs that are geared especially to the different vocal types both male and female. these auditioners know voices are not fully developed yet; they are looking for potential and quality and a host of other things at auditions. these auditions are so difficult in the first place and there are so few spaces available in each school and so many kids are auditioning that it seems to me it is very risky to do anything that would disadvantage yourself to an auditioner. Anyway that is only my opinion.</p>
<p>MTaussie, indeed the girl about whom you speak is a VERY good friend of my daughter's and has been since 1998. While she is four years older than my daughter, they have been pals all along. They met when my D was 9 1/2 and DS was 13 1/2 and they were in The Boyfriend together. They spent many summers together and were in some musicals together, as well as numerous cabaret casts. My D has always looked up to DS. </p>
<p>Now that my D is in NYC and at CAP, they are together once again. They have done some performances together this year putting on cabarets in children's hospitals. They are very good friends. While DS was extremely talented prior to college, my D says she is amazing now and a standout. She has seen her in shows at CAP and in the senior showcase for CAP. My D just was pianist for Full Monty and DS was a lead in it. </p>
<p>By total coincidence, I spoke briefly to DS today because on the NYU/Tisch thread there was some question about how many students were in the senior CAP showcase and I asked DS and she confirmed the number at 18. I knew that DS had agent offers and had chosen one to go with. The showcase was back in Dec. Did you just see her in Michigan? I'll have to mention it to her the next time we speak. DS actually was the friend who showed my D around CAP and got her in to observe dance classes two years ago when we visited. She always loved her time at CAP and my D knew that and she spoke to her a lot about it before choosing to attend herself and indeed, my D so far has felt the same. I hope she can continue to follow in DS's footsteps because DS is truly a talented young woman. My D has a similar voice type to DS, in fact. </p>
<p>It has been fun that they are back together again in NYC after spending five years together when younger. I saw DS perform last summer at the 30th Anniversary celebration for their summer theater program and she was great. I just made a guess that MAYBE you were talking of my D's friend only because you said you saw a fourth year CAP student and I see you live in Michigan and she is from Bloomfield. By the way, she actually graduated early in December.</p>
<p>Yay!!! I know DS, but really only as an acquaintance. She was so nice when my daughter and I ran into her at Color Purple (we gave her our student rush tix since we decided to see SPamalot). I'm so happy that she got a great agent AND that her voice improved so much, esp. since my daughter has the same private voice teacher, lol!</p>
<p>The answer to the transposing question is yes and no. You should NOT transpose:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Songs that are associated with specific money notes: i.e. most belt songs, very high legit songs, very high tenor songs, and very low bass songs. In other words, anything where knowledgeable auditors will know you tranposed the song to avoid the specific vocal challenges of the song. If you can't do what the song is "know for," money-note wise, don't do it. I am guessing this is what happened with the CMU situation - it was likely a case of "WHY would you tranpose THAT song?!?!" And the answer was of course simple lack of knowledge of the expectations the auditors would have about the piece. So check this with a KNOWLEDGEABLE coach!!!! </p></li>
<li><p>As theatermom pointed out: songs that are associated with specific character "types" - which really goes back to #1 - UNLESS you do an innovative and often gender-reversal interp - a young man singing "A Quiet Thing" from FLORA THE RED MENACE, for example.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>You absolutely CAN tranpose:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Most, if not all (I can't think of any exception right now, but there is sure to be one), "great American songbook" standards: i.e., "My Funny Valentine," "Embraceable You," etc. These have been in many different keys in their many incarnations (often Broadway revues in the 20's and 30's, films, other Broadway incarnations, cabaret pieces, etc.). Put the song in the key which is best for you - but make SURE you have a knowledgeable accompanist weigh in on the playability of the key - don't transpose into a key with 6 flats, for example!!!</p></li>
<li><p>Contemporary MT songs that are not well-known - anywhere from a half-step to about a third up or down can keep the piece true to its original "vibe" while putting it in a place much more comfortable for a singer. If the auditors don't know the song or it isn't tied to a specific money note in their minds, they won't care and may not even know that it was transposed. This is not a means of deceiving auditors - in the situations I described above, they DO care - in many situations, they don't. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I have students at both UMich and CMU, and the above info has been verified time and time again. The "trick" is REALLY knowing the expectations for a piece - which comes from experience and, before that is accumulated, from expert advice.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! :)</p>
<p>P.S. Some more factoids:
-Keys are often changed from original productions to revivals, so if you learn a song from a specific recording, you might encounter this.
-Vocal SELECTIONS are often not in the same key as the SCORE (because vocal selection tend to water down accompaniments to make them more playable by an intermediate pianist).</p>
<p>We are also huge DS fans! My daughter has many wonderful memories of singing and acting alongside DS on stage. We always knew she was a standout and are not surprised by her success. I think Soozievt would agree that DS's performance at "that celebration" was indeed one of the highlights.</p>
<p>Soozievt,
Yes We saw DS here in Michigan. The benefit was April 1st. I hope it was O.K. but I sent you an e-mail.</p>
<p>rossji,
Your daughter is very lucky to have the same voice teacher - whoever it is they did amazing things with DS's voice.</p>
<p>freelance,
I think we need to start a DS fan club!!! (LOL) I'm beginning to wonder who on CC doesn't know DS!!</p>
<p>I wish I was cool enough to have fans/my initials on CC.</p>
<p>JK.</p>
<p>I'll be here next year...maybe some of y'all will be fans then.</p>
<p>Chris</p>
<p>MTaussie, yes it is OK to email me and I'm getting back to you! Freelance's D and my D went to Stagedoor for years with DS and so that is the connection there. Now my D is at CAP with DS and still good friends. RossJi's D is also now at CAP and I have mentioned DS to her and RossJi has had the good fortune to see DS in a show (or two?) this year. </p>
<p>ChrisNoo....I now officially will start a CN fan club....:D
Hope to meet you at some point at CAP but I figure you'll meet my daughter, in any case.</p>
<p>Random question...OK so I was cool and went to the library on Monday to start looking at scripts and songbooks etc for audition material-I checked out 8 things. One of the books was a Rodgers & Hammerstein songbook... In it is several shows...including "Cinderella". Cinderella was a musical (duh) but it was not on Broadway - it was written for TV in the 1950s. Is this material OK for auditions (even though it was not on Broadway)??</p>
<p>I'm guessing this would be the same situation for musicals like Disney's NEWSIES?</p>
<p>The answer is probably NO, but i thought it couldn't hurt to ask.</p>
<p>edit: And i even found a correct thread to ask ;)</p>
<p>I don't think it matters if the musical was on Broadway per se. Actually, Rodger and Hammerstein's Cinderella is performed on stage as a musical. My daughter was in it as a stepsister at Stagedoor Manor, so I've seen it. It has been done in theaters in our state, as well. While it may have been originally written for the movie, it has become a stage production. Even the movie musical was like a film of a theater production, not like a regular movie, if you have ever seen it. Rodgers and Hammerstein are part of the musical theater tradition/framework so you can't go wrong there! My daughter sang a pre-1960 song by Frank Loesser at some of her college auditions and the song was written actually for a movie, though again, Loesser is a major musical theater composer. Actually, the song she sang, she had sung back when she was only nine in a musical revue called Perfectly Frank, a revue of Loesser's music. Technically, it was in a musical, but it was truly written originally by him for a movie. So, I truly believe songs from R and H's Cinderella would be appropriate for a college audition. I wouldn't characterize it the same as Newsies. However, my kids love the music from Newsies and have always thought it should be made into a stage musical!</p>