<p>I’d say that Caint Say No and Adelaide would not fit the “age appropriate” category for a college audition, and would be shaky when it comes to the “no accents” rule, too. I’ve looked at a lot of college audition websites and I don’t remember seeing the requirement for a “classic belt” song for an audition. Can you tell us what school that is for?</p>
<p>Hmmm, I wouldn’t be so quick to second guess onstage, who is a professional actor and coaches many students for college auditions.</p>
<p>Songold, I am not TaintedLove, but I doubt the school specified classic belt song but she knows that is is good to have two contrasting songs that show a range of vocal skills and so if one of her songs is legit voice, she may want the other song to show her belt voice.</p>
<p>(however, I haven’t seen any schools that require two classical MT songs, and wonder what school she means)</p>
<p>By the way, when my D auditioned for a couple of schools that wanted ONE pre-1960 song, her classical song was a belt song and her contemporary song was using her legit voice.</p>
<p>Haha, thanks for coming to my defense, NMR! Songold77 was correct about Adelaide’s Lament, though – the character is meant to be in her mid-30’s, which would be a bit out of the age range for college students. I’m not sure why I included that one in my list!
I don’t agree about Can’t Say No, however – Ado Annie is a young character, and the accent is actually written into the lyrics, so it should be performed as written.
Very much disagree with aefitzMT’s comment about audition suicide; students of mine have used all of these songs successfully in college auditions.<br>
Classical MT repertoire is typically considered pre-1960, or sometimes pre-1965. Kander and Ebb wrote their first musical in 1965, and Cabaret was written in 1966. Some schools are very strict about classifying songs, so to be safe I would not suggest using Cabaret as a “classic-era” musical theater song.
The whole point of my post (and Soozievt post) was to get the poster thinking about alternatives; any singer who cannot find a belt song in the classical repertoire is probably not looking in the right place – there are so many choices out there!</p>
<p>I think sometimes the “classical MT” debate is similar to “classical music”. People refer to classical music as the general style, and not to the specific time period of the classical era (1750-1820). In the broadest sense, Kander and Ebb are certainly an important part of the classical musical theatre genre, but if (as for college auditions) people refer to “classical MT”, they are most likely referring to the “golden age”, which is usually cut off at 1960, or possibly 1965, as onstage states. </p>
<p>I would not recommend “I Cain’t Say No”, because in the past it has been on some school’s DO NOT USE list, it has been on OVERDONE lists, and because of the accent. I don’t think you need to find the most obscure pieces ever, but if you have something that shows you have done some research, and know more repertoire than the most obvious, and you find something that suits you perfectly, it shows to your advantage.</p>
<p>Agree that classical/traditional can refer to a style of MT, even some musicals written in recent years. Most colleges who specify a time period, adhere to that time period (such as pre-1960 or pre-1965) and so a student must pick songs that meet that requirement. Otherwise, if no such requirement is stipulated, and you want to contrast songs, you could have a song in the traditional/legit MT style and another song that is more in the contemporary MT style and I’m not talking dates so much. While I don’t recommend singing song from Millie, it is an example of a traditional style MT score, even though it was not written pre-1960.</p>
<p>Do check “do not do lists” for each of your schools - some schools have them in their audition info, and I Cain’t Say No is on CCM’s do not do list and Shy, I Cain’t Say No, and Adelaide’s Lament are on Texas State’s do not do list.</p>
<p>In any case, it’s always important to select songs that show off your vocal quality and range to the best advantage. If you do pick a song that’s commonly thought of as “overdone”, you need to be able to deliver it better than the last 10 people who sang it at the audition!
There’s been a lot of discussion on this board about “overdone” material. There’s a reason why some songs are in that category – it’s because they’re good! As a director, I don’t mind hearing an overdone song if it’s performed well. But CoachC is right; if your school has a “do not do” list, be sure to adhere to it. If your school has bothered to put together guidelines, that means you need to follow them! Some schools are not that specific, and in those cases you can perhaps be a little more flexible about song choice.</p>
<p>Montclair is the school that requires two songs from the classical MT rep. I have a legit soprano piece for my ballad so while its not required to have a belty song, I personally can do both. I’m going to call the school and see if they specifically want pre 1960.</p>
<p>I wasn’t knocking your advice, some of those are great choices. however about half of them fall on most school’s “don’t do” list. And both my theatre teacher and voice teacher have said not to some of them. So, yes, it would be audition suicide to do a song a school blatantly says NOT to do. Some schools requirement is not necessarily “pre-1960”, some of the schools I’m auditioning for specifically say “pre-1970” or “pre-1980” and some even list Kander and Ebb as possible repertoire to pick from. It all depends on the school, I didn’t mean to seem like I was discrediting your advice.</p>
<p>And I’ve never heard “Wonderful Guy” belted. That would be very interesting if done well. Definitely a risk to belt though, because that just isn’t the style of the song. Its one of those songs that potentially could be overdone, but most people sing “Wash That Man” or “Cockeyed Optimist” if they’re gonna do a South Pacific.</p>
<p>Wonderful Guy is a good example of a song that works best with a mixed sound, neither pure belt nor purely legit. It would actually sound awful either of those ways. Whether you’re Mary Martin or Kelly O’Hara, you have to know how to handle your voice appropriately to make that song “sing.” </p>
<p>You’re right, Sooz, there is no actual requirement or even suggestion on Montclair’s website re: a classic belt song. From the website: “Two contrasting songs, (1) a ballad and (2) an up-tempo from the classic American Musical Theatre repertoire, e.g. Rodgers and Hammerstein, Kern, Porter, Gershwin.”
I think it may be a good idea to clarify that we all seem to be referring to “classic” Musical Theatre music as what is sometimes referred to as music from or in the style of, the Golden Age of Musical Theatre (as opposed to “classical” music,) as MusicCC mentioned. </p>
<p>There is certainly no reason why a singer would restrict legit singing to the “classic” MT and “belt” singing to more modern singing, and clearly your DD demonstrated this. </p>
<p>I disagree with onstage about Ado Annie, though, especially if a school specifically indicates “no accents,” as they often do when it comes to giving information about choosing monologues. It is possible that an accent can interfere with the listener’s ability to truly hear the voice at its very best. Surely there are other songs that a competent and talented young singer can choose that does demonstrate range, phrasing, control, dramatic ability, emotional content, musicianship and a host of other things that are evaluated in a college audition situation. Many of the other songs listed by posters on this thread fit the bill.</p>
<p>I’ve audited quite a few college auditions; I can tell you that many schools offer guidelines because so many students make very poor choices in their audition material. That is why CC is such a good resource – students who pay attention to the advice on the MT thread will probably be better prepared than many. </p>
<p>I don’t want to drag this discussion on forever! All of the song suggestions I made in post #978 have been successfully used by my students in college auditions – but some of the songs would not have been appropriate for certain schools. As I’ve stated before, if your school specifically prohibits certain songs, or accents, or requires songs from a certain era, it is extremely important to follow directions!</p>
<p>I’m sorry to interrupt this discussion, but I have an audition song-related question that also has something to do with “following directions”. While attempting to cut a song to 16 bars, I can only have it make logical sense in 17, with only the very last note on that last measure. Would most schools be okay with this? Should I contact them just in case, or just scrap the song? Thanks so much! (:</p>
<p>I would not worry about 1 extra bar and neither will they.</p>
<p>^^^Agree with the above.</p>
<p>Oh, good! Thank you! (:</p>
<p>just read through most of this thread and want to say thank you to everyone for their insight!</p>
<p>Hi guys! I’m a senior and auditioning for CMU, Ithaca, Emerson and NYU Steinhardt. For my audition songs, I was thinking of having And This is My Beloved from Kismet for my ballad/pre-1965 song (I’m Indian so I look the part, too!) and Avalanche from Tales From the Bad Years as my uptempo/contemporary piece ([Lindsay</a> Mendez - “Avalanche” - YouTube](<a href=“Lindsay Mendez - "Avalanche" - YouTube”>Lindsay Mendez - "Avalanche" - YouTube) if you haven’t heard it! Beautiful song). Would these be appropriate for my auditions, do you think? My main concern is that Tales From the Bad Years is really more of a song cycle than a musical - would that make it unwise for me to do it in the audition? Thanks everyone!</p>
<p>The fact the Tales from the Bad Years is a song cycle does not necessarily make Avalanche a bad choice for a college audition, unless a school specifically prohibits songs from Song Cylces and Revues (which I believe would be rare). Song Cycle/ Revue is a standard musical theatre genre. Avalanche could be a little difficult to cut to 16 - 32 bar cut that will show off both a vocal and acting journey, since the journey of the song is such a slow build to discovery towards the end, and then an expression of that discovery. That can be a challenge when using songs from Song Cycles and Revues for 16-32 bars auditions, they tend to be story songs that live as a little mini “play” within a larger show of mini “plays,” so it can be more difficult to find a good short cut. Beautiful song.</p>