<p>I'm currently picking songs for my auditions, and I've found myself choosing duets and songs sung by a man (I'm female) and then reprised by either a woman or the chorus. They all work as a solo for a female without changing any words, but I was wondering if anyone knows whether colleges care about things like this.</p>
<p>The main thing audition panels really care about is appropriateness. Age and gender are the two main categories. Ask yourself "could I sing this song? Could I play this part" If the answer is "No" then the song should be discarded for college auditions according to my D and her friends around the country in these MT BFA programs because the auditioners will be asking themselves, "Why is she/he singing that song?" Hope this helps.</p>
<p>It's a good question. We had a Broadway actress come to our school for a workshop a few years ago, and she said that sometimes it is a good idea for a woman to sing a man's song for auditions (not sure about vice versa). It shakes things up a bit. But, for a college audition, I'd play it safe.</p>
<p>Professional auditions are a whole different story -- you can push the envelope quite a bit more. I agree with ttmom -- for college auditions stick with songs where you could realistically be cast in the role. NightAndDay: a good example of what you mentioned would be the song "Hey There" from Pajama Game. It is originally sung by a male character, and the reprise is done by the female. I would strongly advise that a female stay away from songs like "The Impossible Dream" for college auditions, even though that song was brilliantly recorded by Linda Eder.</p>
<p>By and large the best approach is to do a song that age and gender appropriate.</p>
<p>At the same time, duets are a GREAT resource for college audition pieces. Of the 4 main pieces I used primarily (a contemporary uptempo and ballad and a traditional uptempo and ballad - plus I brought my "book" on top of that") 3 of them were cuts from duets. There's usually phenomenal 16 and 32 bar cuts in them, they tend to be more active because you're singing directly to another person, and a lot of people overlook them when choosing material because they aren't solo pieces. I highly recommend looking at duets.</p>