No, the same amount of shown ability would be displayed in 32 bars but I’d be cutting middle of sentences and it doesn’t flow well.
I’m not a music expert and don’t have a good answer for you. Is there a much shorter cut that DOES make sense and also shows everything that the 40 bars show? As others have said, at some schools it may not matter if you go over, but for for those that feel differently, if there is a “short cut”, do it. Is there an “intro” at the beginning that can be eliminated/shortened?
Someone told us that, in addition to needing to keep auditioners to reasonable times on their cuts, that some schools do look to see how well you follow direction. Not sure if that’s true. Whether we agree with the directions or not, I think I would err on the side of following them to the letter. I would hate to be disqualified for something as silly as the # of bars in my music.
As far as Michigan goes, they are having some change in their leadership with the retirement of Brent Wagner, so it will be interesting to see if they still adhere to the same audition restrictions. It is a great program. But not for everyone.
In recent years, the only school I know of that is strict about cuts being the exact bar length is Michigan. If you care about Michigan, I’d find a perfect cut for that school; the rest I think are less strict as long as you’re in the ballpark. However, if this is the kind of thing that will stress you or your kid out, by all means take that worry off the table and find a song that fits.
In general, I recommend calling the school if you have concerns. I called the University of Oklahoma the other day because their contemporary song requirement states that the song should be written between 1970-2010. Since my D’s audition sing was written recently, I called to check. It is a firm requirement. Luckily they do not have a prescreen due this month.
That is really interesting that a song written recently wouldn’t be allowed for a contemporary song requirement. You’d think they’d just stipulate 1970 and after!
I would recommend against making any assumptions as to the specificity of any stated requirements for a college theatre program and the flexibility allowed by various programs to exceed or otherwise fail to meet those requirements. Unless you have explicit, first-hand information from a specific program, I would strongly recommend adhering to the stated requirements. If you really need to modify the requirements, call and ask.
College audition panelists see hundreds of auditions every year, work professionally as well as teach and direct at school, live-eat-breath-sleep theatre and music, and can absolutely tell when you go over the measure limit. Anyone with substantial musical training develops an inherent, almost subconcious, built-in metronome and measure/phrase counter/analyzer. It is very easy for pros to know when you go over, even by a measure. They can feel it.
It may not be a big deal, but with so much riding on each audition, why run the risk?
Hello, mom of senior daughter, a little late to the MT game, she was thinking VP and Bio until the summer when she fell back in love with MT and wants to major in it for the rigor and training at college level. I find the forums helpful and appreciate what you all have shared. Applications almost ready, missed Elon November deadline already but hopefully will still make it for February. I am wondering if it’s worth the 8 hour trip to Catawba for the scholarship day in November. I hate to spend the time and money if its like playing the lottery anyway. Others we are looking at right now are Shenandoah, Hartt, Emerson, Otterbein, Syracuse, Ithaca, Montclair. She might throw a prescreen to CMU and Penn State, probably not bother with NYU (pretty sure we can’t afford it anyway) Just thought I’d introduce myself, hopefully we can find someplace where she will fit in and we can afford!! She is in an IB Stem magnet school and auditions for large local high school musicals, he casts seniors in his leads so maybe this year she can get something. Shes been doing community and professional theater during elementary and middle school, some modeling, but stopped it all for high school academics since 9th grade. Grades and SAT’s are good. Community service and a couple of singing awards, so we hope to end up with at least one good fit acceptance by March!! Any feedback on Catawba would be appreciated!
@lake4 , we included Catawba in our Elon college visit trip and to be honest, we weren’t impressed and left the tour early. D’s visit list included Syracuse, Ithaca and Montclair as well and Catawba’s campus (and the students that we met) just didn’t impress us. Didn’t catch a show though so there certainly may be much more to the department than what we saw.
If her stats are good, I wouldn’t travel that distance just for scholarship consideration, since Catawba has automatic academic scholarships as well.
Personally, I’d replace Catawba with Coastal Carolina.
If you’re going to Shenandoah, I might also suggest your look at James Madison University. Great academics and great MT program. And if you are looking at Otterbein, I’d also look at Baldwin Wallace, Wright State and Ohio Northern. Just some suggestions!
@sydsim thank you so much, I appreciate your perspective. Coastal Carolina does look interesting, I was ruling out based on distance!! Will look into it again (trying to stay under 8 hours…but this major doesn’t really allow for such specifications!!
@vvnstar definately need to put JMU in there as a choice. I noticed Wright State and will add that. I hadn’t heard of Ohio Northern so will follow up. Thanks!!
@lake4 - What state are you from? Wondering if you are in an academic common market state.
@austinmtmom Pennsylvania
In Pennsylvania you might also want to considerr Penn State and Muhlenberg.
Point Park and University of the Arts are a couple I didn’t notice on your list. Also, if doing the “Ohio Tour”, you might want to include CCM.
@Dusing2 sounds good for CCM, it seems like a huge school, visiting son at Xavier next weekend so will check out campus, may apply. I wonder about fitting in all the auditions in Jan and Feb, especially when so far away and with weather. Penn State and Point Park seem like dancers schools, we will send in prescreens but are realistic about the dance requirement. We took Point Park off the list because it says 1 full year of dance, she has had over that considering her classes and various training but hasn’t done a dance company with dance competitions so assumed Point Park was not worth it. She loves Pittsburgh though!!
@vvnstar we will add Muhlenburg and also send prescreen to Penn State. @Dusing2 about UArts, after reading posts here we may have to reconsider UArts. I ruled it out based on experiences of a few friends in film and jazz guitar…mostly having to do with the families running out of $$$ to continue. Love the location and it sounds like their musical theater department might operate differently…CC families seem to love it there so thanks. Thanks to you both…onward…
I’m with you guys on all this nitpicking over audition requirements/cuts. I’ve also been told the 16 bars = 30s 32 bars = 1 minute rule, but I suppose it depends on the school.
Here’s an opinion question for you guys… I have a song in my rep that I really love that is actually from an operetta from the 50s - It does not sound like opera or too classical, very golden age sound, maybe to the effect of some stuff by Kurt Weill. My coach picked it from some songs I sang for her, without even think twice about it. But I just wonder if schools will be picky because it isn’t from a show that was on Broadway. Or will they not care unless they directly specify?
Thoughts?
On the flip side… My D has a 45sec monologue that she loves, and is allowed up to 2mins. for one of her auditions. I know that going under the allotted time is okay, but if it were that much under, would it look bad?