Keep in mind when people list a composer as difficult they don’t necessarily mean every single song. While JRB, is generally a piano challenge, he has a handful of songs that I believe would not be tricky for an accomp. For example, It’s Hard to Speak my Heart from Parade is not tricky. Although some might believe there’s other reasons it’s not good for auditions.
If you’re only seconds off the requested time, perhaps she can set the tempo slightly faster and use the cut she wishes? Having a time limit versus a bar count makes you very dependent on the tempo at which it is sung to make it fit within time constraints.
I have never heard someone say they regretted following the rules… I have heard any number of stories where people regret that they didn’t. A friend of D’s had beloved song that is performed in an accent. They chose to use it for auditions. When they started singing it at a highly sought after school…they stopped and asked why they were not following that rule (and it was stated in instructions) Person replied that they loved the song. School dismissed them from audition- saying if they were not going to follow instructions in audition process they didn’t think they were a good fit
I agree - but Penn State’s ‘rule’ is “approximately 45 seconds” not “under 45 seconds”. So I think a few seconds under/over is following the rule.
Does anyone know if Western Michigan accepts people who didn’t get a dance callback? I auditioned at unifieds, it went fine but they told me I didn’t need to attend the dance call back. The students running the check in booth seemed unsure if that meant an automatic no or not.
@deelight, I agree that there is some “wiggle” in the rule, but @224kimbo say the songs are now “under a minute” - which to me sounds like it is close to a minute- and that is not “approx 45 secs”
Agree…that when it says “approximately”…be close…so 50 seconds is going to be OK if you are ending the song. When you start getting closer to a minute, it really is not what they were asking for.
I have the same question and situation as @ParachuteBoy
I don’t know about the dance call backs at Unifieds, but I do know if you were not asked to stay for the dance call back on Western Michigan’s campus, you were no longer in the running.
Thanks, everyone!! We are rule followers, but it’s hard to make a judgment call when the guidelines say “approximately”, and the accompanist and vocal teacher are saying if you go over a little, it’s ok. My daughter completely understands how competitive it is and the last thing she wants is to upset the panel (?). I’m glad you are all here to offer valuable insights to the newbies!!!
I would figure if WMU said that for on campus it’s the same protocol for off campus.
Last year, if you weren’t asked to stay for the dance call back, it was a no…maybe it has changed, but that was the case with the on campus audition
Re. WMU - yesterday afternoon we actually overheard a mother ask the young lady who was helping to keep the afternoon auditions moving along what it meant that her daughter was not asked to learn the dance; the worker replied “if they were not asked to come back for the dance call, that means they are not being considered.”
That makes sense and I believe that is the case. I just would prefer if they were more upfront and honest with that. A lot of us would appreciate knowing that it means we are out of the running. As hard as rejection is, it’s nice to know right away to not get our hopes up.
I also would like to pose another question or discussion.
How do you all feel about writing thank you notes or emails to university theatre department after you audition? I’ve heard that some musical theatre college coaches have advised their students to send something after each school to remind them of you and to show continual interest. At first, this almost seems like too much of sucking-up to a school.
Of course, it wouldn’t hurt to email the department thanking for their time but I’m unsure, now since I’ve done the bulk of auditions in Chicago, I’m considering if I should send thank you notes of email.
@ParachuteBoy It is always a nice idea to send a hand written thank you note in almost any situation don’t you think?! The online website that my daughter had her head shots reproduced at offered 4 x 6 cards with the option of one or two pictures on them and name, email address and phone number, etc. (The idea being to connect a name to a face.) She used these to write thank you notes to the auditors at the schools she auditioned for. As a matter of fact, one of the people she sent a card/note to just told her last week that she still had the card up on her bulletin board! So write those notes!!
My D sent notes of thanks via email to the auditors with whom she had nice conversations/interviews, some of which gave her their cards and asked her to stay in touch. And although I encouraged her to send them to everyone, she chose not to send them to the schools who didn’t spend much time getting to know her. There were quite a few “thank you, next…” auditions. She (somewhat surprisingly) received acceptances from a couple who didn’t even seem to be paying attention in the audition and rejections from several who seemed very interested. I guess my point is…follow your gut…if it feels awkward, don’t do it. But if you connected with someone in an audition, go for it.
I think doing an email to the actual auditor makes a lot of sense. I knew some people do the classic hand written snail mail type, so I hope emails don’t look lazy/tacky in comparison.
I also had some auditions where I walked in and I sang my one minute song and did my monologue and they didn’t say anything more. Whereas one audition the auditor talked to me for like 30 seconds beforehand and then talked to me about the school and my audition a little bit afterwards.
It’s very likely I’m reading way too into all of this. But I suppose this process makes you go mad.
My d sent emailed thank yous after all of her auditions. She received nice acknowledgement from all of them, I believe.
So how would you approach thank you notes if you don’t have the auditors name? This was true at several of my daughters unifieds auditions. They were just quickly shuffling people in and out, not introducing themselves and the people checking in were to busy to ask. I guess we should be able to figure some out from the schools websites and faculty listings?