Colleges for Musical Theater Major - Part 33

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>Hi Susan,</p>

<p>I have another option re scheduling your UMich audition and your travel plans. We had similar concerns last year, especially as we were travelling in January in the Midwest (can we all say "blizzard" boys and girls.......). I believe you said that's when you've scheduled your D's audition. Given the expense of all the travel to auditions, we tried to combine geographic possibilities into one trip. We scheduled UM on a Friday in January and CCM the following day. I decided that I would have more control over getting her to the second audition if we drove from Ann Arbor to Cincinnati so I arranged to rent a 4 wheel drive SUV for the 3 1/2 - 4 hour drive. Depending on the airlines was just too scary - for any of you who remember my tale of horror last year getting us TO Ann Arbor, you understand this fear.</p>

<p>Margaret is absolutely correct about the numbers of people UM will see at these "later" auditions. November is usually quite small (and as I recall another poster saying, they were told that if you are accepted from the November UM audition it would be "a miracle.") January and February auditions are packed to the max. Our morning was spent in a group session in the Mendelssohn Theatre on Central Campus, first hearing from current MT students - juniors and/or seniors - and then from Brent Wagner, the MT Chair. When we arrived for this session, the students were given a folder that had their individual audition schedules for Monologues, Piano/Music Theory, Voice and Dance. You will probably then take a short tour, including the larger Power Centre performance space and then go up to North Campus, the site of The Music School, where the actual auditions take place. I remember them starting around 12:30 or 1:00 and students were scheduled until well after 5:00 - 5:30. Knowing that this was a possibility and wanting to get on the road as soon as possible, we requested audition times that were earlier rather than later. Once you have been invited to audition and your date has been set, you will hear from the UM Audition Coordinator. They have someone assigned to manage all of this and he was terrifically organized as was the day on campus. The student will have to let him know what songs and monologues they are doing no later than around two weeks prior to the audition, as I recall. At that time, I also asked if our travel schedule could be accommodated and he made it happen. We left UM between 2:30 and 3:00 and had no trouble driving to CCM.</p>

<p>So, if you can arrange for an early evening flight, my guess is that UM will help you make it. Just so you know, it is about a 25-30 minute drive from UM to the Detroit Wayne County Airport. The rental cars are off site however, so you must allow for time to take the shuttle bus to and/or from the rental car office in your calculations. There are also several great shuttle services that can take you to or from the airport. E-mail me if you decide you want info on these.</p>

<p>Or, as Margaret suggested, you can just stay in a hotel another night and relax! There is no major theatrical production scheduled in January that you could stay and see (it's too soon after winter break) but there might be a student production. Just ask.</p>

<p>Hope this helps!</p>

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<p>Is it appropriate to bring your own accompanist to a college audition? D's voice teacher has offered to go with her for some of her auditions (her teacher is awesome). I know professionals sometimes do, but is appropriate at the college level.</p>

<p>I keep promising to write about our trips, but we've had some severe illness in the family and I'm just not spending much time on the computer.</p>

<p>I will say a few words about Muhlenberg. They do not have a MT program, but they are supportive of the MT student. The theater, dance and music departments are very strong and they are willing to work together. The facilities are excellent for all 3 areas. Academically it is top notch and from everything we heard and saw, it is apparent that the school is focused on providing a top notch education and many opportunities for the students. The tour quide went into detail about all the things he has been involved with and how the school selects a "theme" each year. The "theme' is integrated into guest speakers on campus and into class work. I was very impressed. Students and staff were friendly and seemed like a family. 95% of the students live in college housing. A very positive experience. If a BFA MT is not a "must", I highly recommend looking at Muhlenberg.</p>

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<p>Soozievt: I agree with the advice given so far about UMICH MT audition times. I will tell you our D was finished by 3 PM. It will all depend on your actual times, and I would not hesitate to call and ask if they have been scheduled. If you wanted you could be out of Ann Arbor that same day, but it might take some doing, but not out of the question. Otherwise, stay over another night and relax, like the advice says above. Gee, you ladies sure know what you're talking about!</p>

<p>Fosselover: I accompanied all of my D's auditions. I always think it's best to have someone play for you that you are comfortable with, if possible. I've heard so many horror stories. At UMICH although, I know the accompanist for MT is fabulous, so no worries there.</p>

<p>Also, I wanted to say thanks to you all for letting us know about the NFAA competition. We had no idea it existed until I read about it here back in September. Our D got an Honorable Mention in classical voice. Unfortunately she can't try again next year, but she is happy with her placement this year. We sent in her old CD from well over a year ago, on a wish and and a prayer, as there was no time with her UMICH schedule to make a new one. I think it's a fabulous scholarship opportunity! Thanks again and let us know if there are any others. Seems we are in the dark about scholarships in the arts.</p>

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<p>Thanks for all the first hand information and advice regarding UMich audition times. Let me first clarify that we have already visited UMich this past September for a 48 hour visit that was quite comprehensive so I know the airport/drive stuff, etc. I also agree with who said that the accompaniest is great as my D observed a musical theater class with him as the pianist that day. </p>

<p>I heard this AM from my D's best bud's mom who had been at the Nov. audition and they got done by 3 as well. I was looking at the only direct flight out which is at 6:30 meaning the need to leave campus by 4:30. If that sounds tight, we could stay that Friday night. Unfortunately neither scenario is a Sat. night stay so the rates are very very high. As mentioned there are barely any direct flights given where I live so most flights are ridiculous routing and very long. I will plan accordingly and appreciate your advice. Perhaps we will stay Friday night if this sounds just too close as there should be no additional reasons to be frazzled, plus it could be snowing, etc. I'm familiar with the rental cars there, but thanks. I wish we could see a show there or at any school. Perhaps we might be able to see Sweet Charity at Penn State. This is one thing we have not been able to do at schools and I think would be enlightening if we could. </p>

<p>Theatermom, your suggestion to group auditions together is great. However, I have already done that as I was thinking like you were. We grouped Syracuse and Ithaca together and we grouped Penn State and CMU together. In the case of UMich, there is no school to combine with it as my D decided against applying to CCM but otherwise, I would have done as you did in this case. </p>

<p>Gkoukla, wow...congrats to your D on the Honorable Mention for classical voice. That is really great! I am getting so confused on each person's profile here and should keep a list by my computer. Doesn't your D already go to UMich? Is this a different daughter who is now a senior? Like you, I want to thank folks here for mentioning the NFAA competition as we also did not know about it and my D decided to enter it when I read about it here. </p>

<p>Looking forward to meeting many of you Sunday at Emerson. I forgot to mention my D has the 9 AM group and I did not realize there were two groups until I just heard from her best friend's mom (another state) that her time slot is in the 1 PM group, so we might not all be there at the same time afterall. Right now, my daughter is sick in bed, just great. She got home from her school concert last night sounding like she picked up a cold and then got up this AM and said she did not feel good. I hope she did not get this as I know she is concerned how that would affect auditioning/singing. She is also exhausted from the schedule she has been keeping and has to be up early tomorrow to go also. She said last night that a boy in her cabaret that she is directing has a very bad cold and she told him not to come near her cause of her college audition and he kept joking around by being "in her face". Most kids have no idea about this process or how important it is to these kids as it is like a different world from what they are involved in. I am sure if she was going to get it, she was going to get it anyway but she did not find that too funny. I should read back on this thread any remedies people posted about as I did not pay good attention to it and now she might need it. </p>

<p>Thanks again.
Susan</p>

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<p>I agree with Gkoukla that it is always easier to sing with an accompanist that you are comfortable with. However, I've been told more than once that students are being partially evaluated on their ability to adjust to a new musical situation and that auditors want all students on an equal footing. I.E., it's unfair for some students to have their own accompanists and others to use the school accompanist. I suspect the attitudes toward bringing your own accompanist vary from school to school. I would ask the department chair of each school I was auditioning for how he or she feels about bringing your own accompanist. </p>

<p>I must confess that I assumed it just wasn't done when my D was auditioning last year. My D's vocal coach, who used to be the music director for CCM, knows that I'm a competent pianist and never suggested that I volunteer to play for my D, with one exception. She did have a horrible accompanist experience at one school. She came out of her vocal audition upset that the pianist was lost several times in her piece and wasn't keeping a steady beat. When we got home we asked the vocal coach's advice. This audition took place at the school my D was considering her safety. She feared she would either get rejected outright, or if she got accepted, she would lose out on a talent award. D's coach advised her to send a polite letter requesting a 2nd audition. The school did not respond to D's letter, however, she got an acceptance letter the week after her audition. The letter also stated that she was being offered a small talent award. We assumed that she did not get a larger talent award because of the poor vocal audition. D's coach advised me to follow up with a phone call reiterating D's request for a 2nd audition. He advised me to gingerly suggest playing my D's audition myself. To put it mildly, that rankled the department chair. He bristled and told me that if my D expected to work in the business, she had to get used to working with many accompanists and could not be babied by a pianist who always did things her way. He informed me that his school's staff accompanists were all experienced professionals and insinuated that if there had been a problem, it must have been my D's fault. I held my tongue and thanked him for allowing D to schedule a 2nd audition. What I didn't tell him was that I played D's audition music and purposely varied the accompaniments, her vocal coach did the same thing, and she also had her classical voice teacher playing for her. I've heard her sing auditions locally when the pianist wasn't so hot and she's always maintained a steady tempo. She's an excellent musician who will keep going no matter how badly the pianist fouls up. Let's just say that our experience with that school left a very sour taste. D gleefully scratched them off her list when she got accepted elsewhere.</p>

<p>So, I can certainly understand why a student would want to use her/his own accompanist. I would just want to be sure that doing so would not cause anyone to form a negative impression. My motto is always, "When in doubt, ASK!"</p>

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<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I was just curious as to why UCLA & USC & Cal State Fullerton are not mentioned in good choices.</p>

<p>Does someone know anything about their music programs? Also Chapman.</p>

<p>Lexismom</p>

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<p>FOSSELOVER - Glad to see you had the same impressions and experiences on your visit to Muhlenberg. I can honestly say that everyone we met -admissions, faculty, students and employees - were the nicest people we have met at any school we've visited. It's good to hear that it is consistent, and not just that we happened to visit on a very good day! Did you get a chance to check out their new athletic building? Very impressive! Looks like a great school. Good luck on your search, and I hope that everyone's health improves :)</p>

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<p>Lexismom,</p>

<p>Regarding your question about good choices, are you referring to Doctorjohn's list of safety schools a few posts back? That was a list of schools that do not require an audition. I assume the California schools you mentioned do require an audition, so they would not be on that list. Can you clarify your question?</p>

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<p>Lexismom, there has been a lot posted in the past about the California schools. Cal state Fullerton has a very good program, but it doesn't really exist until junior year. UCLA is on its way. I don't think USC and Chapman have MT majors (BFAs), unless I'm wrong. I think there is a Cal State up north that might have MT.</p>

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<p>A few things about the Emerson audition. When we went there, the kids were let in but the parents where told to come back in four hours. Shop, look around, do whatever, but no hanging around. A little different from what I read about last year's auditions, and very different from all of the other auditions where some sort of space was allocated for parents to sit around if they so chose. It was not a problem for me as my hotel room was just a few blocks away and we had not checked out. I spent the time with another mom whom I saw again at the Michigan audition, and had a really nice morning. S felt that the audition was not as intense as the Michigan or the CMU or CCM auditions. The dance was similar to CMU's. </p>

<p>Really did not stick around for the CMU auditions either as I ran into an old friend from Pittsburgh whose son is doing the audition rounds. Had not seen her in so long. She has a son at CMU right now, and her second one is an athlete like my son. The boys were glad to catch up with each other after all of these years, and so we left them to their auditions while we went to the University Center for coffee and klatch. We went to dinner later at "11", a new restaurant opened by a favorite chef in an old favorite locale. Found out that that our friends would be in Michigan the same time we were planning to be there.</p>

<p>The Michigan audition was our most expensive, Susan. We ended up spendig waaay too much for it. We arrived early the night before after booking an obscenely expensive flight because it was the only one that ended up fitting our schedules. There had been all kinds of issues with scheduling that involved S's double booking before I took that part over--foolish to have expected him to schedule the auditions and track them. We lost a couple of audition times because of this. Don't want to get into the situation too much yet because of some personal issues. We stayed at a nearby expensive hotel after taking an expensive cab from Detroit airport, and found that our non-smoking room smelled so sweet it made us gag. We had to air out the room. We went to a performance of "Water", a musical still in its infancy, and it was way too long and not yet complete. We ended up getting up late the next morning because our scheduled wake up call did not come--and the group had moved from one theatre to another and no one could direct us so we missed a lot of the orientation which I was told was really a sales pitch from current students. I did talk to some of those kids later, and was much impressed with the ones I met. Caught up with our old friend and a bunch of other moms while the kids did their dance audition. Then we were able to arrange early auditions and cut out early with another mom/son to Cincinnati. This was an unexpected bonus as we had lost that slot initially but this mom was able to get us back in and we got a ride there to boot. Also since I had paid such a primo price for the plane ticket, even with the change charge, I was able to exchange our tickets after a little hassle with the airline. OTher than practically having to undergo a strip search on the way home, we did ok.</p>

<p>S found the CCM audition the most thorough and intense, particularly in dance. Michigan a second in the dance. The group of kids at CMU, CCM and Michigan were a very talented group, from what son could see. Verified by some conversations with some of the people running the auditions. Apparently the earlier auditions do get the more intense candidates. There were more males than females, markedly so at Michigan, and surprisingly to me, the males were better dancers according to S. At Michigan there were several standout dancers, males who were in professional dance troupes. CCM also. A poster said that the chances are lower in the early rounds at Michigan, but I got the opposite impression from the adcom I talked to at the School of Music who said the largest % are accepted from earlier groups, though a few of the kids we saw were accepted late, some from the wait list. One of the auditioners/speakers said that the top group of kids tend to be "fought over" by the same group of schools. At CMU one of the kids at the audition table said that just 2 spots were really unallocated at the last audition of the year. Though the numbers are dismally low under any circumstances, 20 seats for 400 apps or more, the accept rates are not 5% as there are yield issues, but I could not get any real number for the programs. </p>

<p>S had gone to an October Syracuse audition as he did not like ths school upon visiting in the Spring. He had visited on a rainy day, had a terrible guide and lot of things went awry at the visit. H took him to the audition really only because it was going to be a "practice"run. Well, the experience this time was entirely different, and he loved it. Syracuse has moved right up there with CMU and Michigan, with Emerson and Tisch now down a notch. Now of course he has to get into any of these programs, but you can see how things can change. </p>

<p>We will resume auditions with acting and vocal performance programs in January, but are done with MT schools, and just waiting for the response. We have two acceptances so far, but they are not true MT programs, and the one at the State U requires an audition to get into the music performance program which can give you a schedule similar to some of the MT programs. </p>

<p>Though we did everything in advance, and scheduled as early as we could, I think that we could have done things a lot better. We should have had Arizona on our schedule, and OCU earlier on the schedule for early notification and early practice.<br>
Good luck, everyone, this weekend and hope that the weather stays clear. It snowed in Boston our weekend! And, Susan, at a few of the auditions we were told that EVERYONE gets cold in those programs, and they are quite able to assess what they need from the auditions despite illness. Hope your D feels better, as flying is no fun with a stuffy nose. And hopefully you don't get our room at the Bell Tower Hotel that had a heavy perfumey scent.</p>

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<p>Hi Gkoukla!</p>

<p>Major congrats on your D's NFAA honorable mention in Voice - now our D's have even more in common than being brunette sopranos going to the same school! ;-)</p>

<p>I hear that your D is trying to transfer from Vocal Performance at UM into MT. I know you said she auditioned and was accepted by both programs (quite the accomplisment!) but was counselled to accept VP and started in that dept. What has caused her to change her mind? Can you share the reasons for this decision? Curious minds want to know........</p>

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<p>theatremom: Wow, loaded question. I'd rather not answer publically, until all decisions have been made. Let's just say I wish UMICH gave their MT's a voice prof. their first year AND more than a half hour in the subsequent years. That really concerns us. But D is very happy there, so we'll see what happens.</p>

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<p>Soozievt: Thanks for the congrat's for NFAA. I wish we knew about it last year. </p>

<p>Yes, our D is at UMICH now and is a vocal perf. major and is taking as many MT classes as she can schedule.</p>

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<p>Jamimom,</p>

<p>The director of Admissions for the U.M. School of Music told my family the same thing you heard last year: the earlier a student auditions the better. The reason Mtheatremom (Margaret) posted a while back that probably no one was likely to get accepted from the November audition last year had to do with an exceptional circumstance at U.M. that was only present last year.</p>

<p>You may recall that the U.M. Law School Admission policy was being reviewed by the Supreme Court in the summer of 2003. Applications to the University of Michigan (all applications, not just Law School applications) were in limbo. In order to get a spot in the November MT auditions last year, students had to have all of their application materials in to the university by Sept. 15. The school of Music stated that they preferred to have applications in by Sept. 1 so that student paperwork could move from the university Office of Admissions to the School of Music Office of Admissions. The U.M. application did not become available until August 29. Meeting the School of Music's Sept. 1 preferred application date was impossible. Even getting the application in by Sept. 15 was very difficult. Sometime around the end of the 1st week of Sept. the School of Music extended the application deadline to Oct. 1. I think that most students had given up on the idea of auditioning in November before the extension was put into place. A whopping 20 kids showed up to the November audition last year. Three of them were male. Brent Wagner told the group that he normally sees 75 to 80 students in November. I think that, psychologically, it would be very difficult to grant admission to any student who had the misfortune to audition with such an abnormally small group. That's what was being referred to by Margaret when she stated that it was highly unlikely that anyone from the November audition would be offered a place in the program. It was the size of the group auditioning, not the date the audition took place that was the problem last year.</p>

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<p>The only Cal State school with BFA MT is Fullerton. There are other strong theater programs, some with MT coursework, but Fullerton is the best for MT. UCLA does have an MT program, but the dance portion is very weak. Chapman is a BA program and we have gotten very mixed reviews from those who have studied there. For those who planned on becoming professional, they were not as pleased with the program. USC does not have a specific MT program and the available dance is minimal. Being a SCal resident, we of course hoped our daughter would stay here, but most of the BFA MT programs are East of the Mississippi.</p>

<p>Another quick review. D had really anguished over what schools to visit, but had decided that the real schools of interest were the smaller 2000-4000 undergrad schools. But since we were in North Carolina, we decided to visit ECU. Her gut feeling about smaller schools was good. The minute she got on campus she was uncomfortable. When we went to Illinois Wesleyan, we also checked out ISU. Same thing, the bigger school didn't have the "closeness" that she wants. Now this was a bit of a surprise since her HS has 3600 students!!! After visiting she is firm in her decision to go to a smaller school. Good thing she didn't plan on UMich, CCM, CMU, NYU or Penn!!! We didn't spend much time at ECU, since we visited after Muhlenberg and Elon, it really was a let down.</p>

<p>Elon is a very friendly place, definitely off the beaten path. They don't do Administration interviews. Everyone was very pleasant and the program looks solid. I have to admit I got spoiled by the Muhlenberg visit on this trip. The dorms are good size, which was a real plus to D. She liked the program and the students.</p>

<p>More later.</p>

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<p>D got academic acceptance to Millikin so now she can schedule audition. Yippee. Even the BA program is strong and they would let her audition again at the end of freshman year. So a safety is achieved!!!!</p>

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<p>Fosselover-
CMU is a small private school compared to the big public colleges. I was surprised to see it in the list of schools your D thought was too large.</p>

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<p>Jamimom, am grateful for the time you took to give your accounts of this year's auditions so far. If they do not let parents hang out at Emerson, it is going to be a long lonely weekend for me, lol. We get there late tomorrow afternoon and my D has plans to meet up with a boy from Boston who goes to her summer program and so I am alone. Later in the evening her best bud from CT is arriving with her dad and the girl will stay in our room but it will be late and I don't want her up real late. By the way, indeed my daughter is now sick, cold and all, great. It is too bad the timing. I told her that over the years, including as lead in the school musical last spring, she has gotten sick the day of the performance and has always performed just fine somehow. She says she knows that but it takes away confidence (which she normally has a lot of) to sing and be this sick with her nose and throat and have to worry if it will come out ok. Anyway, just found out best friend is in the afternoon group and my D is in the AM group, so they won't be together and will barely see each other as I am not going to hang in Boston that late Sunday just to see her again due to the distance I still must drive (tonight up here the roads were terrible with snow). Boyfriend from another state has acting audition at Emerson tomorrow and they thought they would see each other tomorrow night but he will not be staying over. Now, another boy, a summer theater friend who lives in Boston, has arranged to see her Sunday after her audition. Not cool for mom to hang with them so alas, I'm by myself. Now that you write that the parents can't hang at the audition site either, that leaves the entire 24 hours alone with nothing to do, lol. I really hope that any of you moms on here who are in the morning group, before taking off, somehow hook up. I know one VT mom whose D also is in my D's group, come to think of it. </p>

<p>Your reflections on the other auditions are helpful to read. As far as the Nov. UMich audition, D's best friend was at it and shared a bit as well. Their thoughts were that the dance was not too difficult. But she (and my D) have taken dance their whole lives. I gather some who audition do not have dance backgrounds and some do of course. But I am sure the talent overall at these things is mind boggling. </p>

<p>It is too bad if parents cannot hang at the audition site. While I have not done college auditions before, I have done auditions in NYC such as Broadway and have met many interesting people as I have sat for hours waiting. I think it is interesting to connect with others who have kids who are into this or going through this as such folks are not in the local community. It is kinda like a CC MT forum but in person, lol. </p>

<p>You mention that there were a lot of males at the UMich audition. Ya know, my observation of the winners of awards in the NFAA in MT category, seemed to have a LOT of boys. Also many went to performing arts high schools. In our experiences, there are always much fewer boys in these activities and so it is neat to see in other places so many boys involved in this. Same with dance. We have no boys at our dance studio (other than I notice a few younger boys in hip hop, but that is it). Glad that elsewhere there are more boys. I always assumed it would be easier (though not EASY) for boys to get into these BFA programs as there were less of them competing for spots as there are with girls. But maybe that is not the case after all. At my D's summer theater program, there are far more girls trying out for roles than there are boys and so it is easier for a boy to get a lead than it is for a girl (there). Interesting to hear you observing so many boys at these auditions. That is pretty cool. </p>

<p>It will be neat if some kids from these forums end up at the same places and hook up. Right now, I just hope for at least one acceptance. I find this list of schools/programs as having such nerve wracking odds compared to my other child's college process even though that was selective too. I believe there is more talent applying to these programs than is going to get in and I don't know what those who don't get in will do if this is indeed their passion and they indeed have talent. Gotta think positive though. Thankfully on these forums, most people's stories have ended with at least one acceptance so it should work out.</p>

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<p>Soozie,</p>

<p>Be sure to tell your D to let the auditors know that she is sick. I would suggest having a pow-wow with the department chair before the audition begins. Ask if it is possible to schedule a 2nd audition if he feels her voice can't be fairly evaluated, or maybe to send a tape. My D faced the situation last year. She had 3 auditions scheduled on one weekend last year and that was the weekend that she had vocal problems. Naturally! Her vocal cords were swollen and therefore could not vibrate properly. We spoke to department chair, Cary Libkin, at PSU and the voice teacher at CMU immediately before D's auditions at those schools. Both agreed that they would schedule a 2nd audition if they felt they couldn't hear what they needed to find out. As you may recall, D was not asked to re-audition at either school and was offered admission at Penn State. D did not give the auditors a heads-up at the 1st school she auditioned for that weekend and the audition did not go well. She had real difficulty producing sound. Unfortunately it was audition number 2 at that school; (see my post about accompanists and you can put two and two together).</p>

<p>I hope things will go well for your D tomorrow despite her cold, but I don't think it hurts to be forthcoming about her illness. The auditors know that it happens and won't see it as someone trying to make excuses. Tell your D I said to break a leg.</p>

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<p>Hmmm, dancersmom....I never would have thought of that and I don't think my D will want to say that. I appreciate your input and it did work for your D. I would have thought that saying you are sick, even though it is very true, would sound like making excuses. I even thought I read somewhere, I forget, where they said NOT to say that. It might be obvious she is sick. I think it will be what it will be. I think she would just put her best foot forward. I saw her perform just as sick last year and felt badly. I thought she still sang well but you could tell she was sick and sniffing in between songs ;-). Part of being a live performer sometimes means going on sick or not. I feel badly about the timing as I felt so badly last year when she was this sick when the show opened. I can tell her what you said but I have a feeling she would not say anything, plus she would not be into my saying anything to a department chair. I never would have thought to do that but this is her thing and I don't think at this level/age, she would want me to intervene and I doubt I will. I hope it is positive in any case. It's late and I would have loved to hear what others thought of that but I have to leave early in the AM for her voice and acting lessons which are far from home and ironically in the OPPOSITE direction from Boston. Long day. Maybe she will sleep in the car, but then again she has homework to do. We'll see how it goes. That is one reason why others advise against the unifieds because if you are sick and can barely sing, then you might be doomed at lots of auditions whereas this is just one of them. It happens to be a school she really likes though and the early one to boot. I can't get too concerned. It was always a possibility in this type of thing and too bad it happened and on the first audition no less when you want to start out with a positive feeling. </p>

<p>Susan</p>