Colleges for Musical Theater Major - Part 33

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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<p>At Michigan, the speaker addressed the illness issue. "Everyone gets sick here," he says. I figure that they have been in the business long enough to be able to see through nasty colds. My son thought he had a cold going into that audition, but it was just that overscented hotel room, but he had a very stuffy nose going into the auditions. It cleared up later in the day and was fine at CCM, but he did feel that he sounded nasal at the Michigan auditions. But I think it would be a good idea to offer to reaudition if the voice judge feels he cannot hear what he needs to hear because of the snuffles and rasps. I think the voice and the general presentation of the kid as a whole is what matters the most at these things. I spoke to a number of kids already in the programs who had to start at ground zero with music theory, had 2 left feet and no previous dance instruction, could not play the piano, but no one said he/she could not sing. </p>

<p>I had already seen CCM, Emerson, CMU so the visit was not so important at those schools. I had never seen Michigan, and would have like to have looked around the campus a bit more. MT kid will have to go back and forth between Main and North campuses as the theatres and dance studio are on Main and the School of Music which houses the MT program is on North. MT students are housed on North, I was told. Main is the campus near the town of Ann Arbor which I really liked. </p>

<p>There were not many kids auditioning at the first Michigan audition this year either but there were some really high powered resumes. Quite intimidating, really. Particularly among the boys. Several with professional credits already, homeschoolers, kids with connections. Of course, I did not see the audition. I met 3 kids accepted from last year's November group which I thought was a lot and I don't know if that was it or how many accepted did not matriculate. The speaker said that all of the top schools tend to compete for the same kids so there is that issue as well. There was one class where UM overaccepted but I don't remember whether it was last year's or not. And I met several kids who were accepted off of the waitlist in previous years.</p>

<p>The CMU audition also had some intense kid in there, and the kids running the auditions were much more laid back than the very enthusiastic Michigan kids. Saw some of the same people including my friend at both auditions. The kids did tell S that more kids tend to get in from the earlier groups. The parents were left to sit in a classroom with deskarm chairs while the kids went and did their auditons and I did not think that was conducive to much conversation, so some of us hung out in the much more comfortable University Center lounge. Both Michigan and CMU let kids auditon early if they had other travel plans and wanted to get out of there. We did not at CMU, but my son was in the first batch so he was out quickly. At Michigan, he was run through early after the dance audition. Everyone seems very open about where else the applications have been filed even to the administrators. Very natural to ask, very natural to answer which I found unusual. Also the parents were very helpful. </p>

<p>Don't know when my friend's son has his Emerson audition. I had referred this site to her. I do believe she is staying at a hotel right near the school but not the Radison where we stayed.(Funny, we stayed at the same place in Michigan, but did not know it as we did not get in touch after CMU and I had not thought to ask when I saw her in Pittsburgh. I was last minute anyways making the reservations that week) She is very knowledgeable in selective school admissions, but I found that she did not know too much about MT. This site is really a gem for anyone interested in this field of study. Her son has applied ED to NYU Tisch and she had no idea about the Steinhardt vs Tisch schools, and other things that are discussed on this thread.
She did tell me that her neighbor's D goes to Tisch Strasberg Studio and that there is a severe shortage of males at that studio and at CAP21, possibly all of the Tisch studios. Not the case at CMU, Emerson and Michigan, and S said that Syracuse was lopsided with males too. So have fun, everyone with the auditions, and good luck. (Can't bring myself to say "break a leg")</p>

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<p>Jamimom, thanks so much for those observations and insights. My D also felt the kids in the UMich program were friendly and kids she simply liked a real lot. </p>

<p>When it comes time to say "break a leg", I have to take a moment and think which of my kids I am saying that to. If I say it to the one doing a show, it makes sense. If I say it to my ski racer daughter, um, that would be a no no!</p>

<p>Susan</p>

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<p>Tonight at Ark. Rep's opening reception for "Children of Eden", which my S is in, I made the rounds with the young adult equity actors that are here from NY asking about their colleges. </p>

<p>Baldwin-Wallace - 2 of the main actors are recent grad's and are very talented. They couldn't say enough positive things about the program, the college, and Cleveland. They both seem to have been working steadily since college.</p>

<p>Point Park - the young man from there seemed to be the best dancer in the show and was positive about Point Park.</p>

<p>OCU - ensemble member attended there for awhile until he ran out of college funds. He praised the program - loved everything about it. He feels they have extremely strong dance training, even for the MT students and excellent vocal training.</p>

<p>OU - ensemble member left with a bitter feeling about the program because they promised him roles that he didn't end up getting. He thinks the program is getting better and has friends who have been happy there.</p>

<p>Didn't get to talk to young woman from Boston Conservatory or young man in main role from NYU Tisch - who was very excellent in his role in the show.</p>

<p>Ericsmom</p>

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<p>With regard to the class at UM which Jamimom referred to as having been "overaccepted" - it is this year's sophomore class which has 29 students. The junior and senior classes have 20 or less students each, I believe. Michigan's MT program has been gaining in reputation at an almost exponential rate. So I think they were caught somewhat off guard by the fact that when they accepted 30 students for the Class of '07 (expecting their traditional melt to bring them to a class of @20), 29 of the 30 accepted the offer of admission!! When they explained the situation to us last year, I loved how they said that the admissions process had yielded "an embarrassment of riches." They also said that while they might try some tweaking last year (for my D's class, the class of '08), they still felt they had to rely more on their historical experience, even if it meant having "a few more exceptionally talented students." The class of '08 is 14 boys (there are those talented boys again......) and 10 girls. I think the "tweaking" took the form of deferring a few more kids than usual and accepting them later in the process (remember UM uses rolling admissions) - those are probably the kids that Jamimom and I think one other parent spoke of as having gotten in off the "waiting list."</p>

<p>With regard to the travel issues from North Campus to Central Campus, my D reports that some days it can be a bit of a pain, but mostly because of the LIVING on North Campus part, which is more easily changed after freshman year. I know my D (and I think many of her MT friends) have already decided on roommates and found non-University housing on Central Campus for next year. They'll still have to take the bus to North campus (about a 5-7 minute ride) for some classes, but she says it runs almost constantly and beats walking (especially in the Michigan cold and snow). Can you tell she's a "glass half full - rather than half empty" kind of girl? I love that.</p>

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<p>wct--You are right, CMU is a smaller private school, but with 5000 undergrads and 3000 grads it seems large compared to the schools D selected. But size wasn't the only reason CMU was off her list. Dance is vital to D and CMU wasn't as strong as she wuold like in that area.</p>

<p>Another review--
Otterbein was a great experience. D was able to meet with faculty and students. It really is a huge family. Facilities are excellent, people are friendly, campus is very pleasant. The dance program is outstanding. Otterbein is high on the list and she can't wait until her audition in Feb.</p>

<p>Now a less positive review. D looked at Ohio Wesleyan as a possible "safety". While they don't have an MT, they do have an interdepartmental major so you can create your own program. However, neither the admissions counselor or the tour guide new anything about the program. Not a good sign. So OWU is off the list of safeties.</p>

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<p>Soozie,</p>

<p>The reason I suggested telling auditors that you are sick had to do with my D's experience last year. On the weekend she had 3 auditions and swollen vocal cords, she did not say anything about her problem at school number 1. She knew that she did not sing well and was very worried and upset about how things were going to go at the next 2 auditions. My husband and I felt that we needed to step in and do something to relieve some of the stress. That's the main reason we and our D together spoke to someone at both PSU and CMU. I believed that experienced auditors should be able to tell that a student is sick, but my D was not sniffling or coughing. She actually had a mild case of laryngitis and she was afraid that the auditors would not realize she was fighting swollen cords. Hindsight proved her to be right. The 1st school she auditioned for that weekend rejected her. She had been accepted by the school a month earlier after a very bad experience with their accompanist and had requested a 2nd audition to try to increase her talent award. The department chair at the school had told her prior to her 2nd audition that her initial offer of acceptance would stand no matter what happened and that her talent award could only go up. Instead, she got a rejection letter the week after the audition. When D got the letter, her 1st reaction was, "Gee, I really did sing as badly as I thought!" Her 2nd reaction was dismay that the auditors obviously could not tell that she was sick. (By the way, she was not heard by the same auditors at her 2 auditions.) My husband and I wondered why it wasn't obvious that the poor kid was having vocal problems. D didn't say anything during her audition because she was afraid she'd look like she was making excuses, particularly since it was her 2nd audition for that school. The whole experience certainly made us question the caliber of that program.</p>

<p>I agree that part of being a performer means learning to deal with illness. The beginning of D's junior year she did a professional production of "Children of Eden" with a very bad case of drug resistant strep. The doctor at 1st thought D had mono. She had the classic symptoms and a rapid strep test had come back negative. After her 1st mono test came back negative, an antibiotic was prescribed. She continued to get sicker. A 2nd, more sensitive mono test was done and it too came back negative. D continued to feel more ill. I insisted near the end of the week that the brand new doctor in the practice who'd been seeing her needed to make a diagnosis. She decided that maybe she had strep after all. The antibiotic hadn't worked because she had a strain that was resistant to amoxicillin. The poor kid sang and danced full out every night in the production but missed six days of school. She spent all day in bed that week, but dragged herself out to do the show. She was probably sleeping 18 to 19 hours a day. I know her singing wasn't her best, but she certainly danced well. No one in the audience would ever have known she was sick.</p>

<p>I did some research about singing with colds last year and read that most of the time performers can still sing when they have a cold. If the sinuses are congested the singer's sound will be affected somewhat. Air will not be able to resonate in the sinus cavities as it normally does. However, the vocal cords are not usually directly affected when one has a cold. In my D's case, it was her cords that were affected. She'd had no cold symptoms - no sniffles, no sinus congestion, no cough, no sore throat. What she had was laryngitis. She said it felt like she was trying to sing with vocal cords that were twice their normal size. Unfortunately, there was not much she could do to sing around that problem. She just had to wait for nature to effect a cure.</p>

<p>Soozie, I agree that we all have to do what we feel is best in a given situation. I think you're probably right about not saying anything about an ordinary cold. I know that my feeling regarding speaking up when one has an illness is very much colored by my D's experience on that one bad weekend last year. I'll confess to feeling very nervous about speaking up, but at the time we felt that not saying anything would have been the greater of two evils. Thankfully, I did not get that feeling at either PSU or CMU that my D was going to be penalized for asking what she should do. She explained that her vocal cords were swollen and asked if they would rather she go ahead and audition or reschedule. In both cases she was told to go ahead and sing and if they felt they couldn't evaluate her voice, she'd be asked to return for a 2nd audition. I actually saw D visibly relax when Cary Libkin at PSU told her that he'd invite her to come back a 2nd time if he couldn't tell what her voice could do. I know that my D did a better audition because my husband and I decided we needed to intervene. </p>

<p>I hope that your D's singing was "good enough" today. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for her.</p>

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<p>Have been thinking of those of you who are Emerson this weekend and looking forward to hearing your thoughts when you return. Hope it went well for all of your Ds and Ss. :)</p>

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<p>Ok, well, either I am the first CC parent back from Emerson or the first to get online. You asked....I provide ;-)</p>

<p>Today, I got to meet NewMtMom, Lynn, Catsmom.....plus a CC lurker, LOL, who promises now to post, from MA. Plus my D's best friend from CT's mom (whose D was in the PM group but the mom visited the AM parent room) admitted to lurking, and she promises to post....so that was a little CC parent contingent...or our first CC parent party. Faces, names, fun. It sure helped pass the time. My D was in the morning session, as were the people's kids just mentioned, except friend from CT. My D knew two other girls from VT also in the AM section and knows two VT kids in the afternoon session (quite a VT contingent come to think about it). </p>

<p>Like others said, at Emerson there was nothing for the parents, not a word or anything. However, they did provide a room if parents wanted to wait for the approx. 4 hour block. I chose that (it was 8:30 AM on a Sunday no less) and it was actually a lot of fun not only meeting CC forum parents and putting names/faces to posting names, but just sharing with other folks from all over going through this nutty process. The time passed quickly. And to those of you in the AM who were there for the "coffee klatch"....I was back there later in the afternoon to rendezvous with my D who had immediately gone from her audition to getting together with her Boston theater camp friends, some of whom came into the city to meet her and some who attend Emerson. When I came back during the afternoon, the parent room was a completely diffferenty dynamic. It was silent and people were reading. So, let's hear it for the AM CC parents!! </p>

<p>As far as the audition, I only know what my child said about it. She said in her group they had to each state in front of the group why they wanted to go to Emerson. That seems odd to me in a group situation. I would think by the time they got to the 20th person, there would not be much new to add. She said the dance was extremely basic and elementary for anyone who has ever taken dance. It really did not involve much in the way of technique. She said some obviously had no dance background and I guess this is what others observe at all MT auditions. I would think MT programs would want to get kids who could do all three disciplines but it seems that some schools do not have kids audition with dance and then some have them do very basic dance. She said after they danced, they asked anyone to stay if they had a lot of dance training, and so she did and then they asked each kid to state their dance training (not sure why as it is on their resumes). She got to sing two songs, 32 bars each, as was described in the literature. I guess some might have only sung one but that can be a good thing if they hear what they need to hear. She said for her ballad, the person asked her to sing it a second time as if to a baby and handed her a "bundle" to improvise. She said she figured this must have been that he felt both songs (one upbeat, one ballad) had a belt in it (that is her forte) and wanted to hear her sing quietly and so she did that second song a second time in this way. She was pleased with how she did. Dancermom, I do appreciate all your advice on her being sick and all but I, nor she, wanted to say anything. She does have both a cold in her nose and throat but she did not come out and say anything negative about how she sang. I am not that surprised because she has performed sick before. She does not appear upset that she was sick and that's all that matters. It is not like she is saying she did poorly because of it. She appears satisfied. She said that her song auditor did not say anything after the singing and so I am not sure if that was his style to be noncommittal (as some auditors can be in these situations) and she did not ask anyone else if he was like that with others or not because she went right into her monologue audition and left right after that. She seemed very happy about her monologue as that auditor was more engaging in conversation. He did a tiny bit of interviewing questions, not long. But he also asked her to do the monologue a second time in a different way that he directed and she liked playing with it with a different take on the scene. It so happened to be a different angle to the character that she had even discussed with her acting teacher once though not the way she was portraying her but a way she had contemplated at one time. So, it was something she had thought about before. </p>

<p>Overall, my D thought it went fine but is very very aware that there were lots of talented kids and many more groups beyond today's. Tough odds. </p>

<p>On the ride home she was rethinking the songs she was planning for UMich and this picking of songs all fall is driving me nutty as every time I think she has settled on her choices, it changes. Also UMich and some other schools have a requirement that one song be pre-1960 so one of her songs for that was going to be different than the one at Emerson but now she is thinking of doing two entirely different ones. I guess it is never ending. </p>

<p>I think overall everything went pretty well. We did play musical hotel rooms last night. In the first one, the toilet broke. Given a second room but before entering it decided that was not a great choice as there was a nonstop screaming baby in the next room that we heard in the hallway, so then got another room. Her best friend from CT arrived later at night, same floor, and we visited. So, then after that late night, she finally goes to bed and there must have been a nightclub near this hotel because there was a rock band playing loudly with driving drums and I hear my D call out from under the covers that she will never be able to sleep (it was pretty late) and so I turned up the heating unit fans really loudly and that did the trick. Luckily the audition stuff was a smoother ride. </p>

<p>My friend, the mom from CT, who promises she finally registered here, is going to post her "story" from this AM.....I'll let her tell it. </p>

<p>Anyway, it was really fun for me to meet some of you and hopefully we will meet up again and hopefully meet other parents on here in our audition travels. One down, seven to go. Hope one of them works out for my own child but for all of your kids too. Lots of talented kids in this country!!</p>

<p>Susan
Oh, our CC "lurker" parents who were there, announced to the others in the room who never heard of CC, what all the fuss was about at our end of the chatty room and told everyone about this great site. Maybe CC will give the group some commission.</p>

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<p>Just a comment about singing/performing when sick.</p>

<p>Since this happens in the MT voice class I teach I thought I would pass this on. I tell my students that it is important to learn how to sing/perform through a cold, allergy, sore throat, etc. but when it comes to laryngitis that is where I draw the line. I had a student come up to me on a class performance day (assignment) saying she wanted to postpone but her speaking voice sounded OK. So I told her to try and we would make a judgement. Within 2 bars of the song I was not comfortable with her continuing because I felt she would strain and do some damage. She will perform instead this coming week in class.</p>

<p>As an educator and performer I can tell right away if someone really can't sing due to a vocal illness and should not sing to prevent any harm to the vocal chords. It would bother me a great deal if I knew an adjudicator was either making someone sing under those conditions or penalizing someone by not letting them re-audition at another time if it was possible to do that. I realize in an MT audition for a musical that may not be possible because of timelines, but for admission to a college program I would hope some accomodations would be made.</p>

<p>Just my thoughts on the issue.</p>

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<p>Soozie:</p>

<pre><code>Here we are --- the former Massachusetts lurkers you mentioned in your post.

Our son found the dance portion of the audition much easier than at Hartt. He also commented that at Hartt, he received some minimal feedback whereas at Emerson, the people were generally poker-faced, for what that is worth.

Thank you all who attended the morning Emerson session today for a very enjoyable time. I do think, however, that for all the trouble people have taken to fly, drive, etc. to the auditions, at least a cup of coffee would give some recognition to our efforts.

</code></pre>

<p>jerrylaurie</p>