<p>I have read with interest how different college MT programs conduct their auditions. If memory serves, some MT programs have others in the room during auditions, while most do not. As the father of a current HS soph, are there any college auditions he could "watch" next year as a junior to learn about the experience before scheduling auditions in his senior year? Thanks for any input.</p>
<p>vocaldad</p>
<p>Vocaldad,</p>
<p>I'm certainly no expert, but I can't imagine there are any MT programs that would allow your son to sit in on auditions. It's one thing for a MT program to allow their current students to observe auditions for educational purposes and quite another to allow an outsider to observe. Though I am sure that your son would observe proper decorum in an audition room, auditors have "no control" over an outsider's behavior and would surely feel it to be very unprofessional to allow someone they do not know to observe student auditions. Some schools do allow students who are auditioning for the program to observe each other's auditions. However, I just don't think you're going to find a school that will allow your son to observe to help him get a feel for the experience. Sorry!</p>
<p>I agree with Dancersmom, that it would be highly unusual to allow outsiders to observe college auditions. I have not seen it done at any of the 8 college auditions we attended this year. At one audition, PSU, they allowed current students in the program to watch. At a couple others, my D mentioned that a handful of current students watched but these were either the dancers who demonstrated the combinations in the audition or "monitors" for the audition. </p>
<p>MidgetMom mentioned recently that at UCF for the dance minor audition, I believe, that she was able to watch. I was surprised but perhaps she can shed light on that process there as it sounds unusual. I may have misunderstood, and if I did, SORRY, but I think she wrote how she watched her D dance for that one audition. Otherwise, I don't think you are going to find this to be possible at other schools. </p>
<p>What you CAN do is this.....talk to others who have been through the process....find out first hand accounts. Further, the more a person has experiencing auditioning in general, the better they get at it or at least the more prepared they are or confident or natural they feel in such a situation. If your son could have any experiences between now and then where he must audition for something, JUST for the experience, go for it. If no situation like that exists, have him go through mock auditions with teachers or invited friends, anything. Just a suggestion.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>PS, this topic reminds me of that movie where the girl is auditioning for Juilliard and for one thing, they tell her on the spot that she got in (not realistic) and also her boyfriend is in the room applauding for her (again, not true to how it really goes!).
Susan</p>
<p>Dancersmom and SusieVT:</p>
<p>I thought that's what I would hear. I agree that it would seem unusual (and perhaps unprofessional) to allow others to view an audition, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask given the variety of audition situations I have read about here on CC. My S has auditioned for various other things, including summer MT programs, and we'll just keep that up. Thanks for your input.</p>
<p>vocaldad</p>
<p>In my experience, the only audition where anything like this happened was at Marymount Manhattan, but in that case all the auditioning applicants observed each kid's audition (as a group), and definitely NO parents were around! My advice: if there is an MT program that is nearby, and having auditions, join in the info session at the beginning and get a feel for how the audition day goes, whether there are warmup rooms that the kids can use, how the order of auditioning is set, etc.</p>
<p>Re: Auditions.</p>
<p>I just want to second the advice to audition as much as possible. From everything I've learned in the past year, that is probably one of the most useful bits of advice. I think I heard it a year ago, but did not appreciate just how important that is.</p>
<p>One other bit of general advice and that is that next year is going to be another highly competitive year. So kids should pay attention to their grades, test scores and those horrid essays that are required. I don't think it is only UMich who pays attention to that stuff. We have tended to assume that rejections were always based upon the audition. But I suspect that once a school got down to the final decisions, they probably still had too many wonderfully talented applicants, and then they'd look again at the academics.</p>
<p>For those in Southern California, CMU will be holding their showcase of new talent on May 2 & 3 at the Falcon Theater in Burbank. </p>
<p>WCT - Is this showcasse for straight drama only or MT as well?</p>
<p>Sam Houston State does have open auditions.</p>
<p>catsmom-</p>
<p>BLESS YOU!! I have been trying for days to get info about the West Coast showcase. I know it is for MT as well as actors. I wanted to go very badly but couldn't find the info on the West Coast Drama Alumni clan's web site. Where did you find the info? Do you know the times? Do we have to get permission to go? Send me a PM if you like.</p>
<p>catsmom-
Just checked the West Coast Drama Alumni site and I saw all the info. I guess I'll call tomorow. Thanks again for your post!</p>
<p>Hi,
First time ever posting and am putting this on 2 threads. We need help [NOW!]on how to make a good quality VHS audition tape for a summer musical theatre program. We are novices. Any help from those who have done this successfully would really be appreciated. Do we need special sound equipment etc? Did your student stand still at a microphone or move around much? Please offer any ideas/advice. Thanks.</p>
<p>CandyLady, welcome to this forum! </p>
<p>I hope others will also advise you as I don't have lots of experience with this but I have done it once. My child has never auditioned for summer or college via tape. However, for the National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) ARTS Awards, it is required to submit a song and monologue via tape for the Musical Theater award "competition". We had NO special sound equipment. We made the tape on the school stage using a curtain in the background (they required simple background). I simply sat on a stool with our home video camera. Before recording, we figured out how far she should be from me and in what space she could move in. She did not move a real lot, but she did not stand still on one spot either. She acted the monologue and the song and moved some but in a confined space (not the entire stage). The requirement was that the camera be still, so it is not like my camera traveled around. I kept it still on a tripod and made sure ahead of time that the space she'd move within was still in my camera's vision. She had no microphone. I was not that far away. I was sitting on the edge of the stage and she was further back. Admittedly my daughter is loud and you could have heard her at the back of the theater but I think with most anyone shooting a tape this close, you would hear the person just fine. She did the recording about five times in a row so we had several "takes" and went home and chose the one she liked best. Also, after the first take, we played it back on the little camera screen to make sure it looked ok and that we had the right idea. I believe you really need not have special equipement for this. My daughter went on to win a Merit Award from NFAA and so I believe this quality of tape was sufficient. I think for a summer program, it would be as well. I hope others will share their ideas too.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Hey candylady-
I submitted a tape for Northwestern's High School Institute. It's actually quite a funny story. I was trying to make the early deadline, but hadn't realized how quickly it crept up. So I ended up having two days to find a song, accompanist, and make the tape, as well as write two essays, before the thing needed to be submitted. I chose a pretty random song ("Sleepy Man" from The Robber Bridegroom) that I had never used before because I needed my voice teacher to record it on my player piano and didn't have much time to think, also didn't want to belt because I'm trying to get away from that, but didn't want to sing a soprano song because that's not yet my strongest register. So anyway it was a pretty random song. THEN I went up to my room to find my video camera, and had absolutely no idea where it went. My mom was about to shoot me after I looked for three hours to no avail. I then decided to call my dad and ask if he knew, and of course it was in his closet (grr!). So I thought everything was fine and dandy (it was about 7:30pm and I thought I had a good two hours to do the recording). THEN I went to turn on the camera, and it had no battery. No problem, right? Just charge the battery! The charger was NO WHERE to be found. I also realized at this point that I had no way to convert the little tape in the video camera to VHS. So I called like three places, and Radio Shack told me they had both a charger and a converter thingy that would work. So we went to radio shack, and the guy (who's actually sweet, but doesn't know what the heck he's doing) tries to jam my battery into like three chargers, but it doesn't fit. Then he tells me that (although I'm almost positive my camera is 8mm) my tapes are actually some other form and I need to get that VHS tape where you can stick the little tape in the middle. I was pretty sure my tapes were 8mm, but I decided he knew more so we bought that, and then RAN to comp usa (which closed at 9, and it was 8:30 now) where the guy told us that a) you couldn't BUY a separate charger for my camera, it wasn't made, you needed to buy a wire to charge it ON the camera, but that was only sold through sony and would need to be ordered, b) my tape WAS 8mm and therefore wouldn't fit in the $40 vhs tape we had just bought. WHEW. so anyway, THIS guy knew what he was talking about, and opened a different sony camera to get the wire and charge my camera until the store closed (my mom asked if we could borrow the wire from the other camera, but the store manager said no, haha). So we sat there for 20 mins trying to charge the camera, but it had been REALLY dead and needed to be charged overnight. So at our wits end, my mom decided to buy a $200 sony camera for the sole purpose of using the charger, and then return the camera the next day. What a good mommy right? So at this point I knew it wasn't happening tonight, but we went home, and my dad was there and listened to our story, went straight up to my room, looked through my messy closet for a second, and pulled out my charger. </p>
<p>Yea.</p>
<p>So anyway, I didn't make the early deadline, but now I have a great story, that I can post on a college message board when I'm bored :)
And I got in (yay!), so I guess it wasn't THAT important to apply early.</p>
<p>Now to the actual QUESTION you asked:
My video was done by my younger sister, in my living room, with a home video camera. I don't think that I would have submitted this video to NFAA (my mom works for the history channel and has some connections so I can get a great video for that) but for the purpose of precollege programs, all they're looking for is if you have talent. They aren't looking at the quality of the video, I don't think. It really wasn't a great video at all, but it got the job done, and I'm glad I didn't have to waste time or money at a professional studio. I did take several takes, I think that's important- to send what you think is your best work even in a less-than-professional quality video. </p>
<p>Sorry for the randomness, but I'm glad that story got put down on paper...er.. a computer screen. Maybe now I'll print it out and put it in a scrapbook labeled "The really dumb moves of Danielle"</p>
<p>Dani</p>
<p>Dani, I am cracking up! That is hilarious! I am sure it was not at the time but it makes a good story, yeah. Your mom buying the camera to use the charger is pretty funny and then it being in your messy closet, well, um, I can relate with a certain someone in my house's room/closet. </p>
<p>I agree with you that these places are not judging the quality or professionalism of the tape. The tape needs to clearly show the person and their talents and as long as it does that, it'll be fine. A (charged!) home video camera works fine....having a simple backdrop is least distracting. Taking many takes to get the best possible one is the best thing. </p>
<p>For my D's tape, however, it was with live piano. We even had to take a couple takes over little mistakes with that. Once the bell rang at school and we could hear that on the tape...redo. Once someone started to play drums in an adjoining area....again, start over. Oh, it was fun. I think I did a decent job with it. The lighting could have been better but we could not tell that until we got it on the TV screen at home and we just could not go back and do it again and it was ok. </p>
<p>I feel proud of myself that I did ok with it. My D could tell stories of many school projects where she made a video and I was the camera person. She will tell you that I sometimes would crack up and have trouble keeping a straight face (this is an ongoing joke here). Sometimes we had to create little scenes for a project and I would have to be one of the "actors" in the scene in our living room and I could not stop laughing, retake, retake, retake. I recall being the camera person a few years ago for a civil war project...she wrote a script and had friends over to enact it....took ALL day, many takes of various scenes. One of the funniest ones was when they were on our deck in costume....they were various famous women like Clara Barton, whoever...and they had some line about "oh look over yonder, at the fighting" or something like that and they looked over to the woods beyond our house and right on cue we heard gunfire! I guess hunters were in the woods but it was like as if it were written in the script and we all were hysterical. I can't tell ya how many takes for the Lincoln speech, ah, such memories of mom as video camerawoman.</p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>WCT - The CMU showcase is at the Falcon Theater at 4252 Riverside Drive, Burbank on May 2 at 7:30 PM and May 3 at 12:30 pm & 7:30 pm. It does require an RSVP - 1-888-cmu-show. I saw it in Variety - pretty cool that they are advertising it in there. Many successful alumni will be there along with what appears to be 19 seniors (there are headshots of each senior in the ad). My d told me yes in fact she did recognize that some were Mt's as well.</p>
<p>catsmom-</p>
<p>If it is OK for current CMU parents or the public to attend I am going to go to the showcase.</p>
<p>We did summer audition tapes for two years for Interlochen, home version. We taped using a digital sony camera at the studio of the voice teacher/accompaniest. We took many takes so we could make sure we had something to choose from. Make sure you have good lighting as well</p>
<p>I think summer programs are used to non professional versions.</p>
<p>wct - I'm sure you will be able to go - it was a full page ad in Variety with a phone # to RSVP. Variety is for for sale to the public, although it is read mostly by industry people, so I'm sure the public can attend. </p>
<p>I would like to go as well, but I'm not sure I can. Let me know when you are going and we could possibly meet. So glad I could finally give you a heads up about something after all of your help on these boards.</p>
<p>catsmom-</p>
<p>I am going on Tuesday night. Let me know if you are going so we can connect. You can never tell with the ads in Variety because sometimes they are intended for "industry people" and I would have felt wierd going if they didn't want undergrad parents there. I guess I am just a wimp when it comes to stuff like that! :)</p>