<p>I know it was said not to use Sondheim, but what about Send On The Clowns from A Little Night Music? The piano part is relatively easy to play…and I think it might be obscure. But I don’t really know…</p>
<p>ParadiseMT - Evita was written in the late 1970’s and Once on This Island in the 1990’s. Many MT programs specify that at least one of the songs that students sing is from a musical written prior to 1965. It is very important to check out the instructions for each program that your D is interested in to find out exactly what they want. (We used a spreadsheet to try to keep this straight.)</p>
<p>JacqRo - Send in the Clowns does have fairly easy accompaniment, but is usually not advised for student auditions. In the show, the song is sung by a woman who is usually in her late 30’s or 40’s and has “seen life.” A 17-20 year old student has not had that sort of life experience as of yet. Also - it is not an obscure song. In fact, it is one of Sondheim’s most well known songs as it was recorded by Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra, and Barbara Streisand.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to discourage either of you. I know it is difficult to find both songs and monologues that are just right and fit a school’s requirements.</p>
<p>I think I’ve AT LAST finalized my audition selections, can I get some feedback to see if they’re good selections or not?</p>
<p>Up-tempo: Ready to be Loved-Edges
I’m Your Man-Meet John Doe (Back-up)</p>
<p>Ballad:
Bewitched-Pal Joey
Goodnight My Someone-Music Man (Legit option)</p>
<p>I know the ballads may be overdone, but they showcase my voice and acting well which I think is more important.</p>
<p>Bewitched is another song that is intended for an older character, typically played by a woman in her 40’s. I would not recommend that for a college audition.</p>
<p>Hello! So I am more of a character “type” and was wondering if these songs are appropriate for auditions:</p>
<p>“Back to Before”- I read somewhere in this thread that this song is overdone, but it is one of my best pieces and plays well with my type. Would there be an issue with the age difference between myself (turning 19) and the character?
“Sing Happy” from Flora the Red Menace
“Stranger Here Myself” from One Touch of Venus
“As Long As He Needs Me” from Oliver!
“Gorgeous” (though I get the feeling this may be overdone, but it’s a piece I do well)</p>
<p>I’m struggling a little more with the soprano song choices. I actually am classified as a soprano but try to avoid the soprano songs since I don’t fit the bill of a typical ingenue. I want to find a piece that shows off that I can sing a sustained legit legato line but not distract the adjudicators with the fact that I’m not an ingenue. The only songs I’ve done in the past that I can pull out at any time are “Vanilla Ice Cream”, “Green Finch and Linnet Bird”, “Much More”, and songs from My Fair Lady, and as I understand, these tend to be no-no’s. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Is “What Do I Need With Love” from Millie REALLY overdone?</p>
<p>How do adjudicators feel about women doing men songs and changing the keys? I’m considering doing “Everybody Says Don’t” from Anyone Can Whistle in a female key. Would this be interesting or confusing to them?</p>
<p>Thanks for any and all input you can offer!</p>
<p>For a college audition, you are generally expected to sing a song from a role that you could realistically be cast in now. Therefore, cross-gender songs or songs that are out of your age range are considered a no-no. Adjudicators expect you to make logical choices.</p>
<p>Wondering about songs form Cinderella, GodSpell, Anything Goes, or Annie Get Your Gun - are any of those shows of limits for audition songs?</p>
<p>Godspell and Anything Goes are currently on Broadway. Schools sometimes prefer that you avoid shows that are currently running.</p>
<p>“Back to Before” is probably not appropriate for a college audition. Definitely a song by a character with life experience.</p>
<p>@Larkmom, thanks for the reminder. Somehow, when D check our worksheet (yup! it surely helps to have all the requirements in one document), none of the schools she applied to required a song from a musical written prior to 1965. But she did have a back up song from an R and M musical.</p>
<p>Curious about how much the “do not use” list matters or how much conforming to good monologue selection (age appropriateness, gender etc.) matters either. We are at the tail end of a 3 city on-campus interview week (still going on but today is the last one) and so far 2 out of 3 major programs my daughter was really surprised at the number of auditionees that have material right off the top of the “do not use” list or from shows currently on Broadway etc. as well as monologues that are not really monologues or have no clear objective etc. Maybe too much is made out of all of this “do not” list stuff. Do colleges care about it as much as we think they do? If so, they are certainly processing a TON of kids back to back that are singing much loved songs from Millie or Wicked etc…</p>
<p>It’s certainly true that many students come in with inappropriate material or songs that are very overdone. I’m sure it’s also true that some of them will be accepted anyway. But it is even more true that the majority of students who audition for any particular school will NOT be accepted, simply because there are so few positions available. Why take the chance that your song or monologue selection will turn off the adjudicators, or that they will be annoyed if you ignore their guidelines?</p>
<p>While we would never ignore a specific school’s guidelines, my daughter has decided to lighten up a little on the quest for obscure material. She has seen too many people accepted with songs from Carousel. One of her monologues, suggested by a coach, appears on several overdone lists. I also think with the huge numbers auditioning these days, chances are just about everything is overdone and things were once overdone are now performed far less frequently.</p>
<p>I agree that I have noticed a lot of people doing things that were considered “overdone” this year. I’ve seen many people with songs that are currently on Broadway, or recently on Broadway, or just considered plain old “overdone” like Carousel (I can’t tell you how many people I’ve seen with If I Loved You). And I think that that is fine. I think that people will get accepted with these songs and I think that maybe the colleges really don’t care as much as we think. I think that they would be perfectly happy hearing If I Loved You. However, everytime I hear someone say that they are doing those songs, I am inwardly thankful that I didn’t ultimately choose them, because I haven’t heard anyone say that they are doing my songs yet, and if you do choose an “overdone” song then you have to realize that many other people are also going to do that song and like it or not, you will inevitably be compared to them. I’m sure there is someone else out there singing my songs, because they aren’t totally obscure, but I’d rather be compared to five people as opposed to fifty. Honestly, I would say that almost anything is fine to sing, as long as the school doesn’t have a list specifically forbidding it. And Wicked. (At auditions, sometimes the students ask what everyone is singing and after everyone says theirs, at least twice, I’ve heard the students say good, none of you are doing wicked!) But ultimately, I think you have to decide whether you are okay with being compared to many people, and if you feel really confident in your song selection. I mean, the majority of people auditioning are not on college confidential, so I’m thinking that there are some people who haven’t even heard of “overdone,” and they’ll still get accepted!</p>
<p>@lalamusicmuse. I think everything you wrote above is spot on.</p>
<p>Interesting thing regarding age ranges.</p>
<p>I was talking with my vocal coach about this, and one of the uptempo pieces that I’ve chosen to sing, while miles out of my age range, fits my voice and I perfectly. She thinks I should sing this song first in my auditions. </p>
<p>I honestly don’t think it’s that big of a deal; I’m a baritone, and trying to find appropriate songs for my voice and age range is pretty difficult. I think it’d be better for an adjudicator to hear someone choose a song that he can sing the heck out of - even if it’s out of their age range - than to hear him struggle with an “age appropriate” role that is just a few notes too high.</p>
<p>I think this can also be balanced out by the fact that both my monologues and my ballad choice are age appropriate.</p>
<p>All in all (unless it’s Wicked), I think if you have a great song that you can really sing, nothing should stop you from choosing it.</p>
<p>Every time I read these threads, a question comes to mind with regard to singing songs outside of the student’s age range. In college productions, kids play parts out of their age ranges all the time. They don’t have a choice. So why is it so bad to audition with a song outside that range?</p>
<p>I realized I posted on this thread too…thanks so much for everyone’s responses.</p>
<p>She is working with her old coach as of this past week, and fortunately he was very happy with where she is; she needs some cleaning up; her diction, using her “mix” voice instead of just belting. Her coach has a proven track record with getting kids into MT programs and has several kids on Broadway now. So he knows his stuff. He echoed what a lot of other people said here, and what one of her colleges also said to me this week on the phone:</p>
<p>“If you can pull off a song; if you can make us feel it, love you, and love it, no one cares who wrote it or how many times it’s been heard. You’re not reinventing the wheel here, you are auditioning for college MT programs, and that being said, most of the songs have been done or heard. So do what you’re best at, what shows your versatility, and stop getting hung up on the do’s and don’ts, unless a college has a specific list of don’ts.”</p>
<p>So her final choices are :
Ballad: Astonishing or Music and the Mirror
Uptempo: I Can Cook Too, or My Strongest Suit</p>
<p>I posted another thread on here, but any feedback you guys can give on here would be great.</p>