<p>Hi, everybody, I'm new here on this amazingly helpful website. I'm Asian female and I've been wondering about one thing - Does one of my two audition songs have to be pieces from "Miss Saigon", "Flower Drum Song" etc, matching my Asian identity? See, I have little connection to these works and I simply wanna explore more possibilities of my acting and singing. So, any advice? Your help is greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>I do not think you need to pick an audition song related to an Asian character at all. Explore songs that fit your voice and acting style and for roles that you could conceivably play (age, type).</p>
<p>I’m not the expert svt is, but from what I have seen of casting in college theater, unless a part is race specific, it’s more a matter of overall type. Which is great. Go for what is you!</p>
<p>In this case, I don’t think the OP is auditioning for casting but talking about two audition songs for college admissions and that is surely open enough to audition with songs that fit her voice and type and need not be Asian specific. She is not even trying for a particular role, and is sharing more of her skill set.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s at all necessary, or even appropriate, to slot yourself into a niche because you’re of Asian descent. Casting now is leaning heavily towards the “colorblind” and any school that can’t see beyond the obvious probably doesn’t merit considering anyway. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thank all of you so much!</p>
<p>I should have mentioned that you should have something from both “Miss Saigon” and “Flower Drum Song” in your rep. It’s entirely possible that you may be asked for one of them at an audition simply because you could be cast in either show. It’s an advantage that you have, so there is nothing wrong with using everything at your disposal.</p>
<p>Definitely! Use it but don’t let it limit you!</p>
<p>yes good advice, but playing to my racial type the year i was auditioning was very key. trust me. have as many asian pieces that you can whip out in your rep…the secret is that NO one else is allowed to be doing these pieces basically unless they’re also asian. if you’re a soprano and can kill tuptim’s songs in king and i, put one of the songs in your book. i also had jasmine and pocahontas stuff in my book and i was asked to sing those a couple times. having a strong personal connection to your main 2 pieces is important…for me that meant using a “saigon” song, but trust me. i had multiple people look through my book and get excited at seeing “my lord and master” in it…probably cause my two pieces didn’t truly demonstrate my high soprano voice but there was one time when an auditor told me after i had sang the last few bars for him that i should switch it up and use that as one of my main audition pieces. i ended up being wait listed there…i only had one more audition after that one but i took the advice of the auditor and used the song and ended up getting accepted to my last auditioned school.</p>
<p>it could all be a coincidence but i like to think the asian pieces helped a lot. it showed that i had a strong connection to who i was and where i came from…that i was passionate about something that spoke to my identity AND was a type that only me and a few handful of other people will fit. I had songs AND monologues that related to my asian heritage.</p>
<p>bottom line. schools want to see you. not something or someone you’d like to be through performance…they’d like to see you be comfortable doing something very close to yourself. at least once if you’re allowed two pieces, but then again it’s better to do pieces that are close to you but show different sides of your personality. </p>
<p>if doing an asian piece does that, you should do it. it worked for me, being someone who despite being asian struggles a lot with self identity trying to understand and balance what it means to be asian and american at the same time. also the entire generation above me and my grandparents were refugees and many had experiences of escaping by boat so doing a piece from “saigon” made complete sense for me since i understood the circumstances of the story very well. but you know, if you don’t really connect to your asian roots, then i guess you should find something else that stimulates you. but word of advice. someday you’re gonna have to find that connection cause that’s where tons of your employment will come from. it’s never too early to try to find that connection.</p>