<p>I've been reading these boards for a while now, but finally got the courage up to register and make my first post! There is so much valuable info here - Such a great resource for moms & dads like us and for our aspiring stars. I have a D who will be a senior this year, auditioning for musical theatre schools starting in the fall.</p>
<p>Question-My D is a beautiful, tall, soprano with a strong belt. Her top schools right now are Carnegie Mellon, Michigan, Baldwin-Wallace, Boston Conservatory, and CCM. She is choosing audition material now and wants to know whether she should show her sassy, belting side or her classical, leading lady side. Of course this is her mother talking, but she is such a versatile performer and I wonder what is the best thing for her to show at the college audition. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>Thanks for all of your help in advance! This is a great resource, and it's great to finally post.</p>
<p>I'm a new poster too and it's so nice to get over the first post jitters with a fellow newcomer. My D has some similar questions. She is more of a character actress, think Tracy Turnblad in Hairspray, and she doesn't know quite how to market herself yet. She is having some difficulty picking songs. Message me if you want to get to know eachother, it sounds like we have a lot in common!</p>
<p>Welcome both of you! Glad you took the plunge to participate. </p>
<p>MommaMaryBeth, </p>
<p>I agree with MusThCC......your D should show BOTH....sing a legit soprano song and a belty sassy song. In fact, that is a big plus that she can do both well and the idea is to show not only your strengths but as many skills as you can and she will have the opportunity to showcase her versaltility in her vocal skill set, as well as act two different types of songs. </p>
<p>Tammi_Sue....there are a lot of character songs out there and so for at least one of your D's songs, she should go for that, but also show another side on her second song.</p>
<p>MusThCC, Tammie, & Soozie, thanks for all your help! Great info here. SO good to have finally posted. I'm sure I'll have another question soon. Thanks again</p>
<p>MommaMaryBeth, just to add to the sound advice you have already gotten, it's not a bad idea to have 2 songs of each type prepared. You never know when a school may ask to hear another belt song or ballad after hearing your daughter's primary selections. Same goes for monologues. You never know when you may be asked to do an additional one. While being asked to do an additional song or monolgue doesn't happen with great frequency, it does happen on occasion and therefore it is prudent to be prepared with supplemental material.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat, Thanks for your post! In your case, has your S or D been asked to sing another song at auditions? If they do get asked to do extra, does that hint to a possible acceptance? Moreover, have you experienced the "people behind the table" working with the student auditioning? Is this another hint at an acceptance?</p>
<p>Anyone, feel free to chime in! Any help is appreciated. Love this site!</p>
<p>MB, I am not Michael but your question is a common one. I can tell you one thing that any student or parent who has been through auditions will tell you.....you could analyze what the auditors did or didn't do with you in the audition and what they said or didn't say and drive yourself NUTS. </p>
<p>The reason for that is that....for instance, in your example......if they ask you to sing an additional song.....it doesn't hint at a possible acceptance. It could be that they did not hear what they needed to and needed to hear the range or some other thing. It may not mean an acceptance. You could have to sing ONLY what was required and get in and someone else sang more songs and didn't get in. Then again, I suppose if they absolutely hated you, they would not bother asking for more....but even so, such a request could go either way. And then you asked about if they "work with the student" and what that could mean.......again, they may do that with lots of applicants to ascertain how they take direction or they need to see another side of the student. They may have already seen what they need and the student does nothing extra and gets in. They could work with the student and the student still doesn't get in. Also, it differs from auditor to auditor. </p>
<p>From my own kid's experience she was admitted to some schools where she did nothing extra and they did not work with her. She was also admitted to some schools that did work with her or where she was vocalized or sang extra songs or did it another way. She also was rejected at a school that worked with her. Another worked with her a real lot and heard four monologues and various songs and vocalizing and passing her around to various adjudicators and she was waitlisted. There is no pattern to it and so before you drive yourself crazy at auditions, KNOW THIS! :) </p>
<p>That said, I agree with Michael to have extra monologues and songs ready to go and also be cognizant of being asked to do a song or monologue a different way. I believe auditioning is a skill and the more you audition, the better you get at it and also the more comfortable you are in such a situation.</p>
<p>When my S was getting ready to go through all of this we knew NOTHING. I found this site about 2 or 3 months before his auditions started. After I spent a week or two reading I freaked out realizing just how unprepared he was. So I started "sharing" bits of what I was reading, he was unconcerned, he was just going to do what he was going to do, after a bit he started listening, to things like the odds of getting in, songs not to use.... Let me tell you how prepared he got, I think he had three or four back up songs in every catagory, and he had a notebook prepared for the the accompanist AND the originals, in his bag, with all of his original music, he also had lots of emergency supplies, tylenol, ibuprophen, water, throat drops, energy bars... We drove, so we could take it ALL with us. After reading about the skunk story, he had extra clothes, and I sealed everything in dry cleaner bags. I can laugh about it now and fortunately it all worked out. But let me tell you we were not going to let any crazy accident get in the way! Even though we (and I use we, because I was the one who insisted on everything being backed up in multiples) were OVER prepared, I think it was better than walking in with no where to go if they had wanted to hear more or different songs.</p>
<p>Mary Beth, soozievt beat me to the punch and basically covered it all. In my daughter's case, I don't recall her being asked to do additional material but others auditioning the same day were. My daughter was given direction and adjustments to do at some of her auditions. None of this is an indication of anything other than the auditors are interested in hearing something more for reasons you can never discern. How's this for the nuttiness soozie alludes to - at one of my daughter's auditions, just as she got to the meatiest part of her ballad, The River, by Maury Yelstin, an emotion packed song, one auditor leaned over and audibly said to the other "She doesn't have it." What would you take from that?!? My daughter thought she had blown it; she was accepted with a substantial scholarship.</p>
<p>My D was asked to sing an additional song at 4 of her auditions. At 2 of the audtions the auditioner outright raved with mouth agape at her acting ability after she completed her monologue. None of these were programs she was accepted to. So go figure. I think it can be sort of like tests you take - sometimes you leave knowing you aced it and find out later you barely passed. Sometimes you are certain you failed and ace it. I agree with Soozie - don't try to second guess how the audition went or try to read anything into it. Wait till the envelopes arrive and that is all that counts.</p>
<p>HoosierMom2012's story is an object lesson in why more experienced kids and parents caution kids not to try to "suss out" whether they were successful in an audition situation based on their perception of the auditors' reactions. Of course, kids will do it (and parents, too! We're all human!) but it's a losing proposition for the reason that soozievt and others have outlined above.</p>
<p>I agree with Soozie and the others about trying to assess your chances from the audition. My son was incensed in that one of the auditioners was not even paying attention to him--he was busy working on something else, and had to be nudged at various points. He too, overhead some unfortunate comment, and was sure this was it for him. And he got into that school, even though it really did give him a short shrift in terms of an audition. Did not get into programs where they seemed very interested and he felt he did well.</p>