<p>My D skyped with her voice teacher a few times when her schedule was really tight but after 4 or 5 times she told me she doesn’t want to do it anymore because she can’t hear the piano properly and it affects her singing. She just found it to be not as good as in person. But it does seem to work for many kids, so maybe that’s just her.</p>
<p>My daughter had recordings of the piano done by her voice teacher. So it was with her in her room. Her voice teacher was very accommodating by recording these pieces numerous times when they changed where to pause, tempo, etc.</p>
<p>She has recordings of the songs she is working on too. But he does a live accompaniment to the warm-up exercises they do. It’s 20-25 minutes long, and changes weekly based on what they are working on. So that was the part she had trouble with over Skype. He does record that for her, and she practices with that recording until the next lesson when she gets a new one.
She has ALOT of CD’s marked “warmups” with a date. LOL.</p>
<p>I think Skype works well for vocal audition coaching but for technique in- person is better so they can see and feel your breathing, etc… But for the most part we loved Skype. One thing to think about, we had to learn how to train everyone else in the house to be quiet during Skype sessions. No younger brothers running in and out of the house, doors slamming shut inadvertently, dogs barking, etc…not hard to do - just not something we thought about before our first session. So find a quiet place and time where you have good wifi and you should be fine.</p>
<p>We also did most of my son’s coaching with his MTCA coaches (song and acting) via Skype, and since it wasn’t vocal technique that was being focused on but instead “acting the song”, the long-distance/online aspect wasn’t a negative at all. (Vocal technique was what he worked on in person with his voice teacher at his weekly lessons.) He was fortunate to be able to travel to NYC a couple of times throughout our 2 years of MTCA coaching for live dance classes, masterclasses, mock auditions, and one in-person session with his song coach, but Skyping the rest of the time worked just fine. In fact, he has yet to meet his acting coach in person but they’ve become fast friends over Skype and through emails! @evilqueen, I’m not sure where you’re located but MTCA has at least one coach based in LA, and other MTCA coaches are often performing around the country and can meet for live coaching when they’re in a city near you. We were able to have his initial dance evaluation done at a professional theater in our area when one of MTCA’s dance coaches was appearing in a production there. This is another great thing about MTCA, by the way: all of their coaches are active performers with invaluable professional experience and wisdom to share about the realities of the industry. I can’t speak highly enough of Ellen Lettrich and her amazing team!</p>
<p>We are in Seattle and hope to have our initial webcam meeting sometime after this weekend as D’s show is in tech and goes-up tomorrow. We are headed to Chicago in April and maybe we can hook-up with someone there when we are part of the MTCA family. LA is also completely doable for us and we have family in SoCal to stay with as far down as Long Beach. I am so grateful for CC and all of you. I was starting to panick a little about teh coaching situation. D has been acting seriously for about 5 years now but just recently decided that she wanted to go the BFA route. We are lucky that one of our state schools offers a MT BFA and is reasonably competitive but should still be a safety that we can afford without any help :)</p>
<p>@dramamom0804, I agree that technique would be difficult via Skype. I was referring to “Acting the Song”.</p>
<p>So for those using MTCA, how do they make the assessments during the initial consultation? Do they listen to her songs and monologues or just talk to her?</p>
<p>Also confused about the dance portion by Skype. D has been cast for her dancing abilities around here, partially because she is a good tapper, but she is in no way a real "dancer."She is an advanced beginner in ballet, started WAY late and only as a way to enhance her MT dancing. She She has a private dance teacher now, should we be recording combos with her or something? </p>
<p>I wanted to say that we had out initial consult with MTCA and my D loved Leo and is very excited about working with them. She has vocal assessment with Ellen on Thursday and can’t wait. Thank you to everyone on this thread who recommended them.</p>
<p>@evilqueen, you’re in good hands!</p>
<p>This is all excellent advice and thanks for sharing your experiences with these coaches. Does anyone know of an audition coach in the Chicago area?</p>
<p>@momzhood - No but Dave Clemmons and Mary Anna Dennard will both fly to your area if they have enough students in your area…</p>