<p>This question came up at a recent audition day. "What if my D doesn't get in anywhere?"</p>
<p>Here is my answer: Its not the end of the world.</p>
<p>My wife had a student who got in no where her first round of auditions. She took a year of Gen Eds and private training, re-auditioned and got into CCM. Dropped out of CCM to be on Broadway and now has two national tours under her belt. If you want it bad enough, keep fighting, keep training, and push push push yourself. </p>
<p>There are many amazing performers who did not go to the top named schools. There are many amazing performers who do not have a degree in the performing arts. There are also a lot of amazing performers who have decided to go into other fields. If you love music and eventually decide the competition of MT is too much for you, that is ok. </p>
<p>Other career options include:</p>
<p>-Speech Language Pathologist: There is a great need for singers/therapists to work with damaged singers
-ENT: We need good Otolaryngologists to work with professional singers (i.e. Adele)
-Music Therapy: It is a truly amazing field.
-Music Education: Some states are better than others, but we need good teachers
-Private Voice, Acting, Dance Instructors: We need more talented AND caring people teaching MT technique to aspiring MTs.
-MBA: You can always get a BA in the arts and then pursue an MBA for a career in entertainment business
-JD: If the economy picks up, there will probably once again be a need for good entertainment lawyers.
-Entrepreneur: There are many musicians out there who have pieced together careers in various parts of the entertainment business. Paths include: licensing; sound reinforcement; recording studios; talent agents; resort musicians; event planners; wedding bands (ours cost $2500 for the reception for 4 people); cruise ship/theme park/resort entertainment directors; production managers; stage managers; etc.</p>
<p>At the end of the day, the student who: learns to approach this field as a business; learns to see Broadway as a stop along the way and not the only acceptable outcome; learns to think outside the box; and learns to accept their strengths and weaknesses and use them to their advantage - will be the successful students in the long-run.</p>
<p>will definitely agree completely.
i took a year off to reevaluate things and reaudition…i applied to both MT and Acting schools.
Got offers to BAs and BFAs in both tracks, but opted that I’d rather go the straight acting route…believing that acting was much more my passion and strength than singing or dancing.
I ended up feeling quite lost in my first year in my BFA acting program when music suddenly was no longer a major part of my life. I started playing piano as a toddler and when I began dancing, music continued to impact me as I grew up. And when I started doing theatre in hs, I only had experience doing MT productions…so it was a strange shift that ended up making me somewhat miserable.
Acting was and still is what I remain in school for, but I’ve added a music minor as I entered college already with a bunch of credits from APs and summer college classes I had taken. I realized I don’t have to be one or the other…and it’s proven to be an incredible blessing. I am now just trying to explore and find my voice as a musician as opposed to before when I wanted to be solely an MT performer. I study classical here at school, but have begun to find a passion for pop/soul/jazz. Putting myself out of the MT box and giving myself the luxury to explore what I personally want to when I have the free time has been amazing. I can high belt and riff now, which I could not do even 6 months ago…but at the same time, my legit voice has strengthened with all the classical rep I’m studying at school.
I’ve also realized that schools cannot in anyway make a performer. Yes, I will credit my program to helping me get where I am right now, but it just happened to be the environment that pushed me to face myself in both my personal and academic life. You really have to be at a good place personally to grow as a performing artist–when you’ve begun to make peace with who you are and the problems you may deal with that might be the things blocking you as a performer. Schools and teachers will only give you tools and they will mean nothing if you’re not ready to absorb them…what I’m trying to get at, is if you’ve reached that stage when you’ve faced some of these things and begin working them out and you have the passion and drive to still pursue this path, I fully believe things will begin to fall into place and you will grow exponentially whether you are in a top program or not or in school or not.<br>
It took me a long and hard 15 or so months after entering a conservatory program to begin to learn this lesson. Some of my classmates began to understand it much sooner and their work has been quite brilliant since and some of my other classmates are still struggling and they face blocks in their work…this isn’t to discredit their talent level. We all have different paths and some people will grow into themselves before others. I think this is the reason why so many people advocate the BA to MFA path because most MFA candidates will have already faced the coming of age identity issues most late teeners and earlyy 20somethings deal with.<br>
I feel like I may have went on a weird tangent, but yes, don’t feel dishearted if you don’t get an accepted to programs. View it as a blessing more than anything. You can look at it as an opportunity to reevalute if it’s the career path you want to pursue…sometimes we get so caught up in this big audition MT/theatre process, we don’t stop to ask if it’s something we really need to be doing for ourselves. It can also be time taken off to go do something that’s non-theatre related. The best performers are the ones who have had life experience.
And if after a year or so away, you still finding yourself longing to audition again and pursue it, then go for it. Not just to get into a program, but to make a promise to yourself that you will dedicate yourself to getting the best training you can find for yourself, be it in the form of a program or not. If you continually seek out people who will help you as a young artist and the teachers who can give you the right tools to make you grow to your full potential, it doesn’t matter if you’re even in a top program or even in any program for that matter. To this day, my biggest mentor and the teacher who I’ve felt has helped me develop most is not one of my program faculty, but my voice teacher I studied with for the last 8 months before entering my BFA program. If I had never gone to any program, I’m quite sure she would have played an even more pivotal role in my growth…it really goes to show that you just need to find the environment and people who will help support and push you in the right direction.</p>
<p>Wow CCer2014, what a great, great post! I came to read the thread because I love all of VoiceTeacher’s posts but to have yours too-- everyone should read both of these. </p>
<p>When we were wondering if D might not get in anywhere, I found myself thinking that might be the best thing that could happen. So many at Julliard, Purchase, CMU etc. started a BFA at age 20 and I can see that having another year to develop before starting could really be a godsend. </p>
<p>Thank you both for your great, thoughtful advice!</p>
<p>This is a great post, as I have this question come up frequently as well. I would like to reiterate that individuals develop and mature at different rates. There are many very talented individuals - who will be successful, who simply are not ready to compete for and matriculate into an intense Acting or Music Theatre program at 17 or 18 years of age.</p>
<p>My advice is to pursue your passions with drive because everyone can grow and no matter what you end up doing, the exercise of focusing and working hard will benefit you.
Secondly: be open to the possibilities and opportunities that arise; in or out of theatre - do things! They may lead you towards performance or they may not, but what matters is finding a satisfying path. The high school experience has become so saturated with things that the student <em>must</em> do to become qualified to move on to the next level, that there is very little time (or mental energy) left for exploration and life experience. </p>
<p>It’s so hard on this end of the table. We just finished the audition season and I’m trying to get my D to keep her eyes on all possibilities. She believes there is only one way to succeed and it’s through the BFA programs. As a parent, I see BA programs, schools that have good dance/theater with good academics for a kid who does well in school, or schools purely for academics and take outside dance/theater. She doesn’t want the back up, alternatives or anything…and is heartbroken at the idea of rejections. Perhaps when the options are truly out on the table she’ll be able to look more carefully at all the options.</p>
<p>@fourkidsmom - She may not be ready to hear this, but when/if she is… remind your D that MANY extremely talented kids purposely choose a BA over top BFA programs, and many of the country’s strongest theatre professionals purposely choose to teach in BA programs over BFA programs because they believe a full education makes for the very best performers, so it is a serious error to view all BA’s as being in any sense automatically inferior to a BFA. I think sometimes the cc MT Forum gets far too BFA-centric, and worry that may lead some kids to miss out on BA options that may ultimately be a much richer educational fit for them. </p>
<p>Based on past years, it really does seem that kids ultimately find their way to the experiences they need. I’ll bet it will be a great relief when things settle out over the coming weeks!</p>
<p>I can’t wait for it all to sort out. I’m getting together a group of mom’s…Moms who survived the audition process with their kid. We need a martini night!</p>
<p>Don’t forget there are dads out there who are going through this and have accompanied their children to auditions and school visits and are just as heavily invested in the happiness of their children as moms.</p>
<p>Wonderful post, one of the best I have seen on this board, hands down… And I am in on martini night!!! So glad my d got one acceptance she is happy about, and now I have to deal with the emotions of setting her free in the big city. I think that reality hit me hard this weekend.</p>
<p>I want to come too! to MOM and DAD’s NIGHT OUT!! I want to wake up really soon and not have this on my mind. Trying to keep a good perspective…I have decided that God gave us these incredibly ambitous and talented children because he knew we could handle this unique journey with them. Hang in there everyone…a year from now everyone tells me this too will be but a distant memory. :)</p>