Is it worth to try to get into prestigious drama school?

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Is it possible and worth trying to get into a prestigious drama school with bad singing voice but great potential in acting and physical aptitude?</p>

<p>I am senior at high school and performing/acting is something I really like and enjoy, nothing else makes me happier and more alive. To keep this short - I would love to do it as a full-time job, but I also realize the situation in this field (so, no need to explain how competetive or unrealistic it is).</p>

<p>My native language isn't English, I'm from Latvia, but I'd love to go for a college in the US if acting was my major. But I don't wanna waste my time and money for nothing, that's why I am looking only for the best possible.</p>

<p>As far as I have researched, all recognized drama schools (like Juilliard, NYU etc.) require singing as part of their curriculum, also as part of the audition. But because of my bad singing voice, I don't see myself as a real candidate for Broadway, more likely a film actor (although I have never done screen acting, I feel like I could actually do and enjoy it as well).</p>

<p>So, my first question is: is a drama school, in my case, a good choice? What I am getting at, do good and recognized drama schools give significant foundation even if the person tends to screen acting? I have to remind, however, that I'm not native speaker and, although I speak English quite well, my accent, of course, is still hearable, I guess. That's another reason why I think drama schools top some kind of short course in screen acting, because I get more time in English enviroment while studying and acting versatility.</p>

<p>But because I'm unfamiliar with the situation in the US, I don't know, maybe there are also some great schools for screen acting that would work out better in my case? Like there is Juilliard and Tisch oriented in theatre, is there something similar in screen acting?</p>

<p>Please, I will be very grateful for any kind of help, because I'm really struggling! :)</p>

<p>Thank You for Your time!</p>

<p>P.S. Have You heard of someone getting into top drama school with bad singing voice but great potential in acting? And by 'bad' I really mean bad, and by 'great' I really mean great. :)</p>

<p>P.P.S. Don't wanna recur, but does Tisch always ask their prospective students to sing in the auditions? Maybe I could creep out somehow. ;D</p>

2

<p>You are looking for BFA programs (Bachelors of Fine Arts). I did not recall the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities as having a singing part of the audition.</p>

<p><a href=“https://theatre.umn.edu/prospective-students/admissionsAuditions/trainingProgram[/url]”>https://theatre.umn.edu/prospective-students/admissionsAuditions/trainingProgram&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>BTW: You want Acting or Theater, and not Music Theater.</p>

<p>You may also want to look into Lawrence University in Appleton, WI. You can do theater only there too.</p>

3

<p>I thought I had replied to this, but apparently I had not. My son auditioned for five Acting programs, and did not have to sing once. He was told he might have to sing at his Mason Gross (Rutgers) audition, but that seems only to have applied to students they called back. Most schools that have both Musical Theater and Acting majors will not ask the actors to sing. DePaul did not request a song at its audition, nor did BU, Emerson, or Fordham. Although he did not end up applying to CCPA/Roosevelt, Montclair State, NYU/Tisch, or Pace, he would not have had to sing at any of their auditions. The one other school he considered that would have asked him to sing was Cornish. He was accepted to UArts with a talent scholarship, despite minimal singing ability.</p>

4

<p>My daughter auditioned at a number of top acting schools and was only asked to sing once, at Mason Gross. She did not prepare a song in advance-- I think it was only for testing the vocal range of her speaking voice. She is not a trained singer and doesn’t do MT, but was still admitted to Mason Gross. To be more specific to the schools you mention, she was not asked to sing at her Juilliard or NYU Tisch audition. If you are not going into MT, which you are obviously not, then I doubt your singing voice will be an issue.</p>

5

<p>Thank You all for Your response!</p>

<p>I watched some NYU and other drama schools auditions and saw the part of singing, though. So, I guess it depends.
But are You sure that You won’t be asked to sing, for example, in NYU or Juilliard callbacks? Does NYU even have callbacks or is it instant acceptance?</p>

6

<p>Lots and lots and LOTS of folks go to acting school without being able to sing!!!</p>

<p>Just whatever you do, don’t apply to any programs that specifically say “MUSICAL Theatre”. For Musical Theatre (MT) you do have to be able to sing, but that is just one type of theatre. Many shows on Broadway are NOT Musical Theatre, they are “straight” plays that don’t have any singing and dancing. So you could still appear on Broadway!!!</p>

<p>Unless you have some problem like tone deafness, I really don’t believe you can be as bad a singer as you claim. I think you should still try for programs that ask you to sing at auditions. Just be sure to pick a very EASY song. Is there, like, some Latvian children’s song you could sing in your native Latvian, that is very easy and simple? They do NOT need you to hit difficult notes, or belt, or anything like that. And they usually only ask for “16 bars”, which is VERY short.</p>

<p>I’m also curious why you have decided to study in the U.S. in particular over other countries of the world.</p>

<p>Also note that a good drama program should help you to speak English without an accent. But there have been succesful actors who had accents!</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

7

<p>Gerory - You should get busy very quickly studying each school’s requirements. They are all different, and some deadlines are approaching very soon. If a school is really interested in you at an audition (some have formal call-backs, some do not), they might ask for some indication of vocal range, but schools that require singing will state so clearly on their audition instructions. Almost all auditioned BFA programs require at least one memorized monologue. Most will ask for a second, and so you should have at least two solid pieces ready. NYU plainly states that they do not want a classical monologue (they ask for two, contrasting modern pieces), but most other schools do. Every school I looked at wanted a modern (ie. post-1900) piece. I can’t remember which school specified that they wanted one after 1950, but I know that one did. When my son narrowed his list of auditions to five schools, he was able to limit himself to one monologue written in the 1970s, and a Shakespearean monologue. Tisch has one musical theater studio, and they ask students interested in that to sing and dance. All other acting students are simply asked for monologues. Again, I cannot emphasize enough that you should work on all of this right away. If you are considering applying Early Decision to Tisch, you should have scheduled an audition already, and probably need to get your application submitted by the end of this month. I know that Fordham requires Theater Performance applicants to apply by the Early Decision deadline, which is November 1st. Instead of asking people here to keep reassuring you that you do not have to sing at every audition, you should be studying colleges’ own requirements, and getting your applications ready.</p>

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<p>Thank You all for the advices and encouraging me! :)</p>

<p>Now I really have to start searching for appropriate monologues for me, and we’ll see - it seems that, most likely, I will be applying next year because there is so much to do and prepare, but maybe this, who knows…</p>

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<p>TheRealKEVP, to be honest, there are plenty of reasons (why I wanna study acting in the U.S.), in fact, I gotta feeling that I don’t know all of them yet, but, in general, I look forward to experiencing new world, culture, versatility, improve my English etc. Why not the U.K.? When my minds were still a bit on academics (was thinking about studying politics, business, diplomacy or something similar), the U.K. was probably choice no.1 - still wanted to explore the world, culture, get a good educations etc. But, to keep this short, I realized it’s not my calling. As ridiculous it sounds, I really felt (and still feel) my best when I was playing different characters and expressing myself through acting (don’t mean just stage, in fact, I have never taken any drama lessons, got involved into the clubs or played theatre professionally). But because, I guess, somewhere deep inside I feel a big attraction also for film (although never done one), I wanna try out my best at the center of the industry and the versatility. That’s my naive vision. ;)</p>

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<p>You are correct, Gerory, that some of the best academic, intellectual universities are in the U.K., like Oxford and Cambridge.</p>

<p>But also the UK has some of the best acting schools in the world. I suggest you at least have a look at them. A lot of the greatest actors in the world came out of these schools.</p>

<p>Since you are from Latvia, a European Union country, you would be able to go to an acting school in the UK (another European Union country) for very cheaply. At least a whole lot cheaper than what they would charge an American student!!!</p>

<p>I think you should at least consider it before dismissing it out of hand.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

11

<p>TheRealKEVP, to be honest, I have checked them out some time ago, at least, casually. In fact, I think I actually started with them. But then I was really upset when I saw that they require singing. For a quite short time I dismissed the idea of going to drama school and started struggling with my life, my road (what should I do etc.), but it didn’t take me long to realize that there’s nothing else I wanna do more.
But my new vision had bigger emphasis on film, screen acting. That’s why America. But still, I wanted to get the very basis of acting, performing on stage and education with quality. That’s why I started struggling, hesitating of how should I start (drama school or some kind of course in front of camera).
And don’t You think a school in the U.S. would give some kind of advantage over a school in the U.K. if I intended to stay and try to make a career in the U.S., more likely (or mostly), in the film industry?
EDIT: Actually, I double-checked and there are some good drama schools in the U.K. that don’t ask to sing at first audition, but there are no evident info about the next rounds. For example, LAMDA doesn’t require singing at first, but maybe they do if you are called back…</p>

12

<p>RADA does not require singing at it’s audition, LAMDA does require singing at recall auditions (But still answers the FAQ “Do I need to be able to sing?” with the word “NO.”)</p>

<p>So the UK seems similar to the US, in that some programs ask you to sing at auditions, others do not.</p>

<p>I frankly do not understand why folks who want to be actors refuse to do any singing at auditions. I am not a singer, but if I had to, I can sing 16 bars of “Happy Birthday” as part of an acting audition. I’m sure you can to, or whatever the Latvian cultural equivalent to “Happy Birthday”. Just do EASY singing, and you will be alright. (You understand that you get to pick what you do at auditions, right? You get to (have to!) pick your own monologues and your song. You can pick monologues and a song that you are comfortable with) Many “straight” roles have some little bit of singing, like a scene where everyone sings Happy Birthday (or whatever). I had to sing the title song when we did an all-male version of “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (DON’T ASK!!).</p>

<p>But it does sound like you are much more interested in learning the “American” approach to acting than the “British” approach. I am pretty sure that going to school outside the European Union is going to be much more expensive, but maybe that is not an issue for you. I suggest you start researching the actors you admire, and find out where they got their training.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>

13

<p>I guess most of them require to sing at recall auditions, also RADA: [RADA</a> | BA (Hons) Acting | Applications and Admissions](<a href=“http://www.rada.ac.uk/courses-at-rada/acting-and-performance/ba-hons-in-acting/ba-acting-applications]RADA”>http://www.rada.ac.uk/courses-at-rada/acting-and-performance/ba-hons-in-acting/ba-acting-applications)
OK, time to find some really easy song! :D</p>