<p>Well, I've been working and working and working on making my 2 potential audition songs (Empty Chairs at Empty Tables from Les Miserables, and I Can't Stand Still from Footloose) condense into around 32 bars without sounding completely crazy. I Can't Stand Still sounds alright, but I'm having a hard time with Empty Chairs. So I guess my question is: at the auditions, will they expect me to have the song already condensed and want me to only sing what I didn't cut or should I just start from the beginning and go until they tell me to stop (without making any cuts with the exception of dance breaks and such)?</p>
<p>They will most definitely want you to have a coherent cut - one that makes musical and textual sense, with a defined beginning, middle, and end. There is definitely a science to this - a bit of art, too, but mostly it's just learning the acceptable formats and getting practice doing it. Get an experienced person to help you make you cuts (and check the ones you've already made) - a teacher, coach, or even older student who has a lot of experience making cuts.</p>
<p>A general note - not ALL songs make good cuts - especially story songs, and especially if you are limited to 16 bars. But the two you have chosen should be fine as 32's.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>
<p>Generally speaking, start at the end of the song and count backwards.... this is not always the best method, but it is a good place to start.... sometimes you may need go to 34 or 35 bars to make the cut work logically... this is fine, but you should not go above that number of measures. </p>
<p>In Empty Chairs and Empty Tables you may want to start at the bridge ("From the table in the corner...") and then cut from the end of the bridge to the final "Oh my friends, my friends don't ask me..." I don't have the music in front of me, but I think that is about 32 bars.</p>
<p>I am not as familiar with I Can't Stand Still.... but I think either from "Oh, I thought it would never end..." or "gotta mind my Ps and Qs..." to the end of the song would work for 32 bar cuts. </p>
<p>On a seperate note, I would suggest also looking for an audition piece from a show written prior to 1965. Some schools require that, others do not.... but songs from a classic show are always a good thing to have in your audition book!</p>
<p>Good Luck!! :)</p>
<p>thanks for the help.</p>
<p>I've gotten I Can't Stand Still to I believe 36 measures, so I think I'm fine on that.</p>
<p>For Empty Chairs I have 1 of 2 options so far:</p>
<p>I could start from the beginning and sing up to where it goes down to the low A on "...But tomorrow never came..." then cut up until the key change ("Phantom faces at the window..."), then sing until the end. That comes to about 35 measures and sounds decent, it just doesn't really get to show off the "money notes" :D</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>Start from the beginning up until "now my friends are dead and gone..." then cut up until the bridge and sing the rest of that through (with money notes and key change included :D). that comes out to something like 42 bars.</p>
<p>I tried starting it from the bridge but then it kinda looses the feeling and the strong emotion behind it</p>
<p>Any other ideas about how to cut Empty Chairs would be greatly appreciated</p>
<p>I have the vocal selections for Les Miz, (not the score, but I think it's the same arrangement)....and if you begin with "From the table in the corner" and go straight through to 8 bars after the key change -- "where my friends will meet no more"... it's exactly 32 bars. All you have to do is change the last note to the tonic instead of the third. That allows you to hit the emotional high notes, as well as some of the more subtle sections.</p>
<p>Well I was working on the music again some more and I think I got what I want. I made quick midi files from my piano. It was the first time in a long time that I played these songs and I taught myself how to play, so please excuse any mistakes. I haven't edited them or anything.</p>
<p>tell me what you think:</p>
<p>Empty Chairs at Empty Tables- Les Miseralbes (I have the accompinament version of this also) (32 bars with vocals, 37 vocal+accomp.)
<a href="http://h1.ripway.com/freedomfri911/EmptyChairs-Audition.mid%5B/url%5D">http://h1.ripway.com/freedomfri911/EmptyChairs-Audition.mid</a></p>
<p>I Can't Stand Still- Footloose (34 bars with vocal, 36 w/ accomp.)
<a href="http://h1.ripway.com/freedomfri911/ICantStandStill-Audition.mid%5B/url%5D">http://h1.ripway.com/freedomfri911/ICantStandStill-Audition.mid</a></p>
<p>I made new links to the files, they weren't working for some reason :/</p>
<p>My acting coach told me that I should try something less "tacky" than footloose, so now I'm looking at "Tonight at Eight" from She Loves Me. Problem: It's in 2/4 time, so 32 bars seems more like 16. Should I double the bars (so instead I would have 64 bars but it would be around the 32 bar length)?</p>
<p>I think the suggestion of Tonight at Eight is a good one... </p>
<p>I would still stick with the 32 bars. In auditions it is not about quantity, but the quality of what you do. Also -- schools understand that 32 bars of an uptempo will go by more quickly than 32 bars of a ballad. If they say 32 bars of each, they mean 32 bars of each. Some schools actually will ask for 32 bars of an uptempo and 16 bars of a ballad! </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>Cool, thanks. I just cut down the music and it fits quite nicely.</p>
<p>Hey!</p>
<p>I'm an entering freshman at UofM who had a very similar problem last year.
If you're still having problems (it sounds like you're not) I have a suggestion. And maybe it's not the best idea, but: for my auditions my ballad ended up being 47 bars. So, if you want to use the 42 bar cut, that should be okay. And they're not sitting there counting how many bars you sang.
...I'm not an expert, but I know plenty of other people who were above that 32 bar cutoff...</p>
<p>freedom_fri911, I'm assuming that the auditions you speak of are for colleges this fall/winter. If so, I would definitely take the time to look for lesser sung material. I guarantee you that there will be at least several other guys singing both "I Can't Stand Still" and "Empty Chairs" as both are from recent, well-known shows that frequent the high school/community theater circuit. If you have a voice teacher, talk to them about finding lesser known material. If not, I would definitely suggest finding a voice teacher.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I changed my mind about Empty Chairs, so now I'm doing "How Glory Goes" from Floyd Collins</p>