<p>Hey everyone! I'm Applying to Ithaca, Fredonia, and Potsdam and I wanted to know if my songs were acceptable. </p>
<p>Ithaca
Requirements for B.M. degrees in performance and performance/music education:
Four memorized songs chosen from classical solo voice literature only. These selections must include one 16th- to 18th-century Italian song or aria; one 19th-century German or 20th-century German or French art song; one 20th-century American or British art song; and one additional song of your choice from traditional vocal literature (musical theater selections, jazz, or original compositions are not acceptable).</p>
<p>Potsdam
Bachelor of Music in Music Education, Music Business, Music Studies or Bachelor of Arts in Music:<em>Candidates must present three (3) memorized pieces from standard classical vocal literature.</em> Repertoire must include pieces in English and at least one foreign language. * Candidates should perform age-appropriate pieces of varying styles and/or tempi.* Do not include music theater, jazz or pop styles.</p>
<p>Fredonia
Perform three memorized selections (four if auditioning for Performance or Music Education) chosen from the standard classical vocal literature. The selections must include at least two languages and contrasting styles. Note: musical theatre, jazz, or other styles are not acceptable.</p>
<p>My choices:
Italian- Non So Piu (Mozart)
German- An Die Musik (Schubert)
French- Les Berceaux (Faure)
English- Sure On This Shining Night (Barber)</p>
<p>Optional: Voi Che Sapete (Mozart)
Che Faro Senza Euridice (Gluck)</p>
<p>I would suggest that you work with your private voice teacher on choosing your audition repertory. Assuming you plan to take some sample lessons at the schools that interest you, ask the voice teachers that you meet at the music programs what they think. My D did that, and was reassured that her choices (made in consultation with her private voice teacher) were indeed appropriate. Good luck!</p>
<p>OK—this is a dumb question all my own. For those of you “in the know”.</p>
<p>If a school like Ithaca lists an “Italian song or aria” as opposed to “a song or aria in Italian”,
are they looking for a piece of music BY an Italian composer? To quote Mozart “Io non so piu” :)</p>
<p>Yup, I’m heading up to Ithaca next weekend for open house; So I’ll make sure I ask around the music department. I was also going to email the choral director, or faculty member in the vocal department if I didn’t get any answers from the open house. </p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! And my choices weren’t exactly “my” choices haha; My vocal teacher and I have been working very diligently on all of these pieces, and they seem to work for me. I’ve done most of them already for All-State/NYSSMA, so I applied my ranking from those judges when we were choosing my songs.</p>
<p>MM - Hah! I like that question. We’ve always gone by the rule “Sing it in the language it was written in”. So, if Mozart wrote the piece in Italian, it counts. Queen of the Night translated to Italian - not so much.</p>
<p>It is very difficult to “satisfy” a Mozart aria for any audition panel. Musical and performance standards are exacting. Mozart is never encouraging vocally, rather it is challenging. Be very sure before you offer Mozart. Your audition repertory does not show flexibility and fioritura…any auditioning faculty will be concerned about this deficit, whether it represents a technical problem. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice! I don’t know what you mean when you say my repertoire has no flexiblity. We contrasted the high energy aria with the slow somber Faure ballad and topped it off with rich, colorful Schubert piece. I’m sorta confused by what you meant?</p>
<p>No one said that your repertoire lacked flexibility: rather it does not give you an opportunity to demonstrate your vocal flexibility (i.e. that your voice has flexibility). Flexibility is not the same as contrast. In other words, can you sing flowery embellished vocal lines (i.e. fioratura: the type of passage work that coloraturas are famous for)? You may very well be able to, but your repertoire is not giving you the chance to demonstrate this. If you can’t, then your repertoire choices may be appropriate (you don’t want to make a huge display of your deficits).</p>
<p>Oh jeez, I’m definitely not a coloratura haha. I’m a mezzo all the way! So I wouldn’t be able to do anything with any sort of difficult embellishment, it’s just not possible.</p>
<p>Mezzos still need to display flexibility in their voices and need to be able to ornament with grace and ease. I certainly wasn’t suggesting that you were a coloratura: I just used that to illustrate what is meant by fioratura.</p>
<p>Many if not most of the lyric mezzo roles require a voice which can manage short runs, scales, trills. Even dramatic mezzos need those skills. You do not need to specialize in bel canto repertory for this to be important. Look at the Carmen arias, for instance. As a lyric mezzo your voice must be flexible. Ornamentation is a different skills, requiring a degree of musical sophistication, where the singer makes choices about how to decorate the basic musical line.</p>