<p>@redscorpion6, music to my ears :)</p>
<p>It is not necessarily a deal breaker for college admissions but my oh my if I could live backwards, I would have made sure my daughter was taking piano from the time she was a little squirt. It’s an enormous advantage to be rock solid in music theory in a BFA MT program. Those that are not have to work harder. Sometimes you are given something that you need to learn by the next day and if you have to pluck it out vs. just looking at it and knowing what you are looking at, it takes a lot longer. Hindsight is 20/20 and as I have said before, I thought I was raising a math major. </p>
<p>Yes, strong dancers seemed to be what they were looking for in girls! Music theory didn’t seem to play into the process at all.</p>
<p>Not a factor in admissions, but music theory and piano is a big part of my D’s curriculum, so anyone reading this with younger kids, get them to piano lessons! You know, in between acting and voice and dance and rehearsals and oh, yes school! ;-)</p>
<p>@GSOMTMom, I also found that to be true. Several schools seemed quite interested in D because of her dance training. </p>
<p>I concur on the dance training. My daughter has had very little training for dance and she has not been accepted at any program that had a dance audition. She has been accepted or waitlisted at all other programs where there was no dance call or just a movement call except for one, CMU. We did make our list of schools with this in mind; however, people were saying that some schools just want to see if you can move and act. I don’t think that is true anymore, if it ever was.</p>
<p>I have repeatedly heard that colleges at a minimum want auditioning students to excel in two out of three talents. Vocal and acting, or acting and dance, or vocal and dance. Where their strengths lie is where they will be offered spots - BFA-MT, BFA-Acting, BFA-MT with Dance Concentration. Music theory and playing a musical instrument are not criteria when deciding who will be accepted in the program though they can be helpful in a career. </p>
<p>@NightOwl2, I agree that colleges would like that as a minimum. However, many applicants excel at all 3. That is why it is so competitive. My daughter just decided 2 years ago to pursue musical theatre as an interest. After 1 year decided this was her calling. She has not been training for 10 years. A LOT of these kids have and it shows. It doesn’t mean that she can’t pursue her dreams, BUT it does mean that she is not competitive in all 3 areas. Most of the popular MT colleges are seeing the kids with a lot of excellent training. </p>
<p>I don’t think there are that many true triple threats who are equally excellent at everything. Maybe they are perceived that way at the high school and community theater level but in BFA programs each student’s strengths become apparent. This is true in the professional world too. Some of the top Broadway stars aren’t dancers. </p>
<p>I disagree that most of the programs are looking for strong dancers. My friend’s D is an excellent dancer and a wonderful actress. She can sing well but doesn’t have that amazing voice like most of the other girls. She got into very few programs. If they looked at dancing first, she would have gotten into many more schools. I don’t want non-dancers to think they don’t stand a chance, because my impression is that many schools are looking for that voice first, acting second and dancing last. My friend thought that because her daughter was an amazing dancer that she would get into more programs. She didn’t. </p>
<p>From what you are all saying it sounds like this when it comes to dancing. It is not the first thing that any program is looking for so being a dancer-singer is not as valued as being a singer-dancer, and the same with acting. It also sounds like and makes sense that in an MT program being a strong singer, and preferrably one who excels at telling a story through song, is going to be the most valuable. Dancing will give you the edge but won’t be your downfall. </p>
<p>Yes, it would be best for technically skilled dancers to audition for BFA’s that place a strong emphasis on dance. On actorsequity.com postings ask for dancers who can sing, or singers who can move recognizing that people have different strengths. </p>
<p>Considering that schools like CMU have dropped the dance call, I’d say dancing is not a deal breaker at amost schools. However, I do believe that as schools want a balanced program, it may be that in any particular year they may be looking for a few gifted dancers to replace graduating seniors who had that as their strength. I like that Otterbein lets us know that what they’re looking for and how many of each. I just wish they were looking for “more of them.” lol! All that being said, I believe that being well rounded (or as much as one can be) puts one at an advantage. In MT, singing & acting have to be almost equally important in my opinion. I am guessing the kids who can move the audiences (or judges, in this case) through the telling the story via their singing are the ones who have the greatest number of acceptances. And, of course, the one thing none of us can hire someone to teach our kids: the “it” and “likeability” factors. Those can’t be taught. The kids are born with those…</p>
<p>@addicted2MT, I totally agree. I believe singing & acting are the most important. My point was that the competition nowadays have that plus they are good at dancing. I never said dancing is first, I believe it is last. And, of course, this is primarily for the girls.</p>
<p>What my D observed was that many (not all) applicants at her auditions were weaker dancers but we could hear that they were excellent singers (through the walls 
).</p>
<p>I think you have to be really good at 2. And if only 2, then those 2 need to be Acting and Singing. If you are really good at Dancing and Singing, or Dancing and Acting, then you have to be REALLY DECENT at that third thing. </p>
<p>I do remember at one audition we were at we were told by the director they had already decided on some kids that would definetly be offered a spot before they even saw the dance. Another school we went too the dance was a big deal.</p>
<p>There is also software that can help you train music theory and some basic piano skills. I happen to work as support for a ear training software, that helps you train your ear. There is a lot of different exercises in all the different aspects of ear training and music theory. It is for beginners as well as higher level musicians. You can customized the activities for your exact need. It might be helpful. You can read more about it on this website: <a href=“http://www.earmaster.com/”>http://www.earmaster.com/</a></p>
<p>-Niclas </p>
<p>From a quick look at the website that software looks really cool, Niclas! I wish I had it when I was in school. Of course we didn’t have PCs (much less laptops) when I was in HS and college…</p>
<p>At several BFA MT program info sessions, we were told that Acting is their number one training/curriculum emphasis because “Acting colors the song AND the dance to effectively tell the story.” That said, we were also told that they look at voice first in the audition setting because “it is easier to train a great singer to act in 4 years than it is to train a great actor to sing in 4 years.” Dance was like, “Oh, and we have a top notch dance program, too.” </p>