<p>In reviewing past posts, I keep coming up against references I don't understand. What are "regionals"? What is the ARTS vocal competition? They both sound like they matter, in the scrabbling search for college admission and merit money- but what are they?! I've Googled, but come up empty. And are there other legit. vocal contests for wanna-be singers that you in the know feel should be considered? Thanks as always for your insight and info. I am short on both.</p>
<p>NATS----your students voice teacher can probably fill you in. But I cant
think of ANY competition that is a "must - do". My D did pretty well and
NEVER did a voice competition---her teacher did not beleive in them for young
singers.</p>
<p>I wouldn't consider any as a "must do" and I don't think the results will mean much for acceptances. The experience will mean more if your S or D hasn't been able to get solo performance experience in other places. My D's voice teacher isn't big on competitions either and isn't even a member of NATS. Her first teacher wasn't a member either - neither of them put much stock in those results.</p>
<p>Concerning "regionals", they are honors ensembles run by MENC at the level above All-state. The All-Eastern groups, for example, draw kids from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Washington DC. There is not a separate audition beyond All-State, rather each state gets to designate a certain number of kids based on the All-State audition results. They perform at the MENC Regional Convention, usually in March. I agree with the others that this is not going to be much of an influence on either admission or merit money, but the kids enjoy it because they get out of a day or two of school to hang out and perform with their peers and they usually get to work with some very talented directors at the college level.</p>
<p>I agree that competitions are not a must do, but if your child does not attend a school where there are singing opportunities, the competitions are a great rehearsal for college auditions, and provide a place to meet other kids with similar interests (D attends a school where she is known as the opera singer, because no one is interested in classical music) Also, many competitions give you feed back, that you may not get from your teacher alone.
Just make sure you take the competitors (specially parents) with a grain of salt. yes there are the equivalent of the little miss beauty pageants out there.</p>
<p>The ARTS was the only one DD's voice teacher wanted her to do. He was not big on competitions since he said they looked for different things than the admissions will. Search under NFAA instead of ARTS to find it. He mostly wanted her to get ready for the audition season and NFAA really moved her to get her repertoire ready. She did Classical Singer just for experience. He was not in the NATS. She still did fine on college auditions. In the end it is the audition.</p>
<p>You guys are the best. I guess S did the regionals - he did New Englands, which sounds like what you're talking about, in addition to all-state. His singing teacher doesn't belong to NATS, either, but she's okay with him doing competitions strictly for the practice for those harrowing auditions down the road. Though I think frankly I'm more "harrowed" over it than he is. Thanks for the help.</p>
<p>I am rather shocked at the dismissive attitude towards the National Association of Teachers of Singing and its programs of workshops and student auditions. NATS has been crucially important in the development of vocal pedagogy as a science as well as an art. Its conferences are organized around educating teachers and students, and the "competitions" are characterized as audition for the purpose of helpful commentary by experienced objective voice teachers. </p>
<p>Even though I have now taught voice for over forty years, when my D was coming through the ranks, I would not have trusted my own judgment about her abilities, talents, and development. I did, however, trust my NATS colleagues, and her participation in NATS auditions while she was in high school and college were influential in our perception of her talent and future as a singer. </p>
<p>It is not a critical factor that a singer "wins" the auditions, but if the singer rarely progresses to the second round and/or never makes the final round, it says quite a lot about how the talent and preparation stacks up with other singers at the same age and stage of vocal education. The auditions are an opportunity to gain valuable feedback from other teachers, and the critique sheets are constructed in order to be helpful and encouraging. </p>
<p>Any voice teacher who is dismissive of the value of NATS is not particularly interested in developing as a teacher, conferring with colleagues, and helping their own students be the best that they can be. I hope you will think a bit harder about this issue.</p>
<p>I know that without going to competitions I would not have been ready for the college audition process. Sure our school offers many oppurtunities for me and the three other "good classical singers" to sing on stage while everyone else does musical theatre, but there's no real judging going on, and it's not you and 3 people in a room that you've never met. Even when our school has auditions for roles in the musicals or choir solos and the three directors sit there, you still know all three! In southern clifornia there is the Spotlight award/competition put on by the music center, the winners perform in the dorothy chandler. that is a good step to going to more hard core competitions, also NATS is great, unforuatnely my schedule prevented me from turning everything in in time,but everyone i know that has done it really has said it was beneificial. </p>
<p>Also your voice teacher is often times the only "judge" of your solo voice that you ever get to hear honestly, and depending on who your voice teaher is, he or she might not be judging your voice at the level voice faculty at conservatories are goign to judge your voice when it comes time for college auditions. It's always nice to have a reality check!</p>
<p>D's teacher in high school was and still is a NATS adjudicator. Why she did not encourage her younger students(if my memory serves) to do competitions had something to do with pushing young voices too hard. D has done (and won) NATS all through her undergrad college experience. She has found the experience valuable. I opined on competitions as a "must do" for an
applicant. Also D had plenty of input from professional sources other than her primary teacher
all through high school.</p>