My D has her first audition of the season next Friday at OCU. Ahhh!
They require that she bring “original” copies of her music. We have originals for all of her pieces, but some of them are in anthologies and song books; and I haven’t been able to locate individual sheet music for a few of them. Does anyone know if anthologies and song books will be ok?
Have you tried sites like musicnotes.com? You might find your music there. Worst case I would put a copy with cuts marked in your book but also bring the original books from which they were copied just to be on the safe side. The copies are easier for the accompanist to use, but if you have your books with you they will know you didn’t infringe on any copyrights. You can always ask them if they prefer to use the book or the copy.
They do say to bring copies in a binder for the accompanist as well as originals. I think you’re right; it is for copyright purposes, so the books will probably be ok. Thanks!
BAL to your daughter! OCU was my daughter’s first audition as well 
Thank you! She is so excited! I on the other hand am a nervous wreck, though I try not to be so in front of my D:)
@MTMusing, I’d love to hear a report back from her experience at OCU! I hope it is a wonderful weekend!! BAL!!
@mom2MTgal…Tried to be brief, yet thorough.
We arrived at the Bass Music Hall on the OCU campus at 8am and were greeted by the smiling faces of current students. At around 8:30am, we moved into the beautiful Petree Recital Hall and a few OCU students answered questions until 9am, when the Dean of Music and Theatre (yes they are combined), Dr. Mark Parker, came in to talk to us and to answer questions. And after that Dr. David Herendeen, Director of Opera and MT (yes they are combined) came to talk and answer questions. Both men have an amazing gift for making the students (and parents) feel at ease, and they were present all day. There are three things that I as a parent am looking for in a college for my D:
- I want a place where my D will get top-notch training, where she can hone her crafts and become as versatile as possible.
- I want a place where my D will be challenged artistically, while being valued as a human being. A place where the faculty genuinely cares about the well being of the students.
- I want a place that prepares my D for the future and has the end goal in mind, and that is that these kids need to be able to get a job after college.
All three things were addressed by 9:30am; and I feel like OCU is a place where these criteria would not simply be met, but far exceeded.
Just before 10am, all of the MT kids went to dance call. There were 15-20 of them, but from looking at previous posts, I think the first Friday audition is typically the lightest in numbers. Some of the other kids were there for BFA acting only and others were there for VP only. During this time there was coffee, tea and water for the parents, which was available all day; and current students and some faculty members were available to answer questions.
After dance call, we took our D to lunch at the Red Cup, which was wonderful, and she told us about the dance call. She said, for a dancer, it was fairly straight forward, aside from a couple of fun leaps she had never seen before. She did say that there was a portion of the dance that was mostly ballet oriented, so if you hadn’t had ballet, you might have a hard time. OCU students taught the dance and Jo Rowan, Chairman of Dance and Arts Management were present, as well as Dr. Herendeen. Our D said it was a pleasant experience.
After lunch, D changed and a student showed her to a practice room in the basement, so she could warm-up for her vocal audition. Her time was 1:30pm. They sang in the Petree Recital Hall, which has amazing acoustics BTW.
While our D waited to sing, one of the OCU students was gracious enough to give us a tour of the dance building. D finished singing at around 2pm and went around the corner to the Black Box Theatre to wait for her monologue audition.
My husband and I went to the Atrium for an information session with Admissions, Financial Aid, Housing and Health Services, Campus Police, and all three deans. There were also tours of the campus and the music building offered throughout the day. Parents could attend any, all, or none of these events. Because of our D’s scheduled time to sing, we were unable to make the music building tour; and we had already taken a campus tour when we visited in August, so we just hung out.
The information session ended just before our D finished her monologues. We chatted briefly with some students and the Associate Dean of Music, Mark Belcik, before leaving for home. We wanted to stay for the opera rehearsal that evening, but were already so exhausted; we felt we shouldn’t risk not being able to drive.
In the car our D filled us in on the singing and acting portions of the day. In the singing portion, she said there were seven members of the voice faculty present. She chose her first song, a classical piece. Then they asked her what else she had prepared, and they chose one of her MT pieces. After the two songs, she got her binder from the accompanist and joined the faculty to have a chat. They asked her why she wanted to attend OCU, and if she had any questions for them. This part was the hardest part of the day for her. She is an introvert, so if isn’t scripted, she gets a bit tongue-tied☺ but she said all of the faculty members were lovely. Three faculty members were present during the monologue portion, two from the theatre department, plus Dr. Herendeen. They asked her if she had any questions for them, and she really couldn’t think of anything, because she had already asked the vocal faculty all the questions she had.
I think they were filming all of the auditions, but our D said if they were, they did a really good job of hiding the cameras, because she didn’t see one all day☺
We could not have been more impressed with OCU; I hope they saw potential in our D as well. Although, if they accept her and she decides OCU is where she wants to go, we are going to have to do some serious scholarship seeking, because OCU is not cheap☺
Wow! Sounds like a great experience! Best of luck to her as you continue the audition process this year. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for acceptances with scholarships attached for her!!
so glad you liked OCU and happy the auditions went well @MTMusing! If you have additional questions, feel free to ask away and I’ll do my best to answer them. As far as scholarships go, you can check the OCU website. There you will see a chart that shows how much academic $ you qualify for based on test scores and GPA. If you are accepted into a performance major you often will get a talent award which can be stacked with the academic $. I’d also recommend you investigate the Clara Luper Scholars program for additional scholarship opportunities.
It is our experience from last year that OCU is fairly generous with money if you are accepted. And we loved Dr. H!
@vvnstar… thank you for the advise, and @MTDadandProud… that is very good to know:)…The waiting for results part is a lot harder than I expected! Any advise on how to handle that?
@MTMusing, thanks for the wonderful review of your daughter’s audition. My D is auditioning for both MT and VP, we are just waiting on the confirmed date. I appreciate the reminder about the original music. One of her song’s came from her coach and is not published yet. I need to call OCU to figure out how to address that. She has already received her academic acceptance, so this school is high on our list. They sent out merit scholarship info with the acceptance. A letter came in snail mail.
Thank you for your recap on audition day; It definitely takes some stress off of the rest of us who now know what to expect! This is probably a silly question, but I didn’t see any cuts listed on the OCU wesbite. Does that mean auditioners sing the entirety of their songs?
At OCU, is it possible to audition for both MT and dance performance? Or do you have to pick just one to audition for?
@DVCmember: You can audition for both, but they are separate auditions. D had a friend who auditioned for MT early on and did not get in. He went back and did the Spring dance school audition and was accepted. He just graduated and is now in Stephen Schwartz’s new musical “Magic to Do” on Princess Cruise Lines. He has gotten to work with Mr. Schwarz and is the understudy for the Magician (lead).
The dance school does offer music and acting classes in addition to dance. And they can try out for all shows. Some kids prefer not to have to take the music classes that go along with the MT degree (music theory, aural skills, conducting, piano, music history, etc…) It is a great option. The dance school also has business classes for the performing arts and can really prepare you for an arts administration. career. It has a degree in performing arts management. Google Ann Lacy School of Dance for more info and details. They have really successful alums and a great reputation in the industry. As an MT you do take dance here, and you level into classes the same as the dance majors. So if you are a strong dancer, but an MT major, you can take the higher level classes as long as you level in. So that’s nice too. There are 10 different levels in each type of dance.
@gmo913 yes they do sing the whole song.
@gmo913…, @SongDanceMom… I haven’t been on much since November… I’m so glad my review was helpful. It really is a great school, and the faculty and staff are very pleasant and friendly. Sadly, my D was “redirected” to either BA Music or BFA Acting, which kind of threw us all for a loop. We thought if she was “redirected” at all, it would have been to VP. She’s been singing her whole life, is a Texas All-Stater, recognized as Outstanding Performer at UIL…
I will say that watching my D handle disappointment this year has really made me proud. Because of the heavy music emphasis in the MT curriculum, while not sacrificing acting or dance, this was her top choice; and to have that sort of blow early in the season could have thrown her for a loop, but it didn’t. I had a way worse time with it than she did:) She got a little teary when she told me the news, and after that she was moving forward. Her words, “It does no good to dwell on things we can’t change. I just need to focus on what’s coming next.”
She isn’t ruling out the other two programs at OCU entirely, but is still trying for a MT program.
Don’t know if you had your audition already… Hoping it went well, if you did. If not, Break a Leg!!!