Planning for vocal auditions

<p>I don’t think my D is going to be doing as many auditions as y’all, but this is all just SO helpful I had to say thanks. My D is very prone to illness in those crazy winter months. Her school’s musical is now in the Fall (thank you!), BUT…“show choir season” is Jan/Feb/Mar/Apr. And that is singing every day, singing and dancing 3 evenings a week, and usually two full shows (plus warm up of course) on Saturdays. And it’s show tunes/rock. Yikes. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences for those of us yet to enter the fray.</p>

<p>Remember when you are doing this planning…some schools have multiple audition dates and let you choose. Others do NOT…you won’t get a choice at some places at all (time or date). </p>

<p>We used an old fashioned calendar (the desk blotter type)…and wrote in ALL the dates that were problematic (HS band concerts, All state concert/auditions, SAT tests, exams, youth orchestra concerts, etc). Then we wrote in the options for auditions in pencil where there were choices and in INK where there were NOT choices. For some odd reason, it all worked out. DS did 4 of his auditions in February. He did two early auditions, one the Friday before Thanksgiving (Duquesne) and one the first weekend in December (Hartt). He did another the summer prior to his senior year by special arrangement. </p>

<p>Make sure your kiddo talks to EVERYONE where there might be a conflict. DS spoke to his band director and youth orchestra directors. They both knew his plans and understood he would miss some rehearsals. Neither had concerts planned in Feb, thank goodness.</p>

<p>R124687, has your DD been working with a voice teacher? Most would disapprove of that kind of schedule during auditions if any serious conservatory or merit awards are being sought. That rigor and type of singing conflict with the repertoire requirements for most VP auditions. Add the travel time and prep along with being prone to illness - those show choirs expose her to so much more illness- that she may want to seriously consider where her priorities are. DD had to give up the state choirs and incurred the wrath of her chorus director when she did so. But the conflicts were too great.</p>

<p>R124687-- Boy – I’d have to agree with Singersmom07on all counts. I recall when my daughter started going for practice lessons in January of her junior year (and about 9 months after she had switched from musical theater to classical voice), some of the voice professors picked up right away that she had been doing musicals. They encouraged her (in no uncertain terms) to stay as far away as possible from that type of singing if she was going to go into classical voice. One professor even encouraged her to stop participating in regular choral classes. Other professors were even more expressive in their attitudes toward belting and other non classical techniques.</p>

<p>And, again based on our experience from two years in a row, I am very respectful of winter colds and u.r. illnesses and how disruptive they can be. The prospect of shelling out $1000 per audition trip to deliver a sick child in a strange city really scared me. This of course, was coupled with the idea of my daughter ruining her chances to get into a certain school or undermining her chances of getting the scholarship she deserved, Like SingersMom07 – I would encourage your daughter to reconsider her priorities. The plane trips are really rough particularly with the stale preprocessed air on planes, I imagine contiminated with who knows what contagion. Aside from that the trips are arduous and stressful. They also mean that your daughter will miss a lot of time from school which she will need to catch up on.</p>

<p>R12, yikes - can she get out of show choir? </p>

<p>Every lesson my D had with her private voice teacher while she was taking a musical theater class ended with - “when is that class over?” Even though my D was working on legit rep, there was still a style difference that her voice teacher felt interfered with preparation for auditions. At any other time, I don’t think she would have made a big deal out of it, but my D said she felt she had to “reset” her voice after every MT song she sang - and she doesn’t even touch a belt. I can’t imagine doing rock music while preparing for auditions.</p>

<p>Another thing to consider for voices is the fatigue factor. If someone is doing too many different kinds of things, that also involves TIME and that can also mean staying up later either for the music thing or to do homework etc. Honestly, the only things I insisted my son do during audition times was get a decent nights’ sleep every night…and eat well. Fortunately, his school musical (he was in the pit) isn’t until April and his involvement began LONG after his last audition in Feb.</p>

<p>R12…I’m gonna have to agree with what everyone else is saying…I’ve started to post a few times today and then pulled back…but…it is that important! (if she is serious about this and trying to get into very competitive schools)</p>

<p>My daughter loved MT…is what she was raised on…then she had the opportunity to study with some very good teachers her last year…she won’t touch mt right now…and certainly no belting…realized that it really was not good for her voice at this stage if she ever wanted to really be able to sing classical music…</p>

<p>You also sort of have head knowledge going in on what the audition season will be like…but until you are in the midst of it…you just don’t fully understand…My daughter was exhausted by the time it was over…She did have choir obligations during audition season but nothing as extensive as the show choir you are talking about…Trying to keep up on missed assignments (from missing 13 days of school) was not easy…I couldn’t imagine if she had the type of show choir committment on top of that which you are talking about…</p>

<p>Agreed…DS missed TWENTY days of school for music related things (including auditions, festivals, etc) during his senior year. ALL of that work had to be done regardless. His school was very lenient with these as they were excused absences. But making up the work was exhausting. Simply put…when he was away at auditions or festivals, there was NOT time to do homework. He was burning the candle at both ends.</p>

<p>Try to minimize anything that is not essential during audition season…for your daughter AND for whomever is accompanying her on the auditions. My husband and I split that job each going to half.</p>

<p>My D was lucky in that there was no choir at her school. They focused on solo work. She quit the local children’s chorus she had been in for years because they had a very strict attendance policy that she knew she couldn’t adhere to during auditions and because it was becoming a strain on her voice to blend with a children’s chorus. She also decided not to audition for the Spring musical. She had been in the musical the year before and her voice teacher tolerated it but was not supportive at all of her doing it senior year.</p>