I think an accompanist is probably better in the end because you can do last minute cuts, full songs, whatever you like when they are there live with you. Also, one never sings a song exactly the same. A good accompanist will follow your lead and if you want to hold that note here, take a breath there, it does make a difference. With recorded music you are locked in. More expression is possible live. Volume can be dealt with. Just make sure you do a sound check. If you move do another sound check. I also think it is ideal to plan at least two sessions. Because some of what you record you may not like. Or you forget that one 16 bar pre1960 cut. Or your hair looked funny. Or the light got dim later in the day. You get the picture.
We actually did them both ways and found that we were able to make the vocals sound better with pre-recoded tracks. But, we had several different versions of pre-recorded tracks of the accompanist that we recorded and my kid used different ones depending on mood. We spent a a couple hours just recording the accompanist doing lots of cuts of several different song. We did have to use the version with the live accompanist in the picture for some school.
oops
There’s a school that wants the piano in the shot?
Remember that when a school specifies a length, it is usually “not longer than” so if your 16 bars fall a little short of 60 or 90 or whatever, that’s fine. Similarly, a monologue can be a single text but exactly 90 sec is fine for a 2 minute - as far as our results show. (I’m sure there are many who will disagree.)
For what it’s worth, the Michigan admissions people are at great pains to say that all the stuff you read here about their rigidity is BS - that they are easygoing.
Sorry, just went back to check and it was a summer program that requested to see the accompanist.
But, Michigan is very adamant about requiring 16 bars. In fact, it is 16 bars from the beginning of your singing to the last note of your singing. If the last note is held out for more than one measure, that is not included in the 16 bars. It should have a 2-4 bar intro (not included in the 16 bars). Those 16 bars should have a beginning, middle and end. If you choose to do a song in cut-time, you are still held to just 16 bars and just sing a very short amount. (Unless you choose to ignore their instructions).
Just sayin’
I know that the various repertoire requirements can really be a pain. However, I encourage you to look at this process as an educational opportunity and not a headache. The reality is that in the early stages of a career students will have to present a lot of different types of material for different auditions. Finding pieces that meet all of these different requirements can help a student begin to really know the repertoire by doing all of the necessary research. It also makes students look really professional and really intelligent when they have a variety of material prepared in addition to what they show us in an audition. If I ask for a different monologue or song, I am always impressed when a student rattles off three to four monologue choices and five or more songs. It tells me they are really serious about this and they have been doing their homework. As far as Oklahoma’s guidelines are concerned, I agree with everything except the one take. I personally prefer three separate videos so I can quickly look at each piece and go back and watch more in depth if I want to. However, ALWAYS follow the schools posted requirements. I also have to say that learning how to shoot and edit video will give students a HUGE leg up. Video submissions are becoming quite common and in order for a student to successfully market themselves, they need video content for their websites and a YouTube presence. Better to learn how to do it now and be ahead of the game.
@theaterwork I have a couple of funny stories about this whole filming of pre-screens! First of all, I am severely tech-challenged! The very first video we planned was for a summer program. We had watched a ton of videos on YouTube to learn what not to do! I had gotten a new camera, I set up a date and time to go to a friend’s house to use her piano. I hired a local college kid to do the accompaniment. I even went to the house early to fix lighting and make sure I had a good place for my D to stand where the piano didn’t overpower her and that there was nothing distracting behind her. I did everything I could to make conditions perfect. Well, then life intervened! The accompanist got there right on time (I had sent him the sheet music a few weeks earlier so he would be prepared). He sat down at the piano and put his foot on one of the pedals and there was this reverb, echo sound that would not go away. We tried to trouble shoot it with no luck. I drove home and got the keyboard we have, but it was not gonna work. So, now I had a time issue because my D had to be at school for ITS inductions. I was scrambling and finally found another friend that had a piano. She wasn’t home but her kids were. We blew in and had to ask them to turn off the tv and be quiet. At this point we had 20 minutes! No time for perfect staging or several takes. In the end, you can see my reflection filming her in the glass of the picture frame she is in front of, and there were a couple of notes that weren’t great. We sent it in and said a prayer! In the end, she got into that summer program and is now waitlisted for the school! What I gleaned from that is…no one is expecting perfection, they are looking for potential. I believe these professionals can see that potential in the first 10 seconds…regardless of the quality of your video is. That’s not to say you shouldn’t try to do a great job, just don’t sweat the small stuff. Especially if you don’t have the money to spend to hire someone. For the college pre-screens, I emailed my D’s theatre teacher in June and asked if we could use the theatre and piano in August on a teacher work day before the new school year began, he happily obliged. I also found an accompanist and hired one of the tech kids to film for me. The school theatre worked really well. So, my daughter applied to 5 schools that had prescreens. She passed 4 of the 5. After all were in I was on her acceptd site and happened to pull up one of her songs and played it. I was horrified to discover that I had uploaded the wrong one, it was one where she messed up the lyrics, she was being silly and apologized to her buddy that was filming and then started the song again. I had edited that part out and THOUGHT that was the one I uploaded. So, I figured it probably ended up working in her favor, they got to see a bit of her personality. So, again…just don’t sweat the small stuff! The pure talent will shine through!
@VoiceTeacher - sorry, but Oklahoma’s requirements only brought this line from 1776 to mind:
D spent more than three years assembling a college audition rep book full of monologues and songs: Shakespeare, Moliere, Contemporary, Comedy, Drama, Golden Age, Pop/Rock since 2000, Ballad, UpTempo, Sustained Lyric Line, Patter Song, Art Song, 16 bars, 32 bars, 1 minute, 2 minutes, Two-in-90 seconds, Old Situations, New Complications, Something For Everyone…
Not to mention SAT, ACT, AP tests, state tests, college applications, essays, leadership statements, references, more references, trips to schedule, audition schedules to juggle…
It was impossible not to view overly-specialized video prescreen requirements through a hazy filter full of “are you kidding me” and “when is this ever going to end?” Asking for yet another research cycle to find a monologue from a somewhat arbitrary time period for a prescreen seemed over the top to me.
By the way, very few schools asked her about her overall repertoire, but almost every one asked about what other schools she was auditioning for…(smile)
Did our own PS’s with pre-recorded tracks (played on a BOSE mini) & a hand-held camera on a tripod (didn’t even use the HD setting) in dance/acting studio next to a window in front of a plain, blank wall. Assembled the clips for different schools on iMovie. Focused most on quality of singing & acting (took many “takes” w/voice teacher in attendance) and visual presentation (she groomed in her “audition best”). Did not worry about professional quality anything else. D passed all her prescreens. @EmsDad - we took one look at OU’s prescreen requirements and decided that it alone made going to Dallas for OU’s “Live PreScreen” at Moonifieds worth it. Just got back from OU’s callback audition and must say that their rigid requirements for Prescreens are not indicative of the attitudes of the MT faculty and staff. They were all friendly, laid back and put the kids at ease. It was one of the most enjoyable, organized auditions we had. However, Texas State beat all (that we visited for on campus auditions) in the “hospitality category”. Their delicious breakfast tacos, amazing coffee, and generous full-day spread of fruits, cheeses, crackers, water, chips, and various other snacks for the auditioners and their families kept everyone from having to go out for breakfast or lunch unless one just wanted to get away for a while. They also gave each kid a TXST t-shirt so it even saved us a trip to the bookstore!
You guys are cracking me up reading all your posts! Thanks for your honesty. I know we have tech issues too & need to get it together by next summer! It’ll be a ride for sure. In the end it’ll all work out the way it’s meant too. Do your best and say a lot of prayers!
My son had been uploading goofy videos he had made to youtube for a few years and it paid off with the editing skills he had taught himself.
If you want amazing audio with good video…use a zoom q2hd. It’s what all the cool kids in music and vocal performance are using 
Bringing this thread back because I have a (somewhat) relevant question: why would a school ask for a prescreen ONLY if you’re not auditioning on campus? Does that mean that the video will be used as your audition for faculty not at Unfieds/other regional auditions?
I know of 1 school that did that last year. It was Marymount Manhattan. They do not go to Unifieds; however, they do have regional auditions around the country. You have to pass the prescreen prior to them granting an audition time for the regional auditions. They do not require a prescreen for the auditions on campus. Last year, my daughter had an audition set up with them in our region but they never made it due to a massive snow storm, so they used her pre-screen as her audition. She was waitlisted. Her prescreens were not the best, so I would definitely treat them as an actual audition. We were more worried about getting them submitted early which was a mistake.
That’s the school that I was talking about! (I decided to make it a general question, just in case there were others that did the same.) That’s good to know, thank you!
While not technically a pre-screen, apparently this year Northwestern is encouraging MT applicants to submit an optional MT supplement, which includes a video performance and interview. There is more discussion on the Northwestern Forum. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/northwestern-university-mt/1806014-northwestern-university-optional-music-theatre-supplement.html#latest