My D23 has her virtual audition with Berklee next week and I had a question about the sight reading/singing for anyone who has been through that process. In some of the videos we’ve seen about the Berklee in-person auditions, students are given some time in a practice room (with a piano) with the sight singing exercises before they are called in for the audition. Is that how it works for the virtual auditions, or do they have the students read them on the spot without any prep? She is trying to prepare for any scenario, but it helps to know how exactly they structure the audition.
This is the only virtual music audition she’s doing, and I’m a little worried about the technology aspects. She has done several drama auditions virtually, and while having good sound for those is important, it’s not quite as crucial. If anyone has any tips, I’d be grateful.
She had her audition on Friday. I meant to come back and update in case anyone else had the same question. After a somewhat nerve-racking situation where Zoom kept crashing and we had to switch out computers right before the audition started, everything else went pretty smoothly.
For the virtual audition, she did have to do the sight singing on the spot. I’m not sure if that’s how it currently works for in-person auditions. I saw videos where people in past years had some warmup time for the in-person auditions, but she did not. Luckily she had prepared for that and didn’t have any problem with the sight singing.
I’m happy to hear it went well, despite the tech difficulties. I’m glad you got it figured out before the audition started! I didn’t see your post until too late, but I was going to say that my son had to do sight reading on the spot for one of his virtuals.
In case anyone else wants any advice, my kid (a guitarist) says:
Use “original sound for musicians” on zoom.
Get a good mic.
Practice and test your setup! Sing/play for friends or family who call you from another location/building.
Practice reading music on the screen. For one of his auditions, he had less than 60 seconds with the music before playing.