<p>Popping in here from the MT forum. Hope you don't mind. D is auditioning (for scholarship $ only) at Muhlenberg for the theatre program, but while she is there she figured it wouldn't hurt to audition for the voice faculty as well (potential for more scholarship $ is a good thing!). Their audition requirements are one foreign language song and one song of your choice.</p>
<p>She has no problem with the foreign language (art song) piece, but she's not sure if it would be appropriate for the 2nd piece to be a musical theatre or a pop piece. Since she's already doing a soprano piece with a sustained legato, she's thinking maybe she should have some contrast, and she's a serious belter, but a lot of voice programs seriously frown on belting.</p>
<p>It is not appropriate to sing a pop piece nor belt in an audition for a VP program, ever. Given the numbers of students seeking admittance to said major, going in with even a piece from pre-1963 MT is also a no-no. Part of the reason that schools write specific audition requirements is to see if potential students can follow them and sing appropriate repertoire.</p>
<p>Sorry, can’t edit from my iPhone so I have to make another posting. The “second piece” they would like to hear would be an Art Song in English. I’m unclear as to why or if your D could get a separate audition in the VP dept at this point in time- would she not have to complete and file another application? Its extremely unlikely that she could do both degrees at the same time and the scholarship money for MT and for VP comes from two separate departments- even a knock out VP audition wouldn’t gain any financial benefit for MT.</p>
<p>Thank you for the reply, Mezzo’sMama. We are trying to follow the requirements. Here is the only information I was able to find on the school’s website regarding auditions:</p>
<p>Please include two contrasting pieces. For singers, one piece in a foreign language is highly recommended.</p>
<p>At this particular school, one doesn’t pursue a degree in “MT.” They have a rather holistic approach and one has the freedom to design the Bachelor’s degree to meet one’s needs. So, many who are interested in MT double major in VP and Theatre and minor in Dance, or Major in VP and double minor in Theatre/Dance, or any other combination that suits their particular strengths. You do not audition for admittance to the program. All auditions are just for scholarship money. In theory, admittance to the school is just based on your academic record, essays, interview, etc. and anyone who is admitted to the school can create whatever program works for them. However, what I’ve heard is that if the faculty really like you, they can put in a good word for you with admissions and help tip the balance in your favor.</p>
<p>No direct Muhlenberg experience, but our experience with non-conservatory schools and non-BM VP programs suggests that you can use musical theater pieces for your other selection. I would still not belt for voice faculty, though, unless they are the MT faculty. However, if she has an English art song she likes that would be even better. There are up tempo of these, too. At this point if the auditions are soon I would go with what shows off her voice best and she is comfortable singing since it does not affect her admissions. Learning a new piece right before an audition could be a worse move. Does she have a voice teacher that can help select?</p>
<p>Thanks, Singersmom, for your response. She has quite a few different options for her other song, and although she hasn’t really worked on an English art song, recently, I think she probably could come up with something fairly easily from her choir experiences. </p>
<p>However, given how soon this is coming up she will probably go with an uptempo “legit” pre-1965 MT selection she’s already been working on rather than try to prepare something new. Fortunately this isn’t a “make or break” situation for her and if she ended up choosing unwisely it won’t be the end of the world.</p>
<p>Being as the school doesn’t give any clear guidelines and also being that she’s certainly not hiding the fact that the VP major would be part of her overall intention to pursue MT, which is the standard accepted practice at this school, I think she’s probably going to gamble that she won’t be penalized, especially since she IS doing a foreign language art song as her “primary” piece, which is only “highly recommended” and not required.</p>
<p>For the benefit of anyone else who comes across this thread and is interested in Muhlenberg, I will share some information that I already passed along to the OP via PM. One of the VP teachers at Muhlenberg happens to be a friend of mine. He sings both MT and Opera. His opinion was that OP’s daughter would do best by auditioning for the MT faculty with one ballad/legit piece and one belt, and for the VP faculty with a foreign-language art song and another contrasting classical piece in English (that is appropriate for her age and voice). If doing both auditions on the same day, it would be better to schedule the VP audition first so the classical pieces get done before any belting.</p>
<p>My D and her best male friend both auditioned for Muhlenberg (voice and acting) two years ago. I believe that both used an art song and a “golden age” MT song. Both received nice scholarships. My D ended up choosing another university but her friend is at Muhlenberg and loving it. Best of luck to your D.</p>
<p>Tracy - I don’t know if your daughter has already auditioned. I know the school has a very strong theater dept, so it might be one where belting actually works. PM me if you need specifics.</p>
<p>I wanted to come back and post and update since my D did already audition at Muhlenberg. Although I passed along the advice to NOT do a MT song for her voice audition, she felt more comfortable using a song she had already prepared extensively rather than trying to get a new song into shape, especially since this audition came on the heels of her National Unified Auditions where she had been working very hard on the songs she had.</p>
<p>She auditioned for Dr. Diane Follett, not a member of the voice faculty per se, but I don’t think that made a huge difference. Dr. Follett did not seem remotely concerned that she was using a MT song for her 2nd piece. She made no comment about that fact at all. She seemed quite pleased with D’s audition, actually. We have not heard anything, of course, and don’t expect to hear anything until she receives her admission decision, but Dr. Follett’s comments would lead us to believe she would be recommending D for a scholarship.</p>
<p>Later that same day she auditioned for Mr. Richter in the theatre department and also got excellent feedback and strong encouragement that she would receive a scholarship. We will see. I’ll post a final update when we hear.</p>