We have three upcoming auditions where there will be no accompanist. My son’s voice teacher has recorded the piano music for both of his chosen pieces. What happens, though, if he is asked for an extra piece or for something from his book? Should we record extra music, just in case? Or be prepared to sing anything from his book a capella? If so, should he bring a pitch pipe? I hate to use up the small amount of time he has in lessons with his voice teacher to record music he probably won’t sing. Is anyone else making plans for this?
My D was not asked to sing anything “extra” in auditions without accompanist. But she only had 2 auditions like that- so not a wide range of experience
D always brought along recorded accompaniment for extra songs and she was asked to sing an additional song at least once in an audition using recorded accompaniment. I think that being able to do an additional song with the attributes that they were looking for really helped with her acceptance to that program.
As a belt/soprano voice type, d was ready with uptempo and ballad songs in belt and legit forms covering both Golden Age and Contemporary periods (I think that she had at least 5-6 songs with recorded accompaniment ready to go on her iPod).
The likelihood of being asked for an additional song in an audition recorded accompaniment may be fairly low, but it is certainly possible. Being ready with at least one extra song in an area that showcases an additional vocal attribute and/or style may increase your odds of success.
My daughter was asked to sing additional songs in 2 different auditions. She did not have a recorded accompaniment and sang a capella.
My S was asked to do a song from a show on his resume - not even in his book. He obviously did it with no accompaniment (or even music). I think the point is to expect the unexpected. If you have time to record the additional music, great. If not, be ready to pick a note and go a capella!
It’s always a good idea to have extra songs in your book if you are asked for another piece in an audition. Sometimes colleges want to see your range, or different genres of songs your voice is capable of, so it’s a good idea to be prepared. It never hurts!
I’ve found that you can buy and download piano accompaniment online (sometimes even direct from the composer, if it’s a contemporary song) for about $6/each. They are pretty easy to cut using garage band or similar software. Then we name each cut with song name, key and bars/length (32, 1 minute, full song, etc), and made sure D had them saved to her phone in addition to the cloud.
In my Montclair State walk in at Unifieds they used recordings and I still got asked for a third song. Just asked me to sing Acapella 