<p>My friend just told me that if you are auditioning anywhere other than on campus, you need to make a recording of you singing your songs…can anyone confirm this?</p>
<p>This has been discussed very recently on the CC somewhere. I believe the conclusion was that yes, you bring a recording for them to send in. The difference in NYC and Chicago auditions - in NYC, they provide an accompanist (same as on campus). In Chicago you must also bring a recording of your accompaniment.</p>
<p>I don't think you record <em>yourself</em> singing. You record your accompaniment, as not every college provides a pianist.</p>
<p>I hope that is correct, but it is what I have gathered from reading here. </p>
<p>L</p>
<p>Please be sure to always check the website or call the school directly to avoid problems. Website clearly states they want YOU to provide an audio tape of your singing audition, as well as bring along your own taped accompaniment to use at the audition UNLESS you are auditioning in Ithaca or NY</p>
<p>This is copied from Ithaca audition website, read Note at bottom:</p>
<p>Accompaniment for Musical Theater Auditions </p>
<p>An accompanist will be provided free of charge in Ithaca and New York City. Please make sure your music is clearly marked, is in the correct key, and is laid out to eliminate or simplify page turning. You may elect to use taped accompaniment. If you elect this option, tapes must be on cassette and include only piano. Please have tapes cued to the starting point. If you are auditioning at a site other than New York City or Ithaca, an accompanist is NOT provided, and you must use taped accompaniment. You must provide your own cassette recorder for playback. Please have tapes cued to the starting point. </p>
<p>Note: Musical theater auditionees in locations other than Ithaca or New York City must also provide an audio tape of the singing portion of your audition. This tape should be given to the person auditioning you and will be shared with the music director at the College.</p>
<p>Off campus and outside NYC, the student must perform his or her songs to the auditors with recorded accompaniment, AND hand them a recording of the student singing the songs (with accompaniment of choice). And although Ithaca's website and mailed materials use the word "cassette" everywhere, I checked, and they will of course accept a CD.</p>
<p>Never listen to me. :) I don't know what I am talking about. Sorry for any confusion that my error-ridden post created. If I knew how to delete it, I would do so! :) (And to think that for a deranged, split second, I actually felt as if I knew the answer to something. Go figure ....)</p>
<p>L</p>
<p>It is surprising to me that the school either doesn't have the people present at the auditions who need to see them OR that the audition is not on videotape. An audio recording can demonstrate voice but can't show the presentation/acting of the song. I haven't seen the requirement of an audio tape of singing anywhere else, though that doesn't mean it doesn't happen but this is the first I have heard of a school having this. My kid did audition and was accepted to Ithaca but we went to Ithaca for the auditions, so this did not come up. I recall at BOCO, that every person auditioning was also videotaped and so my feeling is that whomever else had to see the audition in addition to those present in the audition room, could do so via video. At least a video is a true recording of the audition, whereas an audio tape is not the same, in my view. It is interesting and I'm just commenting. Thanks to those who posted the actual wording to clear this up for those who were unsure. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>I was told by the Ithaca office that the music director does not attend auditions but apparently has some say in the process. My D auditioned for BOCO at NETD where they called her back and placed her in their pool of candidates. She was subsequently asked to send both a video of her performing her audition and a CD of her singing her vocal selections. The reason given was that they felt that video recordings do not provide the "true sound" of someone's voice. I believe that they do a review of all potential candidates in March and use these as reminders of who they saw and to narrow down their choices. We hired a college student that worked in a local studio to do the video. We paid her $60. A musician friend did the CD for us in his home studio where he has a small sound booth, etc.</p>
<p>Webster is another school that requires a demo to take back with them. That may not be the case on campus. But it is a requirement for unifieds.</p>
<p>Razor, your post of course put me into a panic. I checked the website and you seemed correct. However, the good news is that when I called the admissions office at Webster, they said one does NOT have to bring the "demo" to NYC or Chicago unified. Apparently it may be true at other locations.</p>
<p>I don't want to panic you, but I also don't want you to be unprepared. I also called and was told that we did. I think the best thing is for both of us to check again. I certainly don't want to take this trouble unnecessarily and don't want either one of us to show up without it if it turns out to be necessary. So, I'm going to check with them again, perhaps I got wrong info. I certainly hope so. We were going to try to do this this weekend. and thanks for your info. maybe it will save me and others some trouble. but, let me add this. I think it's still a good idea to have a cd or even a dvd of the performance, in case of illness or in case it would be beneficial to a school.......even if they don't request or require it.</p>
<p>Razor,
I did not mean to imply YOU had panicked me; in fact I had really appreciated the info. But I was very glad to find out that the person said it wasn't the case in NY and Chicago. I'm not clear where you are doing the auditions. </p>
<p>I spoke to "Jennifer" (I think) who was identified as the "audition coordinator. I mentioned to her the website didn't exclude NY and Chicago from this requirement, and she said that the site was all encompassing and to look at the green (?) sheet that had come in the mail with the requirements.</p>
<p>You are right, it would be good to have a good quality performance CD. But at this point, I am not adding that to the list. I think all of us (and our kids) are so overloaded at this point.</p>
<p>Apparently I received info that applied to other auditions. I think Jennifer is the correct source for this. Also, I just checked my green sheet and it does specify bringing a demo to California, but not to NY. So, looks like that's one thing we don't need to worry about. I'm glad this came out.</p>
<p>So for the recorded vocals, should it still be the 32 and 16 bar cuts? Or are we supposed to sing the whole song for the recording? </p>
<p>Also, my ballad is more of a medium waltz tempo with a legato line. There is no 16 bar cut that can be done, only like 32 or 35 bar cuts are possible. I was planning to just have this longer bit on the cd, and if they cut me off, then they cut me off. Is that a bad idea? If it helps, the song is "He Plays the Violin." </p>
<p>I'm doing the recording on Friday, so quick feedback would be excellent. Thanks!</p>
<p>I called Ithaca today and they said it was okay to send a CD of you singing the songs later (but still asap)</p>
<p>since we brought this up here, I wanted to post it here, even though it applies to another school. I did double check with Webster and you do not have to bring a demo to the NY unifieds.</p>