<p>We had to work with DD to establish her priorities and that was a frank discussion of which was more important to her, her future or her HS activities. She gave up HS things such as state honors choir and the spring musical to do the auditions and to stay healthy. She was not going into MT so the musical was not anything she needed to have. Being in the spring musical is a health trap, too, for VP folks. Stress, tiredness, and a lot of germs being passed around often conflict with good VP health in the travel audition season. In the end she was in it with a smaller role and the driector got over her missing rehearsals. </p>
<p>BTW this is a continuing conflict that they need to learn to manage. DD had to juggle rehearsal time ith a mojor role in the fall opera with auditions for her future and outside performances.</p>
<p>My daughter isn’t VP, she wants to do music therapy (although her voice teacher really, really, really wants her to audition as VP at Hartt, which is practically in our neighborhood). She did talk to the director and we are going to figure out a schedule of auditions that will allow her to miss minimal rehearsal time. I think he chose the show (Kiss Me, Kate) specifically for her since there is really no one else who can sing it well. </p>
<p>Yes, on the prioritizing! Next week we fly across the country for S ED audition. I’ve told S that this week it is about his health and his bass. I don’t care about homework.</p>
<p>My D is a junior but I’m reading all this is preparation for next year. Her high school musical is always produced the 3rd week in February. Couldn’t be worse timing for audition season, or worse timing for cold/flu season, so we had a chat and she knows that his will be her last year in the show. It’s sad but a reality - and definitely a lesson that they she will need to apply over and over again.</p>
<p>Rkopera i totally forgot about the flu factor! The cold flu season was a huge consideration for my d as a vp major. She regularly gets severe bronchitis in Jan/Feb. Our hope was that keeping her away from others would limit her exposure. She went so far as to wear the germbana at school and assembled a medical/homeopathic remedy kit that would have rivaled a small drug store. She was healthy through all except one audition… her 10th audition. It was her top choice and it was an audition that cost over $900 to attend (flight, hotel, food, cabs, app fees). The worst part was that it was the only audition she attended by herself. It was horrible getting the phone call about how sick she was and I wasn’t there to comfort and take care of her. Unfortunately she was not accepted to the program. Broke my heart.</p>
<p>And this year, the flu vaccine is not terribly effective against the strain. My daughter was in 6th grade when the swine flu was going around and they held a hand washing clinic at the school, I told her she should follow those protocols this winter. </p>
<p>A few years ago, my son auditioned at Frost in Miami on a Friday and then we took a late 6 hour flight to LA for a USC audition on Saturday. He felt like he didn’t do well at Miami so he was pretty bummed.
So it was a long flight to LA and the movie on the plane was Fame! Ugh…tough being a parent on that flight. He had a great audition at USC, got into both schools and ended up at USC. So, yes, it can be done. And we scheduled his auditions around his HS activities so he wouldn’t miss out on his senior year with his friends. </p>
<p>We’re going to have one challenging weekend: Nazareth (in Rochester) on Friday, Baldwin Wallace (near Cleveland) on Saturday, and one more leisurely weekend with Duquesne in Pittsburgh on Friday, to Seton Hill to audition on Sunday, and she’ll stay overnight and take classes on Monday. </p>
<p>My D began exploring schools as a sophomore in HS and was very involved in her school’s Show Choir, and
musicals as well as in All County and All State Chorus and in a professional Gilbert and Sullivan company. It wasn’t unusual for her to have two shows going at one time, and she was taking AP courses as well. But, when it came to her senior year, she chose to drop Show Choir and not participate in the musical. She’d had featured roles in her first two years and the lead in her junior year- and no, the teachers in the department did not understand, but the guidance department did and interceded for her. Thanks to them, she was permitted to sing at the Honors Assembly and at graduation and her classmates selected her to sing the “Ave Maria” on May Day. The musical her senior year would have been lethal for her voice, because although the others had been well suited to her voice, that one was from the “Scream Belt” genre! So, you have to know your limits and understand that should your daughter or son elect to try to “do it all” in senior year, something is going to suffer; be grades, health, voice… and they only get one shot at that college audition.</p>
<p>A suggestion for any VP’s (and probably winds and brass) out there planning for auditions. Buy a small travel humidifier. Airplanes and hotel rooms are dry and sleeping near a humidifier can be helpful for the singer used to humidity. </p>
@RKopera - My daughter senior musical was also the 3rd week of February and we just worked her audition schedule around it. She was sick for a couple of the auditions and could not sing, but we are able to give them her audition videos and she was successful.