<p>I have been looking at requirements for a number of schools' auditions, and it seems in general the schools ask for contrasting 16-bar or 32-bar cuts, but say you need to be prepared to sing the whole song. From what I have read on this forum regarding actual audition experiences, it seems that when auditors have asked for more, they have generally asked for a 3rd or occasionally a 4th song cut, rather than asking an auditioner to go back and sing a whole song of one of their cuts. Has that been most people's experience, or is asking someone to sing the whole song more common than it appears? Obviously if they say be prepared one has to be, but I was just curious about how likely this is to happen.</p>
<p>Both times I was asked to redo songs, I was asked to do an alteration to the acting choices in the song and sing the same cuts again</p>
<p>It is highly unlikely anyone will ask for the full song. That said, you should at least be familiar with the entire piece. If you have a book, be prepared to sing any song that appears in that book.</p>
<p>Her first audition, which was on campus, she was surprised when asked to sing a whole song initially instead of the two cuts she had prepared. She had to change one of her songs as the cut was a part of a duet and she didn’t have the full song prepared. Luckily, one of her alternate songs she knew the full version. Then, at a callback the same day at this school, she was asked to do a cut of the full song she had sung and another cut. This was the only place, including other schools she got into, that asked her for a full song. In fact, there was only one other school that asked for a third song at all.</p>
<p>Be prepared to sing the whole song if asked. Why on earth wouldn’t you?</p>
<p>Obviously you will have to be prepared to sing the whole song. I asked the question because my S has a song that is very long and somewhat repetitive, with the middle part almost a patter, but it has parts that make it a terrific 16 or 32-bar cut for his type and voice. If he knew that 90% of his auditions were going to ask him to sing the whole thing, he would probably pick a different song, because the middle part could prove tiring to auditors out of the context of the show – there are likely better whole songs that you could pick. But whenever he sings the cut at auditions and workshops, the auditors seem to love it, so he hates to give it up. From the responses above though, it doesn’t sound like that will happen too often. It isn’t that he isn’t capable of singing it all (he has done so in performances of the show), just that he wants to hold auditors’ attention.</p>
<p>We found it best to be prepared with full songs of all styles and periods AND various cuts of each of those as well. Plan what you will sing for each school, but understand that literally may change minutes before, especially if you end up sick and can’t hit certain notes on that day.</p>