@bsc57 D had a singing / voice coach for the past three yrs (just graduated and accepted to several BFA programs). This helped her grow tremendously and she still uses her. They practice different stuff now to get her ready for college.
The summer between junior and senior yr, we decided to not visit schools and apply that money to a college audition camp in Orlando. It was phenomenal and helped her in many ways including picking material, practicing auditions, getting feedback, etc. Probably the biggest win from that was it showed her she belonged in the room. You never really know that until youâre in a setting with a couple hundred other really talented kids from all over the country. She had been to BTP twice prior but the college audition program was the best experience and well worth the cost (not cheap).
@bsc57 A coach is not necessary. Plenty of families go through this process successfully without one. That said they can offer some genuine peace of mind being there to answer questions along the way and help suggest material. We used My College Audition Chelsea Diehl and her team 2018-2019, but in a limited capacity because we didnât have a ton of money and it was worth every penny. My D could text her anytime with questions. She was able to suggest schools she thought were a good fit. And MCA is doing their summer audition virtually but I believe I read it was discounted because of being virtual. That said other coaches have their own advantagesâŠMary Anna Dennard with the possibility to attend Moonifieds and the CAP coach whose name is escaping me. But if you donât want to go the coach route I highly recommend some sort of audition clinic where you can get feedback on your package before auditions. My daughter did the College Audition workshop that was then associated with Dallas Summer Musicals but there are similar throughout the country. They too may end up virtual but better to find out something doesnât show you well or is overdone before you get started on auditions! Break all the legs!
You can do the online content for Mary Anna Dennard and still attend Moonifieds, they wonât coach you individually but you get access to all their coaching videos.
@rickle1 I agree with showing them they âbelong in the roomâ My daughter was accepted and attended a program last year and it did a lot for her in the way of boosting her confidence in her talents! I would love for her to do Ithacaâs classes this summer but they are charging way too much for zoom classes imo. I just can justify sinking that kind of money right now when I donât even know if I will have a job by this summer I was hoping some of the coaching has ala cart options âŠI think MTCA does?
@bsc57 Look at The College Audition program in Orlando with Tim Eivinicki (sp?). He definitely does a la carte programming all yr in addition to his summer intensive. Great coach and great with the kids. Dâs class (last summer) has had enormous acceptance success at great schools this yr.
I would personally not spend the money on a summer program that was all virtual. I think you would be far better served by using that money for individual coaching. We used MTCA and all of my daughterâs coaching was over Skype anyway and it was invaluable in getting her prepared for prescreens and auditions. MTCA works on an a la carte basis, so you can work with whatever budget you have.
@bsc57 CAP (College Audition Project - Dave Clemmons) out of Atlanta does ala cart options. They also have CAP United auditions in November that are similar to Moonifieds I think. My D started with them last month and it is very helpful so far. They are doing lots of free classes over Zoom right now (you donât have to be signed up with them to take these classes). She just finished 3 weeks of song and monologue selection and vocal health classes and a new round of classes starts next week. The classes are dance and conditioning related this round. Check out their Instagram. Thatâs where they have information on the Zoom classes.
Another happy My College Audition family here (D was just accepted to Pace MT Class of 2024). My D never did an MT summer program but we patched together some MCA services and other classes/teachers she already had. MCA was flexible, super supportive and extremely knowledgable about the process. The last part was most important for us, and worth every penny. I suggest an initial evaluation with a coaching service, followed by an honest assessment of what you and your child need most to guide and support you through the process. Best of luck!!
My sons were signed up for six summer programs- they chose shorter length options for variety. Still deciding which ones to do, when those on college campuses began to cancel or go to an online platform. Waiting on TPAP, BAA (the College Audition workshop), and Tim Evanickiâs program in Orlando. We saw that the Spring session at BAA had a couple spots (online last weekend) so they jumped in. I was VERY impressed with Jennifer, and all of the mentors/coaches. There were 12 kids, tons of individual attention, 10am-6pm for two days, an additional 3-4 hours of private coaching, several colleges were represented, and very organized. My kids walked away with their college âsmart listsâ, and 75% of their pre-screen material solidified. SO much information was given out and so many questions were answered. Iâm not sure how a Zooming a program for more than a week would be- but weâd definitely choose another like this.
@ElizaDoolittle I agree! I thought their price for the regular program was too expensive, but so are all of them:( We were hoping that since they were going to zoom classes that the rate would have been reduced subsantially but we werent that lucky:( @ARBMusTheatre thanks for the info! All of the dates they had listed on instagram have already happened. But I did email them and we will keep our eye out for future dates! @BoogieMa I have not heard of My College Audition(I am just starting tho) but I will definitely check them out thanks! My D has/had a vocal coach-he seems to be MIA since the COVID thing has been going on. I think he isnt really into doing Zoom lessons-disappointing because my daughter was really learning a lot from him! So, I cant âwait and seeâ what the government is mandating from one week to the next so I just feel like I need to move forward without him:(. She was taking 2 dance classes per week this year, but that is on hold now tooâŠI just feel like I need to keep her busy and from being anxious about what next year is going to look like! Yes, she has school but it is pretty easy for her-theatre and music was her outlet! Thank you all for your info and suggestions!
Dâs coach - Dave Clemmons from DCCAP/CAP. She will also attend Moonifieds as we were will be able to register through her local theater. Accepted to Artsbridge. Will see early in May whether their online version is worth it.
@MTDad2025 - highly recommend the CAP Atlanta auditions. They are usually the week prior to Unifieds and a lot of the same schools will attend. We did that for both my students last year and highly recommend. As well as the College Audition Mock Audition over a weekend in the Dallas area. I think both of my students will end up at schools they saw first at that mock audition. They got coaching and feedback from them thereâŠand they saw them several more times through CAP, NTDA and some again at Unifieds. Taking and acting upon their feedback at the mock audition had a lot to do with their acceptances! The male student had 22 acceptances, the female ended up with 15.
@weathergeek We live in Houston and the theater school associated with the main equity theater in town has had a relationship with Mary Anna for many years. She still requires us to subscribe to her online college database, but no coaching.
@onette D and I were able to see CAP in action last year as she participated in CAP Junior. We have a long time relationship with Dave C from his time here in Houston.
@MTDad2025 Yes Dave is an amazingly talented guy and coach! While in theatre school, I interned at Alley Theatre in Houston (while Gregory Boyd was at the reins) and had the opportunity to work on the premiere of Jekyll & Hyde, which Dave was in. I didnât see him again until the CAP Mock College Audition last year in Dallas-Ft. Worth and except for the âgetting olderâ part (which unfortunately, has afflicted me as well!!), he is still the same charismatic, passionate soul. He has had an incredible career and has a wonderful sense of not only the audition space but also sizing up individuals and how to help package them and get them ready. His many years in casting help tremendously. i direct and have worked with two of my students for the past year to go through this audition cycle and Dave worked with both of them and gave excellent advice throughout the season (and to one of them now, who is sitting here with 22 acceptances and was feeling pretty overwhelmed!).
Regarding coaching, I think all the known national coaches are phenomenal and get great results. Most of my Dâs friends used one of them and have mostly positive experiences (lol). Youâll want to check for fit as they have very different personalities. If youâre interested in the early fall mass auditions like moonifieds or CAP, I would say those are ideal for the kids who are ready out of the gate and coaches are helping primarily with picking schools, material, and polishing. Our friends who are super stars (consistently leads in major competitive markets) attended and did very well, but they all also went to Unifieds and a couple on campus.
For us we needed as much time as possible to continue training and growing artistically and our coaches were central to that endeavor. They are top professionals with stellar training and wonderful teachers and coaches. Her voice teacher is part of the professional vocal training community and studies the latest science on the voice. Her monologue coach studied at one of the tippy top schools, does Shakespeare professionally, and is a gifted teacher. Her song coach was trained at a tippy top school, has worked with students specifically working on auditions and knows what works. Many of you have this kind of support locally, but we didnât (we didnât know anyone locally who had done this process, let alone great voice or acting training) and it made all the difference. When you do your intro mtgs with MTCA, they really try to fit you with coaches based on your skills and personality. They did a wonderful job for my D and we were constantly grateful and amazed at how great her matches were. The psychological and moral support were unexpected and invaluable and the little nudges along the way and on site support at Unifieds and during the process helped us navigate. Even still, the info I gleaned here was invaluable and I navigated most of the schools list and choices with my D. I did the scheduling with the coaches, which was a lot, given there were three of them and I was navigating her schedule, my work schedule etc.
The audition process is extremely competitive. At the beginning I was hesitant because coaching is expensive, but the level of training you get, the seriousness with which they take every session ( even with all the laughs and tears), were worth it. Overall I think we paid as much as many of the summer programs cost, few of you will need as much as we did since we were so new to everything. *95% of her sessions were via Skype since they were all NY/east coast and we are in CA. Not adding another commute for coaching was incredibly helpful.
Also, none of this guarantees a positive outcome. There are still too many variables and steep competition which I think is increasing each year. We have friends who didnât get the outcomes they hoped for as well. So thereâs no guarantees and many who do amazing without coaches. We also made major changes to accommodate all of this including not competing in dance (basically similar cost and time commitment) I just wanted to share our experience because I waffled a lot and stressed about this decision. We started working with them about this time last year!
@intheburbs agree with much of what you say ^^âŠwe used MTCA & have been very happy with them- certainly an investment ( is anything in this process NOT expensive??)âŠwe looked at Moo & Cap but were not comfortable with doing tippy top school auditions ( first & final) in November- totally personal preference. on the other hand I feel ( based on results) D would have done better with Live pre screens that these venues offer than we did with the typical video submissionâŠall of that said we have one of our best acceptances ( & possibly final landing place) from a mid- November on campus audition so, its really about each individual, but these coaches definitely do know how to navigate this gauntlet of a process, for sure.
Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with the Florida Theatre Conference? Can anyone attend the auditions or do you have to go with your high school? Weâre from Alabama, but my daughter is interested in auditioning for several Florida schools (UCF, FL St., Florida Southern, U. of West FL, Tampa, Jacksonville) that donât go to Unifieds so this seems to be the only way to be seen by these schools without us traveling to Florida several different weekends for on campus auditions. We would love to be able to do that, but it would be hard with our budget and school schedule. Does anyone know if auditions at this conference are first and final or if you would still have to audition on campus later (like are these treated more like live pre-screens?)? Also, if anyone has info. or experience with West Florida or Jacksonville, please share! I donât see either of these schools mentioned here often.
I was hoping some of the coaching has ala cart options âŠI think MTCA does?
Dave is an amazingly talented guy and coach! While in theatre school, I interned at Alley Theatre in Houston (while Gregory Boyd was at the reins) and had the opportunity to work on the premiere of Jekyll & Hyde, which Dave was in. I didnât see him again until the CAP Mock College Audition last year in Dallas-Ft. Worth and except for the âgetting olderâ part (which unfortunately, has afflicted me as well!!), he is still the same charismatic, passionate soul. He has had an incredible career and has a wonderful sense of not only the audition space but also sizing up individuals and how to help package them and get them ready. His many years in casting help tremendously. i direct and have worked with two of my students for the past year to go through this audition cycle and Dave worked with both of them and gave excellent advice throughout the season (and to one of them now, who is sitting here with 22 acceptances and was feeling pretty overwhelmed!).