<p>Not all schools attend every site. As far as I know, everyone comes to Chicago, and most come to NYC. But some skip Las Vegas or SF, so it is important to check with each school.</p>
<p>The Las Vegas auditions were set up initially by the local high school for the performing arts, just as the Northeast Texas auditions were set up by Collin County Community College, so it made more sense to do it in the Thespian style. Colleges are assigned individual rooms for callbacks (unlike NET), so yes, there is the opportunity to work with students and even to put them on tape. </p>
<p>But I would not try to do a "walk-in" in Las Vegas. You should contact the college you wish to audition for, and then they'll contact the audition coordinator in Las Vegas, who will assign the student a specific audition time. Once students audition, however, any school may call them back, and that's the advantage to this style of auditioning.</p>
<p>It is possible that a college might also simply invite the prospective student to attend its callbacks, thus skipping the general audition and creating a situation much like the other Unified sites.</p>
<p>Hi, I dont' think that I am under the right "thread", but my computer won't let me post a new one for some reason!</p>
<p>I just auditioned at UARTS in Philly on Saturday & was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience. It is the first school I've auditioned at. (I applied as a vocal performance major). There was a panel of about 6 auditioners seated at a table at one end of a large room, with the piano at the other end. I brought my own accompaniest & we both found it nerve racking as the panel was deadpan. I sang my best song first (which included scat) and 2 of the auditioners seemed to perk up a little during that. Then they picked another song out of my repertoire which they wanted me to sing - a very controlled-type song. Then they asked me to sing scales up to a high G, which went beautifully, and afterwards they said NOTHING. Thank you and that was it! I could hear the girl before me. She forgot her words and had to start her song over 3 times. They said nothing, that I could hear, and did not ask her to sing anythng else. She left crying.</p>
<p>Is this a normal audition experience? I mean the people were friendly. We took written tests and did sight singing before the audition & all that was fine..... but are the auditioners usually deadpan?</p>
<p>From what I understand, this school accepts only 20 - 25 a year. There are only about 60 vocal performance majors in the school.</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any info. you guys may have!</p>
<p>Jazzsinger,
My daughter reported all kinds of reactions in her auditions last year. Some auditioners were very responsive, complimentary, encouraging. Some were half asleep. Some were complete cold and unresponsive. At one school she was cut off half way through a song. You can get all kinds of responses and I have learned on this board that "it don't mean a thing", necessarily. Sounds like your first audition was on the unresponsive end of the spectrum. Hopefully the next one will be more towards the middle!</p>
<p>Jazzsinger--Chrism is absolutely dead-on with this assessment. My D was given so many mixed signals during her auditions that she had no way of really knowing what was going on in the auditioner's minds. sometimes it almost seemed as if they were purposely being obtuse. (of course they werent, but during something as stressful as an audition, your senses are so heightened) sometimes the reaction had absolutely nothing to do with the final result. the very most important thing is that you try not to let ANYTHING throw you during an audition (like the percieved attitude of the auditioners for example!) and that you go to the next audition, and the next with your most positive attitude, and give it your best effort. Don't loose that undeniable feeling that you believe in yourself--otherwise it will be written all over your performance.</p>
<p>How the panel acts in an audition varies from school to school and is not necessarily connected with your actual audition. Some places, they purposely have deadpan straight looks on their face that are noncommittal. They may do that so that the person auditioning does not "read" anything into the reactions (because as you see, everyone TRIES to!). In an audition like that, if you happen to meet others on the audition day and everyone is saying that the audition panel were very straight faced and no reactions, then you know that is how they are handling auditions and they were doing it for everyone. Therefore, this really is not a reflection on how you did. At other schools, the panel may be talkative or encouraging to everyone. That just may be their approach to make it less stressful. Most audition panels, however, tend not to try to let on their judgement about you one way or the other because they would not want to mislead someone as they have to decide if you are in or not and so on. SOMETIMES, you can get vibes that it went really well or they seem to "like" you but that is NOT always the case and you CAN be admitted to schools where they gave NO reaction, or where the reaction was just friendly/encouraging as it was for every person, or at some where they seem to do a little more. But there are auditions where they work with you and do a little more where you don't get in either. </p>
<p>The upshot? Don't read stuff into their reactions. You don't know if this is simply their audition panel "style" or just what. Go in with confidence, be friendly yourself, thank them, etc. Don't pay too much attention to the looks on their face. Perform your songs and monologues and NOT to their faces but to another point, perhaps just above their heads. They don't want to "interact" with you as you are singing or acting (though may afterwards). Don't make eye contact with them as you are singing. The more auditions you do, you will notice that they are handled differently from place to place. The idea of straight faces by an audition panel is very common. The fact that you said the audition panel did not say anything to the other girl leads me to believe that this was the style of this particular audition panel....noninteractive, noncommital. </p>
<p>Good luck to you on the rest of your auditions. Just go in and do your thing and try (as hard as it may be) to not read much into the reactions of the panel. Kids get into programs where they got reactions, got no reactions, were cut off, were asked to do more, etc.</p>
<p>Several years ago, I was in a position to judge quite a few talent competitions and some other type competitions. I, personally, knew what it felt like to be there and tried hard to put the competitor at ease with my smile and expression. However, many are not aware of this at all. They aren't even aware of what their expression is. And if they are a more serious or deadpan type personality, then that's what you'll get. Also, I think the most common thing is that they are concentrating. They are focusing on what you are doing and saying. They want to remember you. They are studying your performance and thinking about it's caliber. That is a good thing. It doesn't feel good to you, but I've reminded my d many times how so many of her "judges" are just concentrating on their task and focused on what she's doing, rather than thinking about how she must be feeling. So just understand that they like you enough to study your audition intensely rather than fear that they aren't responding positively. The others are right. These are simply human beings doing this judging and they're all going to react differently according to their own personality.</p>
<p>Each school has different criteria for the songs they want to hear. 16 bars both, 32 both, a mix. How is the tape handled? Do you prepare separate 16, 32 and whole song tapes or put them on one tape? Is tape or a CD used? How do you handle a request for a different song? What if you do a walk in and don't have material that fit the schools criteria?</p>
<p>I have no direct experience with Unified's - but my suggestion would be to record 16 and 32 bar cuts, as well as the entire song, and put them all on one CD - then, you're covered, no matter what :) MUCH easier than searching for them on a tape!</p>
<p>I don't have experience with Unifieds either but would do just what MusThCC says...put each required amount on a CD. Then you have every requirement with you as if you were attending separate auditions, which of course, you are.</p>
<p>I'm going to be very simple-minded about this, so please don't be insulted. Over the years, I've seen lots of mistakes, so I hope this will help people avoid them.</p>
<p>First of all, I suggest that you make both CD's and tapes. While CD's are becoming more common, not every school has an available player. (You can also bring your own CD player with you, and that may provide the highest level of comfort.)</p>
<p>For CD's: I suggest that you put everything on one CD, but make sure that each song is on its own track. Make sure you have a list of what's recorded on each track, so that you can find what you need quickly, or so you can tell the college person running the player which tracks you want. A typical conversation might be, "I'd like to start with my up-tempo, and it's on track 3, then the ballad is on track 11. Thanks!" </p>
<p>For tape: Put only one cut on each tape. I know it may mean walking around with a stack of tapes in your bag, but nothing is more disconcerting to you and to the auditors than spending precious time trying to find the right spot on a tape. Then make sure you rewind the tape after each use, so that it's cued up for your next audition.</p>
<p>I'd generally suggest a leader or lead time of 3-5 seconds. Given the small rooms we work in at the unifieds, you don't need more time, even if you're the one who has to push the start button. Practice it at home, and find out what works best for you.</p>
<p>How often can you be a walk-in at unifieds? Also, if you have not yet applied to the school can you still be a walk-in and be considered? Could you potentially schedule auditions for the schools at Unifieds without having applied, then see where they are considering you and apply at a later date? I've applied to 7 schools and unfortunately don't think i'll get into any of them. I scheduled most of my auditions on campus so that I could interview for the school while I was there. I'm kind of scared. A lot.</p>
<p>Most of the schools have general application deadlines that fall before Unifieds. So, if you wait til you have been accepted to MT or even to audition in February, you will miss most of those general deadlines for acceptance into the school.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the information on how to organize accompaniment for unifieds. It is exactly what we needed to know. My D won't be going through the process until Feb 2007 but we are trying to get as organized and informed as possible so that my D can focus on doing her job. These tips really help!</p>
<p>Last year, I remember that Penn State and Otterbein had walk-in's. They were willing to work closely with the material that we had if we didn't match their criteria exactly. There were other schools who said that if they had time they would allow a walk-in and I think it was UArts and Roosevelt, but can't be really sure, as we were already scheduled for them.</p>
<p>Last year my daughter made seperate CD's for each of her requirements, 16 bar, 32 bar, 2 minute, etc., and put them in different colored cases. She clearly marked the requirements on both the CD's and the case. In addition, she listed the schools that they were for on the case. She felt more comfortable going in with two seperate CD's than having them all on one track and someone possibly starting the music on the wrong track. She also rehearsed this way. She brought her own CD player, and used it in the hotel for rehearsing. It probably was more cumbersome than a single CD, but she felt comfortable with this. We also had duplicate copies of all of her material, extra batteries for the CD player, "just in case".</p>
<p>Hi I was curious how late is the latest time slot at unifieds. I have class on monday and wenesday so I will probably only be able to do two auditions unless they do them later in the afternoon...does anyone know if there are any schools that have late auditions?
Thanks!</p>