<p>My S and his voice teacher have requested that I ask this question: What venue do the following schools use for the actual audition venue for voice - classroom or auditorium? Apparently, they are trying to decide on audition material and certain songs work better for S in a smaller venue. They’re worried that if it is in a large auditorium, S may not have enough power on his lowest notes. So, if you’ve auditioned in the last couple years at any of these schools, we’d appreciate your input.</p>
<p>Oklahoma City U
Baldwin Wallace U
University of Miami
Peabody
Juilliard</p>
<p>Baldwin Wallace: Son auditioned 2 years ago on String Bass so voice might be different. The auditions took place in the professor’s studio, a small intimate space. The head of the conservatory stopped in to listen to part of the audition. BW was the friendliest and nicest school son visited and also his first audition. They offer a very early date in November so it was a wonderful place to start. He was notified of his acceptance right around Thanksgiving but scholarship info arrived in March.</p>
<p>I would call each school and ask. (since things not only change from voice to instrument, but from year to year as well)<br>
However, I do not EVER remember an undergraduate voice audition in a LARGE auditorium. Generally they are in a classroom or a small recital hall.
And a good, small recital hall will have much better acoustics than a class room.</p>
<p>My son auditioned at OCU in a very small auditorium. Although it has been several years ago. Musica is right, things change year to year, even month to month depending on the demands of the available space. He did audition at one school in the auditorium.</p>
<p>What went on two years ago at BW might be different now because of the opening of their new conservatory facilities in 2011. That being said, the larger venues at schools are usually used for general meetings/parents info sessions, etc, so VP auditions are mostly held in professor’s studios. The one exception that we encountered to this was at Eastman, where at least the evening VP auditions were held in Kilbourn Hall, their smaller recital hall. She couldn’t see them and when one spoke up, the voice seemed to come out of nowhere, leaving her to respond to someone she couldn’t see!
Your S, if preparing for an undergrad audition, will not be expected to have a lot of “power” in his voice at this point, so his rep should err on the side of caution, with Art Song performed well being the ultimate goal. Good luck to him!</p>
<p>I suspect that it can change from year to year, and even audition to audition. For large auditions, they stick people everywhere, some might audition in a huge concert hall, others might audition in the smallest of offices or practice rooms. </p>
<p>Basically, you need to be prepared for anything, and not have any preconceived expectations.</p>
<p>It’s true you need to be prepared for anything. My daughter’s Juilliard audition was an example: she had been told by her teacher and others that the violin auditions were traditionally held in the main recital hall, a room she was familiar with and had played in before. Imagine her surprise when her audition was held, instead, in a gigantic new orchestra rehearsal hall. The panel was so far away that she could barely make out who was who, and the sound in the room was, of course, quite different than what she had imagined it would be. The year she applied to colleges, her auditions were held in every kind of room, ranging from larger, reverberant halls to dead-sounding classrooms.</p>
<p>Thanks for responses. S has already been surprised once. Last year, his first round Classical Singer audition was in a huge auditorium - couldn’t see the panel of judges. Their main comment was that his “piano” was to quiet. He just wasn’t used to singing in such a large space. Maybe he can practice his audition pieces in a variety of settings before he goes.</p>
<p>He should be ready for anything, but know at the same time that the faculty are well aware of the acoustics in the room and they are also well aware that young singers are not expected to overcome bad acoustics. It’s still a good idea to practice in a different settings and practice with an accompanist or coach who can intentionally throw your singer a few curve balls(play too fast, play too slow etc)…so he knows how to deal with a variety of challenging situations.</p>
<p>Can’t speak to vocal auditions, but D3’s instrumental auditions were in a range of places, including small studio spaces (most of them), classroom sized spaces, small recital halls, and large rooms that I suspect are used for orchestra rehearsals. No correlation with admissions results.</p>
<p>Panels are well aware that youngsters aren’t going to have massive voices and that things sound different in a studio vs a recital hall. Singers really can’t hear themselves all that well, if at all, when they sing, so just tell him to do his best and not too worry overmuch.
D just had an audition in which she thought that her first piece was nowhere near as good as she had usually performed it- but she was in a place where she didn’t care for the acoustics, or at least they didn’t sound right to her as she was singing. She later found out that the members of the panel loved the aria and had nothing but compliments for her. So much for that!</p>
<p>My son did not apply to any of those schools. He did apply to NEC, Indiana, Eastman, and a few others. I believe all were in a recital hall (not a big concert hall). You need room for the piano and evaluators (but not too much).</p>
<p>He was wait listed to Harvard, and accepted to NEC (5 year dual degree program). So, we did a special trip to Harvard to meet with the professor of the Choirs there. He met in the prof’s office (really small, especially with the piano) and did some singing for him. That cinched Harvard for him.</p>