<p>@vvnstar and @raam1012 – Super helpful information! We travel to Penn State next week. There is a full day of classes on Friday and the play – sounds similar, but if the email is right, it looks like there are only about 22 or 23 students auditioning. Fingers crossed.</p>
<p>BAL to your D @Divamamacita! Can anyone remember what the PSU audition at Unifieds was like? We can’t make it onsite so D will audition audition for them in Chicago.</p>
<p>BAL to all auditioning! Thanks @addicted2MT for bringing up Unifieds. My S will be @ NYC and Chicago Unifieds. I bought a cheapy Bluetooth speaker to play accompaniment if not provided, how does that work? I wish everyone had accompaniment so they didn’t have to worry about fiddling around with the speaker :/</p>
<p>@tmygirl I was actually worried about that… For my auditions with recorded accompaniment, how do I use the speaker in the room? My accompaniment starts at the beginning so how am I going to set it down, walk back to my spot, then know when to start? Lol so worrisome but if anyone has experience from last year I’d appreciate it! </p>
<p>Someone suggested to make a “playlist” for each school to make sure you have the right cuts for each and don’t have to scroll through looking for them. I thought that was a great idea… As for the logistics of pushing play and starting singing,… no clue. </p>
<p>I know there is a whole speaker thread from last year. I will try to see if I can find it.</p>
<p><a href=“Playing recorded music at unifieds - Musical Theater Major - College Confidential Forums”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/musical-theater-major/1657700-playing-recorded-music-at-unifieds.html</a></p>
<p>Here’s the thread I was thinking of. It doesn’t really talk about how to set up the device and get it to play once you are in the room. Any past CC’ers have thoughts or stories on this part?</p>
<p>Regarding lead-time on your song to allow you to get into place . . . we had the accompanist through MTCA add time to the front of the track to begin with . . . just a few seconds to allow my daughter to press play and then get into her spot without rushing. </p>
<p>If it’s not possible to change the track now, what we did with one of my daughter’s songs that didn’t have that lead-time, is we dropped it into GarageBand and created the lead-time ourselves. If you all have GarageBand, and need help with that, feel free to message me and I’ll see what I can do. </p>
<p>I’m not sure of a PC equivalent, but perhaps others can weigh-in here if they know of a program?</p>
<p>D used Audacity on her PC to add a couple of seconds of silence to the beginning of each of her tracks, as well as delete some of the silence at the end of tracks that had too much. She also used it to create several of her shorter cuts from longer cuts and adjust the tempo of some of her songs.</p>
<p>Audacity is free and used widely for PC sound editing (many professionals use it). You will also need to download and install the LAME MP3 codex if you want to create MP3 files from WAV or other formats.</p>
<p>Audacity is packed with features so it takes about 30-45 minutes to figure out how to edit and save files as you navigate the fairly extensive but compact and not-too-friendly user interface. Learning to use Audacity is a very useful skill to develop. Because it is free and a “lightweight” application, it comes in handy in many circumstances, like when you are somewhere with 15 minutes to edit a track and only a borrowed PC. If you have an internet connection and 5 minutes, you can be up and running on Audacity.</p>
<p>To rip files from CD’s, such as accompaniment CD’s that come with the Hal Leonard Anthologies, d used Windows Media Player with the file format set to MP3. You can also use iTunes but getting the right format is pretty clunky in iTunes (iTunes defaults to the proprietary Apple file format and you have to change that to get MP3’s).</p>
<p>D added the MP3 files generated from Audacity to iTunes, downloaded them to her iPod, and created playlists for each audition.</p>
<p>To burn “just in case” CD’s, D used iTunes.</p>
<p>It is quite an operation to handle several songs in 16 and 32 bar cuts along with full version. D has been asked to do full versions, “do you have another song that shows…,” etc.</p>
<p>My D connected her iPod to the speakers using Bluetooth - and I think just held the iPod while she sang. Although I do know that in at least one audition - the auditor volunteered to hit play for her. Don’t worry too much - the auditors where there is no accompanist know that everyone has some different setup and they are patient, and helpful!</p>
<p>D just did this for the first time @ Moonifieds. She used a Bose Mini Sounlink and connected her phone (which she put on airplane mode) via Bluetooth. She built quiet time prior to each cut. She said she placed both the speaker & phone on a nearby table and sang just a few steps away. She did create play lists so her songs played consecutively. She did not have to mess with the phone or speaker to go on to the next song. She does recommend practicing at home and presenting the volume levels. This, of course, may have to be adjusted later depending on the size of the room where u end up auditioning.</p>
<p>Ah thank you everyone for the help! Now I’m not worried because I can add in time and I also have a Bluetooth speaker which should help. I’m wondering if schools want to have a playlist and for the auditioner to sing their cuts directly after the other, or if its better to play the songs one by one and walk back to change the song? Another tedious question, I know!</p>
<p>My suggestion is to make the playlist with a little time in-between and not walk back to change song. </p>
<p>Finaly got our green light from ITHACA… For all those still waiting… The schedule grid still looks pretty wide open… Many slots on ALL audition days and times still open :)</p>
<p>Hi gang! I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! For veterans…@Unifieds, what should S have available for drop ins? Did anyone end up @ a drop in? Thanks for any info :-)</p>
<p>@tmygirl, make sure you have a checkbook with you, since some schools charge for walk-in auditions and some won’t accept cash. If you get there early, you can just walk around and ask schools if they accept walk-ins. (Sometimes they put a sign on the door.) My son got one of his acceptances (with a nice scholarship) from a walk-in, but decided to go elsewhere. There are definitely people on this board whose children are attending walk-in schools. </p>
<p>Hello! I’m new to CC and just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Anna and I’m a high school senior pursuing musical theatre 
I finally joined the site because I’ve read so much helpful information on here and figured I could maybe add some of my own experiences and advice.</p>
<p>My list of schools is CMU, CCM, UMich, Boston Conservatory, Ithaca, Pace, Point Park, Penn State, Shenandoah, Elon, Montclair, NYU, Emerson, and Northwestern (non-audition). I have finished the application and prescreening process and have passed all of my prescreens so far (Ithaca, UMich, Pace, Shenandoah, and Penn State) - just waiting on Elon! My first audition is next week for Penn State (fingers crossed!!!)</p>
<p>Looking forward to posting some more and sharing this experience with all of you!</p>
<p>Welcome @itscindy. BAL at Penn State.</p>
<p>Welcome! My D will be at the PSU audition next week! See you there!</p>
<p>BAL!!</p>