That is so interesting. I’d never heard of Stagelighter until now. Do professionals use this service, or only HS seniors preparing college auditions?
I was just on their website- it certainly is interesting-and tons of college people are listed (including many “decision makers”) but is feedback the same as coaching? I watched a video sample where Christiane Noll was giving feedback to a girl who sang “ice cream”. It was nice, but sounded to me like what my D’s voice teacher might say …
@toowonderful, that is true. But, not all schools send the chairman to unifieds. Sometimes it is faculty that they trust and they use videos. Those faculty have lots of influence when they are the ones that do the live auditions.
D attended the NYU Steinhardt MT summer program before senior year of HS. During the program she took voice lessons with a full time faculty member and she continued voice lessons with that professor throughout her senior year. She also took a lesson or two with another professor when the first was unavailable. On the basis of the summer program she was accepted artistically and did not need to audition. The voice lessons were more to continue her training from the summer. However, some other summer students took voice lessons with faculty and later auditioned.
@momcares I’m a HS senior who works with Stagelighter and it’s geared towards any aspiring theater professional! A lot of agents and CD’s offer coaching but there is also a huge roster of college faculty.
I see a very different ethical standard from a longterm ongoing relationship with a voice teacher who maintains a separate studio of students outside of their collegiate employment vs. specifically employing a coach on a short term who is the head of a department, and will have final say on acceptances. And, although I know there are many who say it has successfully worked for them, the notion of long-distance (Skype or similar) coaching to my mind isn’t as strong as having someone you can work with in person.
I think that anyone working in this business, regardless of position, is always on the lookout for additional sources of income and opportunities to network and recruit. It is the nature of the business. Those seem like pretty big, and legitimate incentives for heads of programs & faculty to do master classes and coaching. The knowledge gained by our kids from these experiences can only serve to give them more experience and perspective. I can’t begrudge these “professors” for providing this service. While I can see how some might find this to be a conflict of interest and question the ethics of this practice, I don’t have a problem with it. In the end, schools will accept those candidates they deem are the best fit for their program as their reputation and that of the school hinges on their choices. No matter how many master classes or coaching sessions one pays for, the results will be what they will be. I don’t think one can buy one’s way into a program with lessons and/or coaching. I also agree with @tramsmom, sign the kids up for master classes and/or summer programs if it is in the budget. Let the faculty get to know them if you can afford it so when a decision letter arrives you won’t wonder if the darn 16 bar cut was too short for them to see what the kid is capable of doing. If it wasn’t going to be a fit, better to know up front. Do any of us want our kid to be the one who “snuck” into a program cuz they nailed their audition only to later discover/feel that they are somehow not as good as their peers, a disappointment to the faculty, or just not a fit artistically, intellectually, or personally? I sure don’t!
^^^“Do any of us want our kid to be the one who “snuck” into a program cuz they nailed their audition only to later discover/feel that they are somehow not as good as their peers, a disappointment to the faculty, or just not a fit artistically, intellectually, or personally? I sure don’t!”^^^
EXACTLY!
This company, Starlighter is advertising on getacceptd. There is a popup ad that appears on the student dashboard and they want students to send in their prescreen video for coaching/feedback to the college reps. I am confused by this. Does it count as the prescreen? Or do you take their notes and re-record and then re-submit your prescreen? Seems like you would have to do that for each college and if you wanted to redo the prescreen after the notes given by the college rep, you would have to do another coaching session? Has anyone done this yet? Maybe there is something here that I am not understanding. Anyone?
Sounds like that is advertising speak for paying someone to review your pre-screen and give advice before you submit it. I am sure it have nothing to do with any actual submittal. Marketing right at the source.
FYI at ArtsBridge a few years ago, both Gary Klein (CMU) and Amy Rogers (Pace) offered private coaching for an extra cost. Don’t know if that is still the case. In hindsight I see all these Master classes/coachings as ways for these people to boost their incomes and perhaps get to know some of the applicants out there better so they can make better informed choices. It’s a business, folks. People leap to these opportunities because they think it will give their kids an edge, (ArtsBridge was originally called Arts Edge) - which is where the ethical dilemma discussion always pops up here - and it is true that in some businesses with more oversight this would be seen as a conflict of interest and not allowed. What people need to know going into this is that it is just as likely to hurt your child’s chances (assuming they would have a dynamite 3 minute audition with material they have chosen to highlight only their strengths), and go in with eyes open. For you (or I should say your kid), the advantage can be that they realize a school is NOT right for them, no matter what the reputation.
@Notmath1, curious how you know who from the Tisch faculty are the admission auditors. I have a kid at NYU and I haven’t got the slightest idea who does it.
^Again, I don’t understand the double-edged sword here. I would just as soon an auditor know the good, the bad and the ugly, and then admit my child in spite of those facts, than to only see the good. Auditors don’t expect perfection. One said it best, if they are"too polished, then what would [we] do with you for four years?".
If 1, 2 or even 10 hours of Stagelight coaching would transform a student from a “redirect” at say CCM to an “admit”, then Stagelighter is not charging nearly enough! This is a lot like the SAT. Yes, you can gain maybe a few hundred points by taking an expensive prep course, but in the end, its the entirety of their education and experience that will prove most important. Not many go from a 1000 on the SAT to a 2000. Same with these coachings. They can polish and present you in the best possible light, but nothing is a substitute for well- developed skills/experience/raw talent of the type that will admit you to the top schools.
Well, here’s the thing, I think, in a nutshell. If Mr. Auditor is dazzled by both Ms. A and Ms. B at the audition, but knows from coaching her that Ms. A has a particular “weakness” (could be a million things), he may go with Ms. B, even though Ms. B may have a worse weakness, - but maybe doesn’t. They both may be very good candidates for the school, both could do very well there, and may both have very bright futures, but when the schools see hundreds of applicants, there is sometimes very little that separates one from the other and tiny things can influence how they make decisions. It does not mean that if he chose Ms. A that she would fail at the school or be a terrible fit once she got there.
I see your point. But I think few decisions are “close calls” for auditors, despite what they might say. I believe there are a group of kids who truly stand out to a given auditor – in no uncertain terms – and those are the students they select. A few are “close calls” but I think those are in the minority.
@Monkey13 could say where this (lore?) came from, but CMU has supposedly said that they could fill their class at least 4 times over every year with equally talented candidates…
If the question was for me, my “Lore” came from my own opinion. :)) Nothing more. When I watch a group at auditions, masterclasses, recitals, etc. and I’ve seen quite a few, there are always a few who stand far and above the rest to me. Just my own opinion. (And at least two auditors have mentioned the same in casual conversation).
And I in contrast, would bet a million trillion dollars that that is not true at any school. The talent is redundant many times over. I could fill excellent programs with kids from my own city and this doesn’t begin to take into account those I’ve never met including I’m certain many of the talented kids that are represented here as well as the talented kids that never post here.
I did not say that the same kids stand out to a given auditor, only that a group does stand out and there are perhaps fewer close decisions than we may think. Talent is subjective.
Haha, well since I think Monkey13 told me that “quote” from CMU, I’m calling it “lore” until she tells us where she heard it. I’m sure she did tell me at some point but I don’t remember. And there are soooo many super-talented kids out there that “we” never see, small as the MT world can be. There is a boy at my daughter’s school who transferred from his state’s no-audition “safety” school who never did master/Moo/MTCA/etc. classes, but whose talent utterly blew me away when I saw him perform.