One song, really?

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
1

Inspired, this morning, by reviewing a note from Ball State, which requires: "2 song selections, 16 bars each, contrasting in style (you will only perform one). One song? Really, Ball State? For a $55 audition fee and tens out thousands over four years? The inspiration is from Roger’s song, Glory, from Rent:

One song…only…one song to show I fit,
Glory, one song to show I shine
Find one song, one show-off piece
Glory, show the pretty boy’s got notes

No wasted opportunity
One song, just 16 bars, make ‘em sweet
Glory, in the eyes of you old guys
You grey-haired guys, find glory

Dressed my cheap Penney’s suit
One song, before the door shuts
Glory, on another rejectee

Time flies, dream dies
Glory, a short blaze of Glory
With vi-bra-to-o-o

Find glory in a song that rings true
Truth, in 60 seconds or less, from the MT rep
Find, one song, a song that’s funny, too
Glory, from the throat of a young man

A young man, find the one song
Before the stage-fright takes hold
Glory, like a ticket
One song to win a spot for four more years

Time flies and then
No need to warm up anymore
Dream dies

2

Rider also only has your perform one song

3

My son was Roger in high school…happy memories.

4

How does it work in the audition? Do you tell them the two songs you have and then they pick the one they want to hear? Or is it so if they like what you do with your song - they can hear a contrasting piece - almost as if it was a callback?

5

Yes, you bring two and Ball State picks one. Kind of ridiculous. I’m now convinced that they enter a room with a list of types they want and turn their ears off to anyone else. I don’t care how experienced the audition panel is, I just don’t believe that they can assess all the following in one set of 16 bars: tone, pitch, diction, sustained legato, training, humor, acting skills, comedic timing. . . I could go on. Ball State is a long way for us to go for one 16-measure song. Hey, I’m beginning to like pre-screening!

6

But YOU get the award for creative posts! :))

7

@claire74 I’m enjoying your posts ! So funny but true! I just told my D this yesterday …that how in Gods name can anyone decide on you from one song? But whatever…a process I’ll never fully understand. Guessing at least the 2 song schools are better.

8

Thanks! This process will drive me nuts if I can’t find a way to poke fun at it! Hope I’m still laughing in March.

9

That’s typical. They don’t have time for longer auditions. The $55 audition fee seems like quite the rip-off though. I only auditioned for places that wouldn’t make me major in theater if I got a scholarship from that department, but none of them had an audition fee. Yikes. But yeah, it was all one or 2 short things at most. And then I got into my own school’s music dept. with only 16 bars of singing and 16 bars of sight-singing. So the length seems pretty typical unfortunately.

Using Roger as an example though, lol. You should point out to them that Roger had to sing several songs before he found his one song :stuck_out_tongue: You should totally say you can’t do just one song yet since you haven’t found your Mimi. Wonder what they’d say to that.

10

My D has been sick a lot already this month , currently has sore throat and solo in holiday show tomorrow night…I am truly dreading next year when all the stakes get ramped up…the winter sickness thing kills me

11

There are several schools that only do one song. UMich had you come in with two, and then they chose the one they wanted to hear. I remember at CMU my D sang her one song, and then they asked her for a second song…from Chicago. Which she didn’t have in her book and had never sung in her life. All sorts of things can happen. Be prepared for anything, but be prepared for one song and only one song. Even 16 bars of one song.

And, yes, they can tell whether they want you or not after 16 bars. They can tell if they want you/like you after 8 bars. I have heard several program directors say they know within the first 5 to 10 seconds of hearing you sing. So, the moral is, choose your songs wisely (song choice is VERY important), lead with your strongest song (if you have a choice), and make sure your cut starts somewhere such that it gets good/interesting very quickly.

12

@monkey13 why would they ask for a song you didn’t have with you for you to sing? Like how could you sing it unless you had it or were familiar with it? Did they just give her the words? How could you be prepared for that? Lol I meAn that’s about impossible to be ready to sing a song you don’t even know?? Wow I get it that they say they can see if they want you in 5 seconds but that’s like not long enough to even get going really…

13

Sight-singing’s a talent that vocal majors are sometimes expected to have. I had to do that for an audition at my college, but they were nice enough to let me accompany myself on the piano, so it didn’t go over too poorly. Feel kind of sorry though for the singers who don’t happen to also play piano.

14

@theaterwork, I have no idea what was going through Gary’s head when he asked a song from Chicago. I mean, all MT kids probably know at least one song from Chicago…but mine had never ever SUNG a song from Chicago, let alone had the music for it. If he had asked for something from Next to Normal or Hair or Into the Woods or a million other shows, she could have given it a try…acapella, b/c she didn’t have the music with her. She didn’t have the music for any Chicago songs, and neither did he. And she didn’t know the lyrics. Maybe he wanted to see how she would react; or maybe he wanted to see if she could pull it off; or maybe he wanted to see if she could sing a totally different style than the song she offered. Who knows? But it happened. And even if she had said, “Sure! I don’t have the music but let me do a Chicago song acapella for you!” she wouldn’t have gotten in. The auditioners kept asking her, “Are you sure you don’t want to apply to our VP program?” so she knew it wasn’t a happening thing for MT. She was surprised at the Chicago question but took it in stride.

Anything can happen at these auditions, from being asked NO questions and getting in; to the auditors not even looking at you during the whole audition; to being asked to only sing the verbs in your audition song. Just tell your kid to relax, go in, and have fun. It’s a crap shoot. But they know what they’re looking for…they know it when they see it.

15

My daughter sang 2 16 bar songs for Ball State and then they asked her to sing something from her book. This was 2 years ago. You never know…be prepared for ANYTHING!

16

@claire74 How about if you tell Ball State -

“We’re not going to payyyyyyy,
this year’s audition fee!!”

17

@alwaysamom, Funny! Paid already–the website has pretty detailed guidelines but does not say you will only get to sing one song. We found that out just yesterday in an email confirming the times of the audition. Not sure if my kid would have applied if we’d know this was truly a one-shot.

“Ball State cheated, f**king cheated,
I’m defeated, I should give up right now
Gotta look on the bright sight,
With all of your might,
I’d apply for it still, anyhow.
When you’re dancing their dance,
You barely stand a chance,
Your 16-bar cut’ll make 'em swoon
So you think might as well
Sing it clear as a bell
At least, it’ll be all over soon.”

18

Well @monkey13 I think that’s crazy and it annoys me! Lol
" well here miss, can you crap a Chicago song from memory and no I don’t have the music or lyrics either and we just want you to get it from some elf in the lobby because surely EVERYONE has a Chicago song memorized if they are true theatre lovers" … ridiculous…I don’t care if it’s just something they do to throw you off , it’s silly & a waste of time. Even if it is THE CMU . JMHO.
The hoops these people make you jump through are borderline crazy. Sorry rant over…

19

@toowonderful … My D chose which 16 she brought w/ to sing at Ball State last year, BSU didn’t choose.

20

@claire74, I PMed you with an 8 bar knock-it-out-of-the-park clip. It is possible.

@theaterwork, TBH, none of that bothered me. The things that bothered me were: the audition panel that never looked up from their papers, from the moment my D walked into the room until the moment she left (she was WL there…go figure); the school that sent us someone else’s decision and when I called, didn’t bother to ask us whose decision we got so the poor girl had no idea what happened; the school that lost my D’s entire file and insisted she didn’t have an appointment (after we flew across the country for the audition) - and then “snuck her in” the very last slot of the day when the auditors were exhausted and wanted to go home. THOSE things bothered me. Asking to hear a song from a show that everyone knows/should know did not bother me. With 20/20 hindsight, my D said that she should have said, “No, I don’t have any Chicago songs, but I do have XYZ which is similar…let me sing that for you!” I really don’t think CMU did it to throw her off. I think he was truly interested in what she would sound like doing a Chicago song. They really were the loveliest, most caring people during the entire audition season, and I just cannot believe they did it to throw her off. Great people, great program, just not a good fit for my D.

And, if I were an auditor of any of these highly selective schools, I would want to see how kids do in the face of the unknown. One school stopped playing my D’s song halfway through. She just kept singing. Turns out, they did it to everyone, to see how the kids would react, maybe? Do you blame them? They have - in some cases - just a few minutes to make a decision on whether they want to spend the next 4 years training this person. A person who, when they graduate, will represent their school. If I were an auditor, I would do everything I could to make sure that this person was someone I wanted and someone I could work with and someone who doesn’t fluster easily. I didn’t begrudge them any of their questions or their directions or their requests. As long as they were respectful (as the vast majority were), it was okay.

The fact that you are on CC asking lots of questions and reading and researching means you and your D have a leg up. Imagine all the kids who don’t know this stuff. They don’t know that accompanist’s can stop playing, or auditors can ask for a song that isn’t in your book, or ANY of this stuff. Being forewarned is a good thing. But none of it is silly or a waste of time. The auditors want to see who your kid is as quickly as they can. Tell your D to be herself, let her personality shine through, choose materials that show who she is, and to be kind and nice and humble. None of it is a waste of time b/c in the end, you will end up where you need to be (95% of the time). The process works. And these auditors have it down…they know what they are doing.