@monkey13 - did CMU look in your D’s book before they asked her to sing from Chicago? B/c a similar thing happened to my D in 2014. She sang, was asked to sing again, then they looked through her book and asked her to sing something else entirely. She gave it a go (it was a song she knew- but hadn’t prepared). We have a friend (and CMU student at the time) who was working auditions- he said that was a good sign, they want to see if you will give it a try.
We have auditions starting in January, so we will be putting together her book over the holiday break. Should she only include songs that she has prepared and knows by heart or should she also include songs she has performed in the past and can likely sing 16 or 32 bars if asked? Should she also include art songs from her VP repertoire in her MT book too to show she has classical training?
Here’s how my son put together his book. Split it in three with dividers marked 16 bar cut, 32 bar cut, and Full Song. For each full song you include, pull both a 16 bar cut and a 32 bar cut. We chose songs he knows cold and will not be caught out if they have him sing the entire thing. We tried for a range of styles and difficulty. We had a total of ten songs. We put a table of contents in the front, listing all three categories. We also put a rep list at the front (slid into the inside front cover) with a long more songs he has performed in shows, in recitals, or learned in voice lessons. We split the list by category–Golden Age, Post Golden Age, Contemporary Rock (which is his strength), and classical. I don’t know if this is the best way to do it, but it has worked for us. I made two full folders, one of which his teacher could use in lessons. I brought both to auditions, in case anything was lost or missing. He has a whole separate folder for songs that are “in work”. It’s a lot of scanning and photocopying, but it’s worth it to feel confident you have everything you might need.
I guess what I’m not getting is how is the school determining “you’re a good fit” for our program? Like they hear you sing, they hear your monologue and then is it just going by your essay you wrote? Do most schools then do an interview to access “fit” ? I keep hearing this and I guess I’m not understanding fit. I know they can tell" type " by your appearance and resume and audition but this fit thing is not clear to me.
@toowonderful, I don’t remember if they looked through my D’s book before they asked her for the Chicago song, but she didn’t have anything in there remotely like that, so I tend to think no. My D had far fewer than 10 songs in her book…I think she had 4 or 5 songs total, each with a 16, 32, and full. If you have it in your book, you better be prepared to sing it beautifully, and she wanted to concentrate on a handful of songs rather than try to manage a large number of them. Never put a song in your book that you can’t do wonderfully. Ask your coach if you have one.
@theaterwork, the fit thing is intangible. It’s a combination of talent, type, and personality. Do they like you? Do they need you? Can they work with you for four years? Will you be happy there for four years? I had a sneaking suspicion that some of the schools never read my D’s essay (but I could be wrong).
Somewhat similar experience at CMU for my D…
First, to sign up for auditions that year, it was all done online and I registered her and got an appointment the very first hour it became available. This was around Oct. 1, if I recall that year. She had a February audition time slot on campus and I had the receipt for the payment, etc. During the winter, on their site under her account, it said that she still had not signed up for an audition! Say what? We already paid, had our flights, hotel, and so forth. I called and while they had no record of it, I said I had the receipt and confirmation in my hands (thankfully, I kept everything in a folder for each school). So, they honored it. Whew, one hurdle.
Auditions were either for the morning session or the afternoon session. My D was afternoon session. I asked about how long it takes and if it was realistic we would be able to make our flight home. They said it wasn’t a problem and to remind the sign up desk when we arrive that she had the flights and should have an earlier turn (you didn’t get a time slot specifically).
So, we did that, and then the afternoon wore on and various kids were called to audition and we were one of the last people left! Finally, it was my D’s turn. She was gone a long time. I was in the waiting room and started to think we might miss our flight home. I asked the students manning the desk if they knew how much longer it would be as I might have to reschedule our flights. So, they said they would check. But what they did was enter my D’s audition and said something like if she needed to leave, she could, in order to make her flight! My D was like, "no, I’m staying until we’re finished. " Well, of course, we spent all that money to go there, she wasn’t gonna cut her turn short. I have no idea why she was one of the last to go, when they promised she could be one of the first. And I wasn’t thrilled that the student asked if my D could leave, when I only asked if they could check on the time frame.
But she was back there a LONG time. Apparently she got passed around from auditor to auditor. She ended up doing four monologues for the head of the program. Thankfully, she had prepared four in total due to requirements among all her schools. She performed two songs. She was passed around for that too. Then, like someone else wrote, she was asked to sing a specific song not in her book, but in this case, they asked her to sing Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Granted, most people know that. The year before that, my D happened to play Dorothy in her high school’s production of The Wizard of Oz! She had to sing it over and over taking it up each time to higher keys/steps (?). I understand why they did this. Neither of her songs really showed the higher end of a legit soprano voice. This was something she was working on with her voice teacher at the time (she was 16), and didn’t choose high soprano note songs, and so they vocalized her. One other program also vocalized her (with scales) and she got into that program (Penn State). UMichigan told her they didn’t get to hear her legit soprano (but didn’t bother to vocalize her). At CMU, she ended up Priority Waitlisted for Acting (that year they took 3 or 4 girls only for MT).
After the audition, we raced to the airport, returned the rental car and when we got to the gate for our flight, they were closing the doors and would not let us on. We missed it. We had to get a hotel room and it snowed that night and we had trouble getting back to Vermont the next day.
See how we don’t forget these things??? 
@theatrework - regarding fit, I recommend reading a great post from Dr. John Stefano (recently retired from Otterbein):
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/otterbein-university-mt/1035287-audition-advice.html
Here is an excerpt:
Dr. John will retire after the 2016 Otterbein Summer Theatre season 
So many topics in this thread, thought I would at least chime in on a few.
-Is 16 bars enough? Yes. I know that is hard for some students and parents to understand, but it really is. We can see the student’s personality, confidence, musicality, pitch accuracy, and vocal quality in a very short amount of time. That’s what is most important to me. Someone mentioned diction (easy to train), sustained legato (not a necessary trait for musical theatre singing, can be taught if needed), training (easy to see in 16 bars), humor (if it is naturally there it will come through; not something we need to see in the audition), acting skills (can see it in 16 bars, most important in the monologue), and comedic timing (not something that we need to see in the audition; if it is naturally there it will be obvious).
-Are the audition fees a lot? Yes! BUT the faculty have absolutely no input on those fees and I imagine if we tried to give our input to admissions they would probably ignore us. Admissions has costs associated with marketing (print and web), staffing, and getting the applications processed (SAT, ACT, transcripts, and getting students entered into the computer database). Application fees offset those costs.
-I personally will never ask for a classical song and I think there are very few schools that will. The ones that may are probably Bachelor of Music programs.
-We ask for songs other than what you are prepared for a variety of reasons, always because we like you and are trying to look for something else. If a student works with a private coaching group (MTCA etc.) I ask for something else to see if they are perfectly coached or just really good no matter what they sing. If they sing something that I think doesn’t show off their true voice, I will ask for something else. If I don’t like anything in the book, I will ask them to sing an a cappella pop/rock song. The purpose is to see how adventurous they are and to also get them singing something that has not been coached. I cannot tell you how many students it has SAVED in the audition room. We have admitted many students after hearing a pop/rock song that they did not intend to sing. It allows us to see their personality, raw voice, and instincts. It tells us a lot. The only time singing a song not in your book will count against a student is if they are resistant or do it poorly and the rest of the audition package is also weak. So if asked to try something, jump in head first and give it 125%.
-At my school we assess fit throughout the entire process. We assess the students when they walk in the room for our group meeting. We watch how they sit in the room while we talk, we watch how they interact with their parents, how they interact with our admissions staff, with our student helpers, and our accompanists. We watch the dance auditions (even though I know very little about dance) so I can see how they handle themselves in a learning situation. We then take time to talk with the students if we feel like we still have not gotten a feel for the student’s personality.
~VT
@VoiceTeacher that was so helpful. Thanks for posting.
VoiceTeacher’s posts are easily the best on this board.
I just want to second the 16 bars thing. I know if I like someone within the first 2 seconds. I joke that for 90% of the auditions I see the last 45-60 seconds are for the actor, not for me. Moral of the story is always start with your best material when singing and acting (and given the choice).
@TheaterHiringCo, Of course it’s better to start with your very best material. So why do schools like Ball State tell you to bring two pieces from which they will choose one. BW tells you to bring three, of which they will choose two (I think they choose the order, as well). Sorry to be a stickler, but that’s not really giving the student the opportunity to put their best foot forward,now, is it? Of course, both songs should be great, but students generally feel more confident on one of the two, so why not let the kids choose?
My D auditioned for Ball State this past November. They did not pick her song, she did. They then asked her for a second song. She absolutely loved the audition process there and the students and faculty were very warm and welcoming. They also took the time to ask her questions and get to know her a bid in a few minutes, She has auditioned at schools where no personal questions were asked at all.
I readily admit I find it -let’s just say odd - that someone can say they know if they like someone or not within two seconds. But having said that I have a daughter at Ball State and I will just tell you she loves it there, they get great students there, and the faculty is great there,. So whatever they’re doing works very well.
I’m with you @jeffandann I don’t see how this possible either. a few seconds is not enough imho
Maybe it would be a good idea for some to include schools that usually spend a chunk of time ( 10 to 20 min at least) with a student. For son, those schools were Montclair, Otterbein, Coastal Carolina and CMU, at least those are the ones I remember off the top of my head
As I understand it- while they are gracious to everyone, the amount of time CMU spends with a prospective student varies by their interest level. I know of kids who were done in 5 min (did monologue for one, song for another and out) and of kids who they spent an hour with. It just depends