Montclair BFA MT Audition Experience (I know this thread is Auditions for Acting, but I can’t find one for Audition Experiences for MT.)
Dance call was at 12:00 noon and they were on time. Maybe a little early, but the student assistants did a role call to make sure everyone was there and ready before they began. (We had been there since 8:30 because of my D’s Acting audition.)
The dance call was medium difficulty. It was two parts. The first was fast-paced jazz mixed with ballet moves. That lasted about 30 and then anyone who had tap experience could stay and do that portion. They said you could change into tap shoes if you had them, but you didn’t have to. My D has had about 4 months of tap classes but hadn’t brought her tap shoes with her. After they said you didn’t have to have taps, she considered staying for that part until one of the instructors said, if you haven’t had a lot of tap, don’t stay for this part because you won’t be able to fake it. So, she left. Another girl we knew who had extensive tap and did that portion, said it was challenging.
After Dance, the first MT audition was called at 1:15. They did the same thing as they had done with acting, calling several names at a time and letting you know who was on deck and who was next, etc. The MT Auditions seemed to be run very quickly. My D’s was at 2:30, but they were ahead of schedule so she went in about 2:10.
She entered the room and took her music to the pianist. She showed the accompanist where to start and stop and started to discuss tempo, but the woman said something like, “That’s O.K., I’ll follow you. Go stand on the white X and signal when you’re ready.” My D did as she was told. The auditors said tell us what you’re singing and the show it’s from and tell us which monologue you’re most comfortable with. My D gave them the information and one said “Go ahead.”
She signaled the accompanist and sang both songs. The auditors didn’t watch her while she was singing – at least she doesn’t think they did. She wasn’t looking directly at them but out of her peripheral vision she said she saw the tops of their heads as they were looking down at the table. There was no response and no one looked up after her first song. So she went straight into the next song. After her second song, she stood there a few seconds until one of them looked up at her. She thinks the others might have been writing stuff. He didn’t say anything, so she began her monologue and the auditors again were looking down, not at her. When she’d finished that, she again stood quietly waiting. In a moment, one of them said, “OK, You can go.” Or something like that. She said, “OK. Thank you.” Then gathered her music and left.
While it wasn’t a warm-fuzzy moment, my D felt she’d done her best. So we are not going to read anything into the audition experience itself, because how you feel about your audition (or the auditors) has been proven to have very little correlation to getting an offer or not.