Rising 9th Grader - navigating the next 4 years to prepare for possible MT?

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
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Parent of a rising 9th grader looking for guidance on the following:

  • When do we really need to worry about this process? I understand the end of Jr. year is when things really ramp up.
  • Do you recommend using one of the college audition consulting companies as an adjunct to existing local instructors / resources? If so, when is the appropriate time to at least consult with said audition company?
  • How do we begin to compile a list of programs to research actual costs so that we can determine what will be in our budget?
  • What summer intensives should we have on our radar for the HS years?
  • Is it plausible from a time / workload perspective to double major in MT and something else (like Spanish – see below).

Child’s background information:

  • Super high performing male student, fluent in Spanish – anticipate IB track in high school.
  • True triple threat – years of participation in progressive children’s MT performance companies in addition to voice, piano, acting and dance (ballet / contemporary / tap and intensives) training. Has been in multiple shows at same time in 2 performance companies, recently cast in adult ensemble in our local community theater (major city) for a high energy danc-ey musical.
  • Voice has not changed yet – still Alto / Tenor.
  • 2 years of voiceover work as recurrent character for a children’s singalong series (large subscription base in Youtube, credits in multiple music and video streaming platforms) and back vocals in other projects with same production company.
    I have read “Before I got In” and feel like he’s already engaged in more than what the book recommends.
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I recommend joining this FB group and asking there: Redirecting...

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Uh oh. One of my kids had a beautiful boy soprano until well after his bar mitzvah. > 3 octave range, too. Had late puberty. Voice didn’t change until 14 at least, maybe later. And he then had, for like 4 yrs, a five note range. Literally only 5 notes. I don’t think that he could sing again until he was >21.

So, talk to the pros, but if your kid is 14 and his voice still hasn’t changed, maybe you would want to somehow plan in a gap year? He might need that extra year for his lower range voice to settle in.

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  • With this much training and experience, your student sounds well prepared for this process. Assuming he continues in this vein, you don’t really need to jump in with both feet until junior year.

  • Using a consulting company is a very personal choice that I tend to think boils down to 1) how much time are you and your son willing to invest in researching schools and finding audition material, 2) if your kid needs prodding to stay on top of things, how do they respond to that kind of direction from you (some kids do better with an outside nudger) and are you organized enough yourself to handle this, 3) do you want access to a consortium audition where the student can prescreen/audition for many schools at once (though not all of these are through consultants, and not all consultants offer them) and 4) do you just want an outside perspective from someone who has a good working knowledge of the college MT landscape and therefore, may be better equipped to help you create a list.

  • The best way to get an early sense of cost is run the Net Price Calculator on each school’s website and then give a quick look at web page with scholarships. Not all are going to be built into the calculator. This will give you a ballpark. I assume you know what some of the most coveted programs are. Just start with a few of those, using a combo of private schools, out-of-state public and, if applicable to your situation, in-state public. Also maybe take a look at the schools attending the National Unified Auditions and/or Pittsburgh Unifieds for some other school ideas.

  • Lots of summer intensive options. We liked Artsbridge because the teachers are from several different university programs. I wouldn’t do that one any earlier than summer after sophomore year and others will tell you summer after junior year because the programming is heavily focused on audition prep.

  • Double majoring is very school specific. Workload isn’t so much the issue as scheduling. The number of classroom/studio hours required to earn a BFA can make it very difficult to register for other classes because of both time constraints and scheduling conflicts. It also often depends on how many AP or Dual Enrollment credits you son is able to transfer in; some schools are more generous than others. Or if you son is willing to take some summer classes. This tends to be more doable in BA programs like Northwestern, but some NYU kids manage. Minors are generally doable.

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