Accents

For reference, if you ever need help learning an accent, I advise you go to Amy Walker's channel on YouTube. She's fantastic and knows almost every accent there is. https://www.youtube.com/user/amiablewalker

Substitute

While I have been busy with my audition, I've felt bad about leaving you guys in the lurch, as it were. But I found another great blog that shares experiences from college auditions. I promise I'll be back, but here's another point of view that is hopefully helpful to you all. http://divasguidetocollegeauditions.com/ Best of luck and I'll see you next week!

Hiatus

I am going to be taking a short break from posting because I have 2 auditions in the next 9 days and I really need to work on them. However, I may post videos of my audition on here so you can see what a college audition looks like? Regardless, I wish everyone a happy 2 weeks and I will return sometime shortly after 9/20/14.

Genderbending

The idea of genderbending songs is a tricky one for me, to be honest. I think that if you want to do it for a performance, it is... pointless, but overall it won't kill anyone. I like genderbending a lot, but I wouldn't really recommend it for anywhere professional. In particular, if you want to actually audition with a genderbent song... you shouldn't. Unless you're looking for a genderbent role. Auditions are for the purpose of showing what you do best and if you show "I'm a girl but I can play a guy really well" or vice versa, you're not exactly going to get the lead, most likely. Depending on the show, of course (insert Hedwig reference here.) Here are some tips for genderbending songs: 1) Make sure the lyrics don't contain things that obviously point to one gender. And I don't mean, "Oh, that line's kind of girly." I mean if you're a guy, don't be singing "No one thinks a pretty girl has feelings/No one gets her insecurity." Alternately, if you're a girl, don't sing "I'll Make a Man Out of You." The ultimate result of this is that it's just not believable, and is even less believable if you switch the pronouns. 2) I'm saying this once and I'll never say it again: DO. NOT. SWITCH. PRONOUNS. The only, ONLY time this is acceptable is when it changes the entire intent of the song, for example, any song from bare: a pop opera. If you're a girl and you're singing Absolution without changing pronouns, it takes away the entire meaning of the song, and that's not cool. But if you're just pulling a musical-no-homo and trying to make yourself seem straight, you need to either grow up or pick a different song. So many songs aren't pronoun specific, and you're just lame if you do that. 3) So many songs are non-gender specific, and it really comes down to who sang it first. I think you could obviously make the argument that different intentions become clear with the use of different genders, but I would argue that bringing different light to a song is rarely a harmful thing. Go with your gut on this one, and, most importantly, go with the play's gut. Research the show you're about to perform a song from and if it entirely ruins the message of the show (I'll use Absolution from bare: a pop opera here as an example again) then don't do it. 4) Also, if you're a girl, it is really easy to find a male song to use by looking through children's numbers. Jojo from Seussical, Colin from Secret Garden, or Billy Elliot are all good examples of males whose songs you can sing without having to blow through the stratosphere in your head voice or do that weird gravely thing that sopranos (including me) do when they try to hit low notes. This is really unorganized, but my overall advice is just to stick to your own preferred gender. If you need to change it up or whatever, then go for it, I guess, but there are plenty of songs that you can sing without having to deal with the drama. Also, if you feel more comfortable in a gender that is alternate to the one that you were assigned at birth (is that a good way to say that?) then look into musical characters that play to that, like Peter Pan, Edna Turnblad, or Hedwig. Look into Victor Victoria as well.

Rolling with the Big Times

On the subject of believing, sometimes we take our believing to the absolute limit. "Yeah, I can see myself working for Scorcese in 10 years." "Uh huh, I'm totally going to winning my Tony with my first play. "I can see myself doing a movie with Robert Downey, Jr., sure. He can play my dad or something in the movie I'll win my Oscar for." And I personally think it's great to have those ideals. It's a completely incredible thing to have enough faith in your abilities to dream big. But the thing people need to realize is that sometimes dreaming big needs to be... smaller. You'll understand what I mean with my next video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W3eYhJjUBQ Also, my roommmate came into the room at the end of the video, and that's why my door mysteriously opens.

Believe in Yourself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgx6KKul-RE This is a long video that I made about my tragic callback story. The end of this story is that I feel like a bit of a twit, but I'm moving forward and setting up my next auditions. I have three more auditions, I believe, before I come home for Christmas. And I'm going to believe that I can do them. All of you at Rocky can do it. I believe in you. And it's time to believe in yourself, okay? EDIT: As it turns out, the role I was called back for was actually filled by my professor. And while I would like to be in a show, beating my professor for a role would not have exactly been the impression I want to make. So, if you're one of those people who need a silver lining, there you go.

Some personal advice on books

This is a video I made and uploaded on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HezqNdbLv0&list=UUqnQ0wXeOnD_QAt0hB4eBZg

Stumbling Solo Advice FOR ROCKY STUDENTS

Here's the thing about solos. If you have found a character who fits your voice, anything they sing will pretty much work. So I recommend that you look specifically for shows that will fit your voice. Also, obviously don't pick anything from Wicked or crap like that. Here are a few good ideas for shows that you or anyone else can sing from, with the characters name beside them. The Last Five Years: Only has 2 characters, Cathy and Jamie. Cathy is female, Jamie is male. Evita: Now, this one is more well known, but as long as you don't do "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" (which I will murder you for) Evita is a perfectly sensible and awesome musical to pick auditions from. Billy Elliot: If you need something funny, the dance teacher will do in a pinch. "Born to Boogie" is the worst song ever but it provides a lot of comedic moments, and I genuinely love "Shine." Also, if you can sing Billy's songs, or Michael's "Expressing Yourself" you've got quite a bit of material. For a guy, "He Could Be A Star" or "Once We Were Kings" are absolute tearjerkers. A Chorus Line: I can't stress this enough. A Chorus Line. A. Chorus. Line. A CHORUS LINE. Any character works, but, again, if you sing "What I Did For Love" or "One" I will personally kick your ass 300 ways to Sunday. Avenue Q: I really, really like this musical. Make sure you listen to the full song first. Because sometimes the innocent songs suck (ie "Mixtape") but sometimes the songs are pretty bad (ie "Purpose) without you realizing. Cabaret: If you are a man and have the stones to sing "Wilkhommen, Bienvenue" I will marry you on the spot. Sally Bowles has some killer songs, too. Radical musical. Sunday in the Park with George: Who doesn't love Peters and Patinkin? They're classics and they're beautiful and I will accept any of these gorgeous songs. Fiddler on the Roof: I will fight you on Fiddler because it's beautiful and then softly recommend "Far From the Home I Love" which is boring as shit but also the most musically challenging song I can think of right now. The Fantasticks: Weird music that works for Sondheim auditions and also shows that you know your way around some notes. I recommend "Try to Remember" for anyone, because it’s my favorite song possibly of all time, and "Much More" for girls. Oliver!: For girls, sing Nancy's stuff and you're on your way. I don't like this musical but I also don't hear it much which is good.... I guess. Kiss of the Spider Woman: Anthony Crivello, have your way with me. Chita Rivera is a goddess. I recommend anything that has notes you can hit for a weird, awesome dramatic audition. Legally Blonde: I know, I know. But the music is great, the range is challenging, "Chip on My Shoulder" or "Serious" work well for men, and if you want to show off your high belt, Vivienne's solo in "Legally Blonde Remix" is a destroyer of minds and hearts. Songs for a New World: There are 4 characters in this musical and none of the songs are really connected but all of them work if they work for you. These are just a few but I think it should tide you over for now.

Specific Unit Information FOR ROCKY STUDENTS

Most likely, what Davey is going to do with this is make you do songs from units you’ve already rehearsed. Last year, this included songs from the “duets” unit and songs from competition. I’m going to include both of these in a later list. Just come to rehearsal and learn the songs, though. Don’t forget your sheet music. COMPETITION: All I’m going to tell you for this is go to this link and you will learn just about everything you need to know. A list of possible competition pieces will come later. https://sites.google.com/site/daveysdramaclasses/home/adv-acting/competition-a-la-Ganatos AUDITIONS: I have so much advice for auditions and hopefully I will be able to return and hand them to you personally, but for now here’s a few quick tips for songs: --Choose a song that fits the style of the musical. --Some easy ways to do that include finding the composer’s other works, looking up more musicals from the time period, and just going off your own personal experience. (For a Sondheim audition, rather than doing Sondheim I did a Lucy Simon/Marsha Norman song and got a large part because it fit what I wanted to convey.) --Talk to Davey and Aber (and everybody who might know anything) --Seriously, it’s not kissing up. Asking them for help and advice on how to perfect an audition seems awkward because they’re judging you at the actual audition, but they’re teachers first. Remember that. It’s the hugest help in the world. --Make sure you have a solid 16 measures --Not naming names, but a kid once walked in and sang the entirety of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” It’s a waste of the director’s time. Don’t waste someone’s time if they’re deciding your fate. --If you pick a character, you have to gun it 100% --If you decide to tailor your audition towards one character, you have to go all out, 100% towards that character. If not one character, go for the feel of the show. Also, understand if you don’t get that one character, you will likely not do well. If you can accept that, tailor away. SPOTLIGHT SHOW #2: Well, this one is very important to find good pieces for. My pieces of advice are as follows: --Pick upbeat pieces. -- Seriously, most of the people who are showing up are your family, and most of the time they don’t exactly adore musical theater. The last thing they want to do is cry at this thing. Now, if you can do it well, make an exception. But while I know dramatic pieces are fun, comedic pieces are what the audience tends to like. Ask around a little bit if you are thinking of a serious piece and see how many there will be. Also, love songs don’t count (in my opinion) as serious. --Listen to the songs. -- Again, I’m going to request that you ask about Masquerade. We straight up did not learn this song and forgot all the lyrics onstage. Imagine 20 kids mumbling words they don’t know to one of the most dramatic songs in musical history. Now stop crying and listen to the songs that you are part of. --Pick songs you like. --It is so not important, when it comes down to it, what the audience thinks. I personally got a lot of crap from parents because in one of my performances, my character said “damn.” That piece went on to semi-finals at state. Seriously, if you think the song is boring but “audiences will like it” you’re going to do a poor job and it’s absolutely inevitable. Pick a song that you think is fun. --Do your freaking research. -- Holy crap, it’s amazing how many people will pick songs because they looked at one Yahoo!Answers and heard it was a duet before they realized A) it’s totally not (i.e. “Forever Yours” from Once on this Island,) B) it’s out of range (i.e. “Astonishing” from Little Women (for me, anyways,)) or C) it’s got one unshakingly inappropriate verse (i.e. “Miss Byrd” from Closer Than Ever.) Don’t do that. --Make sure you have the right people for the song. Or enough people. --So often groups fall through but you have to make sure that there’s enough people to fulfill the requirements of whatever song you are feeling.

Shows I really like that can be looked into FOR ROCKY STUDENTS

My personal top 5 good musicals that probably are sorta less well known (or at least less-performed) & deserve to be looked into by decade from 1940-1999 (my favorites are bolded): 1940s: Kiss Me Kate, Pal Joey, Carousel, Finian's Rainbow, South Pacific 1950s: Peter Pan, Two on the Aisle, The Pajama Game, Redhead, Flower Drum Song, New Girl in Town, and Damn Yankees (there's 7, I know, I couldn't decide) 1960s: The Fantasticks, Funny Girl, Mame, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, Promises Promises, and Cabaret (because I have literally 0 self control this isn't even a top 5 it's a top whatever I'm feeling today) Okay obviously the top 5 is bull and it's only going to get worse so here's just some musicals for the next few decades with my top choice bolded: 1970s: Applause (which won the Tony,) Company, Follies, Godspell, Pippin, The Baker's Wife, Side By Side By Sondheim, Ain't Misbehaving, Sweeney Todd 1980s: 42nd Street, Merrily We Roll Along, La Cage Aux Folles, Chess, Sunday in the Park with George, Big River, Into the Woods, Carrie, Miss Saigon, City of Angels 1990s: Forever Plaid, Jekyll and Hyde, Once on This Island, The Secret Garden, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Sunset Boulevard, John & Jen, Songs for a New World, Victor/Victoria, Side Show, Titanic, Fosse (The 90s were incredible and I recommend this decade highly) And finally, I'm going to have to go by year for 2000s musicals. This is my jam but I'm giving you only a few because you have to be so, so, so careful with recent musicals. 2000: Contact, Bare, The Wild Party 2001: Tick... Tick.... Boom!, Urinetown, A Class Act, The Last Five Years 2002: Thoroughly Modern Millie, Sweet Smell of Success 2003: Amour, A Year with Frog and Toad 2004: Avenue Q, Caroline or Change 2005: Spamalot, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 2006: Curtains, The Drowsy Chaperone, title of show (I can't pick between these genuinely) 2007: Spring Awakening, 13, A Tale of Two Cities 2008: In the Heights, The Story of My Life 2009: Billy Elliot, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Bonnie and Clyde, Wonderland I wouldn't personally go more recent than that. But that's just me though.

Some personal recommendations (general information) FOR ROCKY STUDENTS

I would recommend not doing any of the following: --DO NOT pick from musicals you’ve already done pieces from in high school --For example, I didn’t do anything from Seussical ever because freshman year I used “Notice Me, Horton” as my audition song and I didn’t want Davey to think I only knew like 4 musicals. --DO NOT pick from musicals we’ve already done as a department. (We’ve only done like six so not a big deal.) --This seems pretty dang obvious. Don’t be busting out with “I Know Things Now” from Into the Woods because Kara absolutely tore the house down and it’s inevitable that people who were in it/saw it will compare you to her. Same applies to guys. Don’t be trying “Don’t Walk Away” because Chris Blaser did that literally only last year and had 8 weeks of rehearsal to nail it. It’s a poor choice. --DO NOT pick songs that have already been done recently and well (or recently and badly) in the department. --Ask around a bit for this one, but a couple examples are “Cell Block Tango” which made it to finals at State in 2012 and was a really genuinely good piece, due to the insane amount of hard work the performers put into it. Also, “Masquerade,” which is maybe the worst piece to grace the Rocky stage, at the fault of a lot of people, myself included. You do not want to be compared to the good, but you also do not want to bring up memories of the bad. --DO NOT pick really recent musicals. -- Kinky Boots won the Tony in 2013 and I heard someone the other day say they’re taking it to competition. Why. Why in the world, when everyone is still talking about a musical, when the original cast album is fresh in everyone’s hearts, would you EVER pick a Tony winner from last year. I really can’t tell you what to do but for the love of everything, if you listen to one thing I say—DO NOT do this please. It leads to comparisons from the original freaking cast which is so much worse than comparisons to Rocky students. However, I am not going to tell you not to do really well known musicals, all right? I’ve heard/been in pieces from Les Miserables, Mamma Mia, Phantom of the Opera, and Wicked. All I am going to say is you either have to do it perfectly or you have to do it differently. You cannot, I repeat, CAN NOT attempt Wicked in the exact same way as Idina. Do or do not, there is no try, and you have to make dang sure that you are perfection. Here are some pieces or ideas that I would recommend for high school: -- DO look at Tony winning and nominated scores… just not recent ones, necessarily. If you find out that Kander & Ebb each have three Tonys to their name, maybe look at some of the musicals they did. (I’ll go into this more later.) A super easy way to find this is go to the Wikipedia page called Tony Award for Best Original Score and look at the bottom part of the article, where it names the multiple Tony winners. (Sondheim takes the cake with 6.) --DO look at your favorite musicals and find out what else the composer has written. --Example: My favorite musical was, for a long time, “Legally Blonde: the Musical.” Come to find out, the composer also wrote “Heathers: the Musical” which is fabulous and just completed its Off-Broadway run.) --DO look at performers you like. --If you liked Laura Benanti in Gypsy, look for other plays she’s done and go from there. --DO look at Off-Broadway. -- The Last Five Years, Heathers, and bare: a pop opera are all amazing. --DO look at bad musicals. --People will stay away from things like Merrily We Roll Along because they were poorly received but the song “Old Friends” is an incredible trio that also works as a swell audition song. While other people are scrambling not to do a “well-known” musical, you’ve got your really good song from a really crappy musical all set. Also, just because a musical looks really dumb and bad doesn’t mean you should overlook it. (A perfect example is Shrek.) --DO look at older musicals. -- If you’ve heard of an older musical they obviously have some staying power and more than likely it’s due to their awesome score. (But sometimes not. Like Oklahoma.)

Felicia Ricci

I would like to direct everyone's attention to Felicia Ricci. For those who don't know, Felicia played Elphaba from Wicked in San Francisco. She's pretty incredible, and on top of being a really good singer, she's a nice enough person to share her tips and tricks. Find her at feliciaricci.com, http://unnaturallygreen.blogspot.com/, and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0KJrVR7lOqDTkH2S2tjo5Q. I also encourage you to buy her voice lessons and her book.

Audition dos and donts videos

These videos aren't really giving examples of good songs, but they are telling you what to do and what not to do about your auditions at a more professional level. In high school you don't need to strictly adhere to these, but they're still good to know. First of all I'm putting out this video again because it is a godsend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-OG9fbkF3U Video #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1qqi-x9GWk Video #3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr5YLg6Q6FY Video #4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQHp89QlMjE My one beef with this video is that it says you can ask to start over. For Rocky Mountain kids reading this? Don't. Don't do that. Ever. Just roll with it. Video #5: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHarUc8UxLg Please just fall down the rabbit hole of YouTube and watch other videos that you find. They can all help in some way. I highly recommend the channel New York Vocal Coaching, particularly Episode 59 which can be found here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIPalT9jomw

A masterpost of traditionally overdone music

This is sort of a compilation of overdone music and audition pieces to prevent you from walking into an audition and making the director want to shoot someone. Keep in mind that some of these pieces are okay depending on the area you're in (Idaho's pretty in the dark while California will assumedly know more? I guess??) Anyway, just because a song is on this list doesn't mean it's entirely off-limits. This is just something to be considered. Ask your teacher or a director you know if you are not sure. FIRSTLY WATCH THIS VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-OG9fbkF3U Video #2: W-List Most Overdone Female Audition Songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeozhKJpRq0 Okay, this video is ultimately super annoying because she is super annoying and horrible and I can't deal with her to be honest, but it's important to watch this one. You see how annoying she is? That's how annoying you are when you sing these songs. No excuses. Males either. Video #3: W-List Most Overdone Male Audition Songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWQTHqNm6LQ He is much less annoying than the girl in video 1. These songs are also bad. Also, don't think that it's okay to sing these if you're a girl. Don't. Video #4: Overdone Broadway Duet Medley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVaN_k8Pax4 OR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIzbUWy8g30 All right, this song is pretty amusing. They include, for those of you who don't know (also, just because you don't know them doesn't mean everyone else doesn't know them) --Summer Lovin' from Grease --Anything You Can Do from Annie Get Your Gun --Sixteen Going on Seventeen from Sound of Music --Sun and Moon from Miss Saigon (I actually like this one, not going to lie.) --Light My Candle from RENT --Shall We Dance from The King and I --Breaking Free from High School Musical (NO NO NO) --Tonight from West Side Story (again I like this one, but whatever, it probably is overdone) --Wheels of a Dream from Ragtime (I've actually never heard this one... but that's whatever.) --A Little Fall of Rain from Les Miserables --Suddenly, Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors (I've seen this done well, but I wouldn't recommend it?) --Together Wherever We Go from Gypsy (I had never heard this song either) To be honest, I don't know the last song. Video #5: "Do Not Sing List" Medley https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgAlDGX5Y6g Firstly, she is an amazing singer. Secondly, this includes songs such as --Still Hurting from The Last Five Years (don't do this song but I love this musical still) --On My Own from Les Miserables --Somewhere That's Green from Little Shop of Horrors (I love this one but don't) --The Wizard and I from Wicked --Astonishing from Little Women (this song is the devil anyway so I'm not too mad about this) --Don't Rain on My Parade from Funny Girl --Defying Gravity from Wicked --Gimme Gimme from Thoroughly Modern Millie (don't you dare listen. I love this song.) Video #6: Overdone Musical Theater Medley --On My Own from Les Mis --Someone Else's Story from Chess (I agree but I still love this song) --Shy from Once Upon a Mattress --Suddenly Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors --A Change in Me from Beauty and the Beast --Oh Gods from Once on this Island (I've actually never heard this one) --Good Morning Baltimore from Hairspray --Blue Hair from The Black Suits (I've never heard this either) --Pulled from The Adams Family --Not for the Life of Me from Thoroughly Modern Millie --Defying Gravity from Wicked --Stranger to the Rain from Children of Eden (actually I think this one is safe but that's just me though) --Home from Beauty and the Beast --What I Did for Love from Chorus Line --Don't Rain on my Parade from Funny Girl --Astonishing from Little Women --No Good Deed from Wicked (please, please don't sing anything from Wicked ever. Please.) There you go. A few others that I would like to add include: --Alto's Lament --I Could Have Danced All Night --In My Life --Johanna --Dancing Through Life --Greased Lightning Just to name a few. Also, if you're looking into more professional auditions (for high school some of these are okay) look at this link http://auditioningforcollege.com/2011/06/13/do-not-lists/