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.