What To Know/What I WISH I’d Known About College Auditions

Because it’s been over a month since World Voice Weekend and I need another project….

But what could I do that would offer the same kind of benefit (if not quite the scope of that project because it was exhausting) to people. And then I thought, hey, where can people get information about college auditions all in one place?

Things have changed a lot since I was preparing students for college auditions from 2006-2013, as I discovered this past year when I prepared someone for college auditions for the first time since I moved to Baltimore. In some respects, it’s easier because many of the schools now have standardized audition requirements and people submit their applications and prescreen videos through Acceptd,  You don’t have to prepare a completely separate set of audition packages for multiple colleges anymore.

But more schools are requiring prescreen videos just to get an audition, and this past year, with the pandemic, many schools didn’t even have in-person auditions. Either they were online, or they used the prescreen videos to make their decisions.

And with musical theater, there’s the “wild card” audition submission. That was something I didn’t hear about till last summer – it certainly wasn’t a thing 8 years ago! And what’s going to happen this year? Will auditions still be online? Will they be in-person? Will there be some kind of hybrid option?

So on June 30, at 6pm, I will be hosting a panel discussion called

What To Know/What I Wish I’d Known About College Auditions

I’ve put together a panel discussion of university/conservatory voice teachers from both the classical and musical theater world to discuss the audition process, plus three young singers who navigated the 2020-2021 audition season and were accepted to programs for Fall 2021. The panelists are:

• Elizabeth Futral, Professor of Voice, Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
• Andrew Ryker, Assistant Professor of Opera/Voice, Director of Opera, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio
• Karla Hughes, Associate Professor of Voice, Theatre and Music Theatre, Viterbo University, LaCrosse, Wisconsin
• Matt Edwards, Associate Professor, Voice/Coordinator of Musical Theatre Voice/Artistic Director, CCM Vocal Pedagogy Institute, Shenandoah Conservatory, Winchester, Virginia
• Iyana Johnson, future freshman in classical voice at Baldwin-Wallace, student of Alyssa Amber Cox, Annapolis, MD
• Lauren Manna, future freshman in musical theater, Boston Conservatory-Berklee, student of Jerry Elsbernd, Minneapolis, MN
• Olive DeVille, future freshman in musical theater, Long Island University, student of Christine Thomas-O’Meally (why, that’s me), Baltimore, MD

More info, including bios and headshots, will be forthcoming over the next few weeks. But believe me, these people are tops in their field and I’m so honored to have them!

The cost will be $25 and you can register here. Can’t make it on that day? The whole thing will be recorded and made available for replay (platform TBD) through August 31, so you can catch it later. Or watch it again later, if you want to refresh your memory.

Find out

• • • What they want to hear
    • What they don’t want to hear
    • What a good pre-screen video should include
    • Video auditions vs. in-person auditions (will that even be a thing?): Advantages vs. disadvantages
    • How many schools should you audition for?
    • Other questions — input to be taken at registration*
    • Followed by a Q&A, as time permits

If you are planning to audition for college music/theater programs in the next year or two (or three), or you’re the parents of a student, or you’re a teacher preparing a student for upcoming auditions, this panel discussion is for you.

*Register HERE and fill out the intake form to have the opportunity
to add input to the panel discussion (I can always use ideas)