2015: MA Musical Theatre Audition #3: Mountview

Mountview, we meet again....

Unfortunately this audition was scheduled for the day after RAM- universe why so cruel???
However in spite of the previous days events and not knowing the result from RAM at this point, I travelled to Mountview in good spirits. I arrived 20 minutes before the audition time (You must know my mantra by now, always early!!!), got changed into dance clothes and was taken to a dance studio. Here's where my audition process dramatically differs from last years...

So last year, I auditioned only with other postgrad hopefuls which was nice as there were only about 13 of us and the day felt extremely personal. We even got individual feedback which  was something I wasn't anticipating. This year however, I went into that studio and joined about 150 other auditionees. You read that right, 150. I can only really describe the audition day as a cattle call, because that's what it was. Granted, most of the auditionees were not there for the postgrad course (Mountview were also auditioning for the BA and the foundation that day), but the sheer volume of people was a tad overwhelming. We listened to a speech, did a (very) brief vocal warm up and were then asked to stream ourselves in terms of dance ability.  Naturally, I opted for the less dance-inclined group!

We then were split into further small groups and I went off to act first. I performed my modern speech in full and half of my classical. This was probably the most personal bit of the day, given that the acting teacher actually asked us quite a bit about ourselves. I felt my speeches had gone okay (though I always find it so hard to tell!) and enjoyed watching everyone else's. Next we went to sing, which I had previously thought would be my strongest part of the day. My song went okay, it wasn't the best I had ever sung it (is it ever?) but I felt I had done myself justice. The studio we were in was absolutely boiling (it was a pretty warm day anyway but the studio was like a furnace!) which was not terribly great for singing.

Finally we progressed to my most feared part of the day: dance. I needn't have worried so much though, bizarrely it was my favourite part of the whole audition. The panel teaching and auditioning us were absolutely lovely and I really enjoyed getting to show off some of the improvements I had developed from ballet classes. It was a pretty standard audition process; some cardio, technique, stretching, corner work and then learning the routine. I used all my worldly acting powers to pretend I a)was enjoying the dancing more than I was and b)knew what was going on. When it came to performing the routine (a jazzy number from White Christmas) I knew I hadn't done it perfectly but I'd done my best and hopefully had captured the feel of the number. If nothing else, I was proud of myself for how far I'd come on dance-wise since last year.

All of the auditionees then came together in the dance studio to wait whilst Mountview decided who to recall. I wasn't timing how long they took, but it felt like forever- and yes this may very well have just been the heat/stress. Every time a door opened into the studio, the room would go silent and everyone would crane their necks to see who it was before realising it was just another auditionee coming back from the toilet. Unfortunately for me, another auditionee had a similar look to me and absolutely nailed their song, so I saw it was going to be a long shot to get a recall from Mountview. When they finally announced that I hadn't been recalled I wasn't surprised, but I was disappointed. In many ways, I felt like I'd let myself down since I was so close to being recalled last year (http://journeytodramaschool.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/drama-school-audition-2-mountview.html) but after having a day to dwell over it I've realised I mustn't think like that. I'll post more on staying happy and dealing with rejection in later posts, but to anyone out there going through a similar hard time, just stay strong and remember it gets better. This is just a hurdle in my life, and yours,  and we will get over it!

All the best to those of you out there auditioning, keep the faith!

Yours faithfully,
the postgrad-app 

2015: MA Musical Theatre Audition #2: Royal Academy of Music

 When I was first thinking of applying to the Royal Academy of Music's Musical Theatre course I did what any other applicant would do and scoured the internet for any information about the application/audition process. To my surprise, I found absolutely nothing! Although this makes it harder for you to know what to expect from RAM I feel that in a way it's actually quite good and adds to the mystery of the audition process. I do appreciate that for the un So without further ado, here is my recap of my audition day:

I arrived at RAM to join a group of about 15 auditionees for that day. We listened to a brief talk from the course leader about what the day would entail and were given a form to fill in and a list of answers to (pretty much) any potential questions we had. 

After this, we took part in what was hilariously described as a "movement workshop" on the website- DO NOT BE TAKEN IN BY THIS GENTLE SOUNDING CLASS, IT'S A DANCE AUDITION WITH A FANCY NAME!!! *breathes* now that I've got that out, it's worth mentioning that it wasn't that awful a dance audition (I actually quite enjoyed it!) but it was quite technical in places. If you're a dancer already, great! If you're not, taking some dance classes to familiarise yourself with picking up a routine would certainly do you no harm with RAM. I'll write a separate post about dance auditions for non-dancers (from my extensive experience!) soon, so won't discuss too much more on this subject for now. 

Next we had acting, which was pretty unremarkable. We each went and performed a modern monologue to the panel. They didn't give much away, but I felt mine had gone reasonably well. I always get more nervous about performing a monologue than singing and so was pleased that I had managed to perform mine with few noticeable hitches (I fluffed a line but covered it well, and you wouldn't know unless you knew the show...).

Then we had a lunch break of about 20 minutes before going to sing. RAM ask you to bring 3 songs along, but as far as I know they didn't ask anyone for more than 2. I sang 2 of my 3- incidentally not the 2 I was expecting, but I guess the occasional surprise is good for you! I felt one had gone okay and one sounded the best I had ever sung it, so it was a complete mixed bag. The room we sang in had seriously brilliant acoustics,  I remember hearing myself sing and thinking "wow" and this sentiment was definitely echoed by the other auditionees.

Once the performing aspect was over, we each had individual interviews. This was something that I had been both dreading and looking forward to. On one hand, I know the rather forced interview setting doesn't show me in my best light, but at the same time I was excited to talk to the course leaders. At all the schools I have auditioned at so far (bar LAMDA), there is no interview at the preliminary audition stage and since I haven't been recalled yet (we live in hope still!!!) this cycle I hadn't actual had to endure an interview. The questions were pretty standard, nothing out of the ordinary; just a bit about myself and my experiences and my desire to do the course. I don't feel I came across brilliantly here so perhaps that's something to work on.

Overall I really enjoyed the experience of the audition day at RAM. They go out of their way to make you feel as comfortable as possible in what is obviously a tense situation and they did manage to put me (slightly) at ease. Unfortunately, a few days after my audition I was informed that my audition had been unsuccessful. I was gutted, as I really liked the Academy and could genuinely see myself there, but I'm going to use this experience to help me grow as a performer and strengthen myself. If I don't get into anywhere this cycle, I will definitely be applying next year so watch this space to see what happens!

Thank you to all of you reading this, I know I haven't been blogging particularly regularly but I want to get back into it- mostly not to let you all down! I try to write what I would like to read myself, so seeing that other people seem to enjoy the same thing is wonderful! To anyone in the same situation; keep your chin up and hold your head up high- we'll get there someday!

Yours faithfully,
the postgrad-app


  

2015: MA Musical Theatre Audition #1: GSA

And so begins the trials and tribulations of the PG drama app in 2015!

My first audition of the season was for GSA. As I've mentioned in a previous post, they don't give a whole lotta helpful advice about getting there (See http://journeytodramaschool.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/getting-to-gsa-for-dummies.html), but nonetheless I found the GSA building and had time to change into my dance clothes and relax a bit before the audition began.

The day started quite normally, we had to bring a passport photo (don't forget this!) along and hand it over when we registered at the start of the day. If you arrive early, you'll have plenty of time to calm yourself, and limber up if you so desire. I was initially a bit alarmed by the sheer number of people in the dance studio, before realising that they were auditioning students for both the BA and MA courses that day. We split into two groups and did a pretty standard warm up before going into our stretches. After this they split us up into groups of about 4 to check our technique with pirouettes  etc.

We learnt two separate routines, one fast and one slower but longer and more lyrical. Both were not (in my opinion) horrendously complicated, but then I have danced quite a bit this past year. Despite this, my dancing here was less than perfect but I felt I had done okay as a 'non-dancer". After dance, we had a short break in which to get changed before singing.

We did a thorough warm up, then heard a short speech from a member of the singing staff. After this we each sang one of our songs (our own choice) in full, and then 16 bars of another song. Unfortunately I think I let my nerves slightly affect by vocals; I hadn't performed my song publicly before and I think perhaps I got slightly spooked doing it on this occasion. It wasn't bad, it was just frustrating as the sound was a bit breathy and not as full in some places as I know it can be. This doesn't normally happen to me though, so I'm hoping that it was just a fluke and I'll be better next time. We had another break and then each performed one of our monologues (again our own choice). The monologue went well, I got a real buzz out of performing it and got a few laughs from my fellow auditionees, which is always encouraging! After another break we were then brought back into the room to find out who had been recalled.

I expected not to be recalled as I didn't feel that I had done particularly amazing in any of the sections, and I thought that a couple of other girls had done really well in all the different sections that day. I was pretty surprised to find out that a) they only wanted to recall one person from our entire audition group and b) it wasn't one of the girls that had stood out to me, but another completely different girl. I guess this just shows that you don't and can't know what the drama schools are looking for... the only way I could have been more surprised is if they had recalled me....haha

Despite not getting recalled, and being a little shocked by the brutal nature of the cut (I mean, 1 out of an entire group!?!), I wasn't upset by the outcome of GSA's audition. I met some lovely auditionees, discovered some potential new audition material from the others and felt I had done well, all things considered. As said before, I am by NO MEANS a dancer, and I felt there was a big emphasis at GSA on your dancing skills being up to scratch. Gotta keep working at that, I guess!

Cheers for tuning in, until next time!

Yours faithfully,
the postgrad-app