NYMT / BYMT 2021

I’m so glad I found this thread. My DS has been waiting to hear back from NYMT as a performer and we’ve heard nothing. I’d seen a few tweets about people getting recalls and thought it was a bit odd. I think I’ll give them a call tomorrow as it seems that the email has gone astray. Not holding out much hope now though. Is anyone else still waiting to hear back?

Everybody listen to @aplo. She is wise!

We also recognise that experience of struggling with the recall material and being convinced it's a walk in the park for everyone else recalled. In DS' first year we just got sent sheet music for one of the shows with no audio tracks at all. We can't read or play music beyond telling whether it goes up or down, and we were paying 16 year old friends to bash out the tunes on a piano and send them to us so DS could practise. It was also pitched extremely high, and DS was not a soprano, and there were many tears... but in the end it was worth all the pain a million times over because he got cast (luckily not in the screechy one because he wouldn't have coped!) and it was a really wonderful experience. Good luck to your DD @Pinkstargazer12.

@aplo thank you. Good to hear your thoughts on the material. 4 x script extracts, dance, improv, sign language and 2 songs. Phew it’s a lot!
DD is struggling with one song. She’s encouraged by what you and Biscuits have said. Thank you x

@Pinkstargazer12 just to echo lots of what @Biscuitsneeded said. I have had numerous students take part in NYMT shows over the last number of years - I think it is 9 years now and none of them were in full time training of any kind - all in ordinary schools and in a place where drama or dance are not on any secondary school curriculum so all training is done outside school hours as extra curricular activities.
The first time I entered a student another performer from our city had successfully auditioned the year before and said I should put students forward, we went in fairly blind and he was cast and was again the following year and then he went to full time training at 18 and has been involved with MYNT in various capacities ever since. Admittedly he made it look easier than it has proven to be since for everyone else but every year there has been some success and mostly these are students who I see once a week for a singing lesson and they take once a week drama class (often a group class) and some bit of dance. NYMT don't care about where you have been or where you train or what you have done previously just what you bring to the audition on the day - especially at recalls - and if you fit the show.
The hunchback recall material is by far the most difficult of all this years shows from a vocal perspective and I would think everyone recalled will find that there is at least one of the pieces outside their comfort zone.

@BiscuitsneededWhat a lovely encouraging post, so kind of you to take time to write such a detailed response. Thank you 😊
She is recalled for Hunchback which I think is for the older participants. She is 16, almost 17 so probably one of the youngest. She’s almost finished her songs but found one very challenging. She’s back at dance tonight so will be speaking to her teacher about the improv. It’s going to be a nervous fortnight for all of us!

@Pinkstargazer12 please tell your DD from this mother here (as I know they don't always want to believe their own mother!) to talk herself right back into it! NYMT know what they're doing and they wouldn't have recalled her if they didn't think she could do it. Whilst it's true that some auditionees may be at vocational schools and (post 16/18) in vocational training, plenty aren't. My DS has got in 5 times now (if we can count last year!) and during that time has been at a state primary and then a state comp. While having had training may help some kids do well in auditions, ultimately the creatives who are selecting them for the shows won't be interested in someone's background or training. Everyone recalled is good enough for NYMT to put them on a stage - what they are doing now is looking for the best fit for the roles available. Sometimes that means someone who is, on paper, a better singer or a more accomplished dancer loses out to someone who may sing fractionally less well but is just somehow more believable and alive on stage - acting matters a lot. The other thing I think NYMT are quite good at is weeding out egos and people who are likely to be difficult. In 5 years DS has never encountered a castmate who was a nightmare to work with. Some have been quirky, some hyper, some loud, some shy, some have glittering CVs and some just did a school play and enjoyed it. NYMT has launched the career of many an ordinary kid. Look at its patron, Michael Jibson, for a start. DS and I know all about impostor syndrome, and I promise in his first year I thought it was all a glorious mistake - but the creatives know potential when they see it. Your DD should go in all guns blazing. What's she recalled for?

Well done to all those who have submitted. My DD is recording hers tonight, I’m not allowed to be involved in any part of it. She’s already talking her self out of it. She’s seen tweets from some at performing arts schools and conservatoire’s and has decided she’s not good enough. I’m trying to reassure her ......hopefully they like a diverse mix including northern girls from very average sixth form colleges!

Yes I think/hope the point of asking for them ahead of the weekend is that they will watch them beforehand. In fact the Henrietta director tweeted this morning that she was enjoying watching them! I wouldn't know where to begin with editing a tape so it's a good job DS knows...

God... i’m so glad my DD is not in the midst of high intensity school work at the same time! Its so time consuming!! i seem to spend my life organising and cutting together self tapes! Am hopeful that she can do it herself soon ...!

Well done your DS for battling through. I’m assuming the creatives will go into the zoom recalls next weekend having watched all the self tapes .... which must be incredibly intense viewing!!

@jamsanmum well done to your DD! DS has done his in separate bits but wants to leave it until tomorrow after school to edit together. He's worked really hard on it, but ditto, I have no idea whether it will pass muster. He's also about to do 4 weeks of GCSE assessments from tomorrow, so he was taping today and trying to learn his French presentation at the same time. I'm not sure he's worked so hard in months! Counted up and he's got 25 separate assessments to do - whatever happened to 'GCSEs are cancelled because we mustn't stress the kids out'?? Anyway, I digress, but as a result his time for fine-tuning his recall video is limited. Possibly that's a good thing, I don't know. He might have done even more than the 23 takes he did today!

... just sent off nymt recall tape ! Eeek! Horrible not having a clue whether its the sort of thing they are looking for - would be so much easier face to face (with a bit of direction!!)
Done now though. 😅😅😅

I’m hoping the musicians might here something from NYMT this week or an update from BYMT. The logistics with venues etc this must be a nightmare for them with planning though, so understandable delay I guess

My daughter auditioned for BYMT

@Operagirl1 which organisation and role are you waiting for? (Sorry I haven't managed to track everyone's status!!).

If there is going to be a long delay giving out results, it's a shame they can't send out regular updates, even just one line so you know you haven't been forgotten. All this waiting is not good for mental health. In my over 30 years as a professional opera singer, I have never had to wait this long for a result!

@doesanybodyhaveamap I am hoping for you and the several others on here in similar positions that NYMT musician results will come very soon, and that you hear from BYMT ASAP so you can have a clear idea of how your summer will be. I think over the last of year we have got so used to making plans and then having to change them, and then making no plans at all because there was no point, and now this glimmer of hope that things might actually happen this summer makes us all the more impatient to have things nailed down, especially with siblings, booking annual leave etc to consider. Fingers crossed everybody's situation will be resolved in the next couple of weeks.

@aplo what a fabulous story (we do have a hoodie btw!). I’m sorry your DD is still feeling so bruised by it all. For us it was more the timing of the no that made it hard I think.

Reading everyone’s input on here has certainly given me a much better insight into the whole crazy business and DD has dusted herself off and will no doubt be auditioning again next year. I’ll look forward to hearing how everyone gets on as the process continues.

[quote aplo]@doesanybodyhaveamap the first year DD auditioned we went to see wicked the night before her recall and Emma Hatton was playing elphaba, we passed the stage door afterwards just as she was coming out and we ended up waking to the tube with her, DD asked her if she had any advice for an audition and she asked what it was for and when DD said NYMT she told us that she auditioned twice and never had a recall and told DD she was already better than her. It certainly helped DD going into her recall the next day![/quote]
Wow what a story! And shows how it’s so important to keep going if you can!

This past year though has been totally rubbish for all performers at all levels and especially for children who grow out of parts.
My DS will now never play the part he had in Ragtime which is one of my favourite shows. He (hopefully) will have lots more performing in his life and was lucky enough to be cast in a tv programme over lockdown but I will always slightly lament the little boy role!

@doesanybodyhaveamap the first year DD auditioned we went to see wicked the night before her recall and Emma Hatton was playing elphaba, we passed the stage door afterwards just as she was coming out and we ended up waking to the tube with her, DD asked her if she had any advice for an audition and she asked what it was for and when DD said NYMT she told us that she auditioned twice and never had a recall and told DD she was already better than her. It certainly helped DD going into her recall the next day!

It’s so so hard. My eldest lost out on a play she was in. My youngest had a show cancelled. No end of school performances etc either.

If they can keep singing, learning monos, poems, dancing, writing things it will hold them in good stead for the future 🙏