Anybody else's teenager applying for Musical Theatre next year?

[dancinfeet]

Anyone else in the same position who wants to share information and advice, or have a child who is studying Musical Theatre?
We are not in a position to fund her at one of the big full time dance / theatre schools, and the DADA awards for a funded place are fiercely competitive, so she is looking at Musical Theatre degree courses instead. Any advice on the finding the best Musical Theatre degree courses, or audition preparation would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou!

Don't worry about the deposit for the foundation - with 4 more schools to go unless they are fixated on one college you are bound to be offered another one

Do be careful picking though and look carefully into contact hours and number of weeks at college - some are 2 days a week for barely 20 weeks and others are 35-40 hours for about 34 weeks

Places like Evolution in Colchester are excellent but other colleges have 'jumped on the bandwagon' in the last few years and aren't as credible

Thanks Katy. Its hard to stay confident. This is her second year of applying for Acting ba courses. We know how hard and competitive it is to be offered a place. This is why we are considering the foundation.
Dd auditioned at only 4 places last year, this year she has added a further 3. She was offered the foundation from the same place last year and we all decided that a gap year was the way to go. This time around it may be better for her. Obviously she still has auditions to do and different schools are looking for different things.
However it may make her slightly more relaxed knowing that she will be going somewhere in september even if she then has to start again next year. 😊

ah now I don't know much about acting - my info was more about MT really - if you want to PM me and chat I'll let you know what i know (which might not be very much)

I don't know a huge amount about acting but I need to learn as its the way that ds (year 9 now) is heading)

MT/Dance seemes to be the earlier the better, start young, train young becasue your career is short lived, wheras lots of straight drama schools tend to prefer more mature students with a bit of life experience.

I did attend a talk on auditions etc at the CDET conference by someone high up at ALRA. He said its not unusual for candidates to audition for 3-4 times before being ready.

ho hum, all ongoing, dd doesn't want to do Chich course as it's not triple threat, has auditioned for a couple of foundations, only had refusal from arts ed so far, two more this week, 2 next, and if nothing comes of that intends to go and live in London by herself to do extra classes while she works. Clearly that is bonkers for a just 18 year old with no social support or friendship network ( we're in Devon), how on earth will I talk her out of it? Gah! Child has two perfectly acceptable uni offers, one for acting, one for music/MT. Intends to turn them down. Hypnosis may be required. All useful arguments considered....

Oh no! Has your DD confirmed if there is any dance on either of the courses she’s got offers on? I would expect there to be at least some dance, and plus surely there will be schools locally that offer adult dance classes.

dd got her refusal from Arts Ed: they said she has talent and they really liked what she did with her piece, but they felt she wasn't moving her lower body enough

well, she did tell them she had a badly sprained ankle...

oh well

she was quietly pleased with her RADA audition but is very well aware that this is RADA so she will most likely have to make do with the internal satisfaction of having done her best

unfortunately, she was quite unwell when she auditioned for the not-quite-so-prestigious schools so only has the big ones left now

she is making plans for staying in London and trying to find odd theatre stuff to do

Oh Cory, I’m sorry to hear that. You are a year ahead of us, my DD is researching drama schools at the moment for Sept 2019.
While it may not be much comfort now, it did sound very positive feed back from Arts Ed, and something that your DD knows won’t be a problem next time as she will be fully fit.
Your DD sounds very determined. Is staying in London a realistic choice for her?

And break a leg on the auditions still to come

Did has cancelled her remaining auditions & is accepting a Dada funded place at Hammond. Her first year will be a common year then she can choose between Dance or Musical Theatre at the end of the year.

error, dd is a couple of years further on than yours, as she spent 2 years working first and is now doing a foundation course (which she really enjoys)

yes, I think staying in London may be realistic; she will have to get a job, obviously, and eventually find a new house share (though can stay in her current one until December)

she is also thinking of applying for MA courses: you can go straight from a foundation to an MA though it means really hard work

@AlexanderHamilton, congratulations to your DD on Hammond. Is this a 2 year course?

Cory, sorry I hadn’t appreciated that your DD was older. I guess she’s in London currently on her foundation course. Has she found it a useful experience?

It’s the 3 year Trinity Diploma error.

congratulations to your dd, Hamilton!

error, my dd has found the foundation course very useful

she has learnt a lot about how to use her voice and how to use her body and how to work in a group

and one thing it has done for her is to make her absolutely sure that this is what she wants to do

Great to hear it’s been such a positive experience.

DD has been offered foundation at Mountview today - she's very happy!!

Congrats to the dd, dancing hippos. Great news! Mine has just heard Mount View have put her on their reserve list. Please pretty please could everybody with more than one offer go somewhere else so she gets a place? Nothing else is on the table. Current plan if no good is work in Bristol (we compromised on that, her bro is at uni there and she has friends going there in Sept) to do evening MT courses in Bath and do it all again next year. To be fair she knew she wasn't really ready - it's hard starting ballet at 17 and expecting to get anywhere....

Fingers crossed that there is some movement on the reserve list for you, binge

I am really quite unknowledgably about the performing arts world and really need some.guidance. my daughter will be starting A-levels in September I insisted she takes some generic A-levels to keep her options open for degree courses. Now throughout her childhood she always did dance as an Extra Curricular and loves performing...she took drama as GCSE is in all the schools plays and dances and her talent does stick out. She wants to peruse this avenue but she doesn't have any formal certificates in dance. What are her options after uni? She really does want a career in this industry ....i have tried to dissuade by pointing out the competitiveness...but it's not deterring

ello kidinhouse. Well we spent some years expecting dd to grow out of her desire to do MT. Hoped she'd do what her bro did, do A levels, go off and get a drama degree and audition for a drama school at masters level. (well, her bro has started on that course and it's a breeze for him, but still doing the degree atm). But nope. We were useless as to guidance (being both academic types with no performing arts knowledge), her drama teachers likewise tried hard to persuade her to do a good drama degree and were dismissive of her MT desires.... and after dithering she decided quite late ( after UCAS applications were in) that actually nothing else would do, and then realised that she had zero dance experience and her voice work wasn't as good as she'd thought it was. Started 1-1 ballet tuition September last, changed voice tutor in November, started auditions in Feb. I kind of wish we'd taken her at her word earlier, as this has been quite a bit of heartache for her, always being "behind" but she is certainly determined. My residual request of her, and so far so good, is that she does do it as a degree. Since like most in this competitive field she will probably end up teaching it rather than doing it.
So, advice for the similarly unprepared: you don't need qualifications in dance for many of the schools but experience does show. Some schools concentrate more on acting/voice, some more on dance: go for the ones that suit your talents and experience best. Vocal technique is important: raw talent is cool but you'll be auditioning against people who have talent AND training. School tutors who congratulate effort for its own sake and are not exacting are just not good enough. Auditions courses in the Summer might be useful, check out GSA for these. It may take two or even 3 years to get on the course you want, if you haven't been working towards it for some years, unless you are blessed with luck or aforesaid raw talent in spades.

...but that's just been our experience, and the road is not yet run....

Getting a place on the MT degree courses at the top vocational colleges is massively competitive but their graduates have a much higher chance of getting professional work afterwards as all the top agents attend their final shows and make offers to the students. It's almost impossible to get work without a good agent.

The best preparation for applying to these colleges is generally recognised to be the BTEC level 3 extended diploma in Performing Arts (Musical Theatre) which is equivalent to 3 A levels. Make sure to choose a school/ college with a good reputation for this course as quality can be very variable. The course when taught well is a rigorous training in singing, acting and dance plus audition technique. Choose a course run by teachers with solid experience in the industry. It is sometimes possible to study another A level alongside the BTEC but as this is the equivalent of taking on 4 A levels should only be attempted by those of high academic ability.

The BTEC gives a thorough practical based training which can't be matched by performing arts A levels which take a much more theoretical academic based approach as do drama degrees at standard universities.

Entry to the vocational colleges for degree level is by audition only. Though there are no specific requirements for previous qualifications , it is tough enough getting a place for those who have studied the BTEC full time so there is practically no chance of getting a place for those without a similarly rigorous preparation. Raw talent without thorough training just won't do it.

Even the best prepared BTEC candidates from the top schools may take 3 or 4 years or more of auditions to gain a place at the best vocational colleges, many never do. It is very unusual to get a place on the degree courses straight from sixth form as the level of maturity needed to cope with the course means most getting a place are in their early twenties. Younger candidates may get an offer of a year long foundation course to get them up to the level required for the degree course. At a good college these are well worth it as a high percentage go on to the degree course at the end of the year.

The best vocational colleges include Arts Ed, Mountview, Guildhall, Central, GSA, Rose Bruford, LAMDA. The key is choosing one that gets the top agents attending the end of course show.

Happy to discuss further with anyone who wants more advice. DD has just finished in MT at BRIT School and is going on to foundation at Mountview next year. I'm sure she would be happy to advise your DC as she knows the audition process inside out

@Kidinhouse have been through the MT audition for vocational college experience, see below for detailed reply. Hope this is some help for you.

Just thought I'd update on this thread. Dd was ill during the drama school auditions, went dutifully to every audition but wasn't really there, didn't get a place in traditional drama school, but managed to get herself sorted (proper meds) in time for non-accredited & has now got offers for Identity and Fourth Monkey. Thinking of taking 4thM for a year & then look for industry-related work + maybe MA later on. It sounds amazing & when you have been that child in the wheelchair that everybody talks past, acing a 7 hr audition in physical theatre must feel pretty good. Anyone know ab 4thMonkey?

DD was going to apply to 4th Monkey but then she got her offer from Mountview. They have a good reputation for training and are a well respected theatre company she tells me.