Masters in Performing Arts, advice and thoughts most welcome

[FinniestonPlace]

I'm about to apply. Any advice will be really useful.

Just writing the personal statement and working out who to ask for references.

Helpful information would be around auditioning, funding, job prospects post qualifying.

I am realistic enough to know that my chances are small, even with a background in performing.

Thank you.

You must surely know job prospects are dire! Performing arts is on its knees. Do it for fun but don’t expect much work. It was always ludicrously competitive. None of the students I know through my DDs who did performing arts ever got work in that field and has to do something else. But by all means do what you enjoy.

Ok, thank you, I think I was looking for some practical advice about applying, I am on with the application.

I know there isn't any work at the minute due to the virus but think I should give it a go. At least try to get a place. If I don't get a place then I'll not look back with regrets for not trying.

I'm also researching other options ready for if this doesn't work out.

Prospects depend where you're applying, are we taking Rada, Mountview etc or a uni with a drama dept? Prospects better if it's the former, but still not great.

Thank you, yes looking at RAM, Mountview and also 'out of London' alternatives.

My dd has got a Masters in Drama, not sure if that's the same. Drama degrees help with any job interview because you will present yourself better than most.
My dd applied for and got a bursary.
She has a job she loves working in a museum.
Look for jobs where you can use your vocal and physical skills to good effect.

Please can I ask about the bursary?

RAM does have a scholarship but only two students per year. I'm having to plan for not being awarded that either. Though I would be much more likely to be able to attend with a scholarship.

RAM - Royal Academy of Music? Did you mean RADA?

When you say Performing Arts, what exactly do you mean? Which performing art? One of my DC is in the performing arts and doesn’t have a degree, let alone a masters. I wouldn’t have thought a masters would be useful if you want to perform.

I think if you don’t know how to prep for an audition I suggest you need to find an acting school who will coach you and that has experience in selecting the right pieces for audition and how you approach any group work. You will surely be up against people who have first degrees and experience. Where DD went to school, the drama teachers had vast experience in doing this and alumni from RADA etc will have huge experience of acting. Somehow you need to catch up and get top quality advice and coaching, which cannot possibly come from MN.

There are loads of performing arts degrees. Different genres etc. Trinity Laban does musical theatre, dance.... Of course some dc go to theatre school and don’t do degrees. No right way or wrong way.

I already have a biochemistry degree and experience through school, through amateur operatics prior to university, university Footlights and the Edinburgh Fringe, performing two to three shows annually.

I'm looking currently at the MA in Musical Theatre at the Royal Academy of Music amongst others.

www.ram.ac.uk/study/about-our-courses/postgraduate-courses.

Anyone with personal experience to share would be a help.

And forgot to add A level, A* in Theatre Studies.

RAM tells you exactly how to audition for this course for 2022. Have you read it? Have you passed singing exams?

I'm a professional musician and have studied at one of the London music colleges (not RAM, but very similar). Please ask away, I will try and answer if I can. My school also had an MT course so I'm familiar with some of the requirements.

First of all, if your degree is an academic one, you need to fill your personal statement with reasons why your Musical Theatre skills are currently the same as someone who's done a 4 year undergrad and spent 20-30h a week singing/dancing/acting. Explain how you've achieved a masters-entry level of your MT skills, how much training you've had parallel to your other studies or employment, and list all significant MT experiences and shows you might have participated in already. Plus the usual time management, team working skills... There's a lot of team work involved in MT training.

RAM, Mountview and other top schools are extremely competitive as you'll know and if I may be blunt, they only care about your practical skills and how well you do in the audition. A good personal statement is key to getting an audition, but if they also ask for a video to be submitted first (do they?) I'd really focus on that.

You’ve missed the deadline for RAM.

My daughter is applying for RCS, Royal Welsh & an Independent place in London.

Yes, it’s video submissions this year.

It’s going to be very competitive this year I think. Lots of my daughter’s cohort are applying who wouldn’t normally because they have missed so much training due to corona and they feel they need an extra year.

Scholarships - if the MT department works like the classical music ones do (I believe so, though it may vary from conservatoire to conservatoire) - if you say they have 2, they go to the top 2 candidates. Generally, they might give them to someone else other than no. 1 and 2 on the list, if these people have mentioned a low-income background, no parental support and in my experience, they tend to favour international students who otherwise couldn't afford £25/35k a year in fees. If they really want someone but this person has 3-4 schools in mind, they'll again offer a scholarship to make their own course more attractive.

You need to ask about scholarships in the interview, when they say "do you have any questions for us?". If you show an interest and are placed at the top of the list when it comes to offers, you're more likely to be considered for one.

How many candidates audition for these courses vs get offers? The course I did, had a 10% acceptance rate. Scholarship holders were the top 10% of the student body, so that's top 1% at audition. That's how brutal getting into a top music, MT or drama course is, especially if you're going for the London ones. Understandably these give you more connection to West End/big agents in London.

An ex student of my husband did get one of the RAM scholarships. He is an extraordinary talent.

Name change fail earlier - meh.

Yes, check deadlines. Conservatoires normally have a deadline of 1st October for the following September entry. Some might stick to 15th Jan but in my conservatoire, it was 1st Oct for all music courses, 15th Jan for dance.

Independent schools might have different deadlines.

Are you looking towards the next November deadline, OP - or have they extended the deadline this year for some reason?

Yes, scholarships are extremely hard to get. Especially at RAM, the audition process there is brutal. Less so for MT compared to classical, but still brutal because everyone wants to get in as RAM is a good name to have on your CV and they offer world-class training and opportunities.

I had a scholarship throughout my entire undergrad, which was extremely hard to keep up for 4 years. Scholarships offered at audition are hard to get, but to then have it renewed each year I had to stay top of my department, have 90%+ marks in all my performance exams (amount went down they year I got a 78 for my main exam), participate in as many donors' concerts as the development team considered necessary and take part in external competitions, representing the name of my conservatoire. Plus annual bank statements to prove my financial situation was still bad enough for them to offer help.

This wasn't even RAM, where the process is harder. I couldn't have done my undergrad without financial support, and I'm now in another country, on an internship that only comes up once every 3 years, there is one place worldwide. They invest in you if they see the potential. I'm still tied to my UK school as an ex-scholar, I keep representing them everywhere, sometimes without realising...

Yes, the job prospects are dire but if you love it, go for it.

There's nothing better than turning your passion into your profession. And by studying at a top school like the ones you've listed, your prospects will improve, mainly because your teachers will provide such an amazing level of training.

I got a fees scholarship and place on the RAM Musical Theatre course, a fees scholarship to RSAMD to study on their MPerf Musical Theatre course and places at the other drama schools I applied for (Arts Ed etc).

It’s a while ago now, when Mary Hammond and Karen Rabinowitz were on the panel at RAM so the tastes of the heads of the course may be different now. It is HIGHLY competitive and none of my students (I now teach) have ever got in, although one got a recall.

My advice would be to apply early (now is in my opinion too late) as they give out places from the very first audition - for example my audition was on the first or second day of auditioning and I got in without a recall, whilst others from my audition day had to go through recalls but some did get places, meanwhile they were still auditioning. Someone I know auditioned at the end of January and were told half their places had already gone. The later you apply, the less places there are. Some of the people I know were on the reserve list for many many months (auditioned in December, recalls late January didn’t find out they had a place until August).

The audition process has changed since I auditioned, read the guidelines and get REALLY familiar with them. When I auditioned we needed to prepare 5 songs and 2 contrasting monologues. Do NOT pick anything obvious. They don’t want to hear She Used To Be Mine or On My Own etc...look for unusual, underdone constructing pieces that show off your acting range and your vocal abilities. Include Legit rep, Contemporary, have a Pop song to had. If you can sing Legit beautifully AND have a phenomenal Belt, can make them laugh, cry and think...then you’ve got as good a chance as any.

I didn’t do a BA in Musical Theatre but I’d done 15 years of LAMDA Drama and ABRSM Singing and RAD and ISTD Dance from being 3, when I also started doing shows. I had also played some leading roles in big musicals at Regional theatres, so had a lot of experience. I’d been singing at weddings etc for a long time before my audition and I was also sort of “headhunted” during a masterclass in London and it was suggested by a member of staff on the course that I audition for the course at RAM as they thought I had a strong chance of getting in.

The majority of other people on the course at the time and the majority of auditionees now will have done 3 years at least at drama school or on an MT course at university before - so we had people with MT degrees from Arts Ed, Guildford, Mountview etc...and I have to admit I did find that intimidating at audition. There were also people that had already worked in the West End or the equivalent overseas (lots of International Students apply).

The truth is “what’s for you won’t go past you”. If you can afford to audition round a few places (even the audition process is expensive) then do. More importantly, make sure you can afford your place and accommodation if you get in. It’s awful for people who get in and can’t afford to go as it’s so rare to even get in in the first place.

Mary Hammond wrote a book on auditioning for Musical Theatre. I really recommend you read that as it’s full of tips (and a warm up CD lol).

Also, if it’s what you really want and you feel that you had positive feedback/ encouraging signs such as a recall or place on the wait list, if you were to audition and not get in then try again the following year. My friend got into RADA on her 3rd attempt.

Best of Luck!

It’s a bloody hard industry and I’d probably have been homeless right now if I didn’t teach but if you want to do it and you have the talent then you’ve got to go for it!