Judging NATS Music Theater “Student Auditions”

Posted 8 months, 1 week ago at 10:21 pm. 2 comments

I just spent my weekend judging students of NATS teachers in a statewide Music Theater singing competition.  This year I was gravely disappointed.  At only one time in the many hours of listening to singers did I get goosebumps.  Most of the time, I was giving scores in the mid-80’s.  The scoring system is 95-100 Exceptional, 90-94 Outstanding, 85-90 Very good, 80-84 Acceptable, 74-79 Needs Improvement (basically if they failed to show any preparation at all).  I believe I only gave out 3 scores of 90 & 91.  Everything else was in the 80’s.

Why didn’t I give out scores that were higher? Several of the students sang ONE piece well, but their second piece was unfortunate.  Even more unfortunately, many times they BEGAN with the weaker piece and I ended up not wanting to hear more (even though we did hear both of their prepared pieces).  Several students were singing completely wrong repertoire for their technical ability.  Most students were very inconsistent in their vocal production.  Very few students had a “fila di voce” that the voice could “hang” on throughout the register shifts, let alone serve as the basis of a healthy belt tone.

NO student demonstrated acting ability that I would want to pay for (and I was judging the 2 most advanced groups).  The acting was very generic and often without personalization.  One of the “winners” completely distracted me by hitching herself back up onto the stool she had chosen to use.  All in all, I was completely bored by the singing.

I feel that this, then, MUST be a failure on OUR part.  The teachers are the ones who prepare their students for this competition.  I know that for me, two of my students were well-prepared (one received 2^nd place in her division, the other made the finals).  The other two were NOT well-prepared.  I had also pulled one student out, as she wasn’t even close to prepared.  Did I do the two who were not really ready a disservice by having them compete?  With both of those, there were vocal technical issues that came up and we are working to resolve.  This kept them from being able to delve far enough into the character to really present themselves well.  But, did they learn from this experience? Did *I* learn from this experience and how I need to prepare my students for these adjudications?

When I adjudicate students, I can only base my comments on what I see on that day.  I don’t know how much the students have been able to work.  I don’t know their personal commitment.  I don’t know if they’ve had external coaching.  I don’t know if technical issues have cropped up at the last minute.  I do know that very few students presented themselves well.  Based on my studio’s showing, I should have seen 50-50 of well-prepared vs. ill-prepared.  It was much closer to 20-80, with MANY more ill-prepared students than otherwise.

When teaching music theater singing, acting is KEY.  But, the vocal technique must also be very secure before belting can be attempted.  Many singers tried and failed, because their vocal technique was insecure.  Several acted very well (although often it was “acting” and not a state of being), yet they screamed the sound without TONE in the center of the pitches.

Overall, it did not seem that this year, we teachers in Arizona are producing Music Theater singers who would be successful in a career onstage.  The vocal technique was not there, by a long shot. The acting was certainly not there.  I was not drawn into the world of the singers (even during the “Winner’s Concert” where the winner of each division performed one piece).  I was bored.  That, to me, is the greatest condemnation that can happen when listening to talented young singers.  I hope and pray that when the Arizona NATS Student Auditions (classical only, this time) come around in early February that I hear more singing that MOVES me and draws me in.

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