3 Tips for Auditioning for a Musical

Classical auditions tend to be fairly formal.

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Find a Piece That Fits Your Style

It’s important to find an audition piece that fits your style. Look for something that highlights your strengths, and downplays your weaknesses. For example, if you sing alto and can project your voice, then don’t pick a song that requires you to sing in falsetto. If you have a great voice for show tunes, then find a classic that you like, and stick with it. Don’t decide it’s too cheesy and try for an opera number or a pop song instead. Remember, picking a popular song isn’t going to help your chances if you can’t sing it.

Jump Right Into it

Once you’ve found a song you like practice, practice, practice. You want to be able to sing this song anywhere and anytime because when you walk into your audition you might not have a chance to relax before it’s your turn. Once you’re there, be prepared to just go. If you’re nervous and miss a line, jump back into the song as soon as you can. It’s more important to catch up to where you were than to stop the music and begin again from the start. The director wants to know that you’ll be able to improvise on stage if you have to instead of standing in the same spot like a dead fish.

Don’t get Intimidated by Other People

When you walk into an audition, you’re on equal ground with everyone else. Yes, there are probably people with better voices, more experience, and more talent than you. Some of them are probably at your same audition, but that doesn’t mean you should just give up and walk out the door. You don’t know what parts they’re auditioning for, if their schedule allows for a lead part, or what the director is even looking for in the first place. Not everyone is your competition, and by worrying you’ll miss out on enjoying the auditioning process.

Filed Under: Education, The Arts

Art History Degree Online

Some people say that while engineers and scientists make our lives longer and easier to live, poets and artists are the people who make life worth living. Perhaps you have an appreciation for beautiful and intriguing things that most people do not have the skills to create. If so, you might make a good art historian. Also, considering that the internet has made it far easier than ever before to get a degree in just about every field, getting an art history degree may actually be reasonably easy. Of course, you do have to find the right school. But once you do, there are several great career options that will open up for you. After all, those who remember the past can choose which parts of it they are going to relive.

Getting an art history degree starts with selecting the best college for you. So, when it comes to online universities, sites such as elearners.com are incredibly useful to the young turk who appreciates the past and wants to learn more about it. You can do all kinds of research with regard to how well a particular university handles the subject matter, as well as finding out what the curriculum is ultimately going to entail. After all, it is better to decide whether a particular place is right for you or not early on, as opposed to going for awhile and then expensively quitting.

Fortunately, the rewards of being an art history major are quite pleasant. Not only can you be an art history teacher at the high school (or with an advanced degree, college) level. You can also become the curator of a museum, and put on presentations about aspects of the ancient world and the beauty it conceived. Or, if you wish to pursue the arts as your personal vocation, your studies of art history can serve to enrich your own work. No artists out there are better than classically trained ones.

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How to get Your Artwork Displayed

Ask a Gallery Owner

If you want to have your artwork shown in a gallery, the easiest way to find out what you need to do is ask someone who runs a gallery. You can either make an appointment, or simply swing by during business hours and ask. If you make an appointment bring your portfolio. Make sure to ask for pointers and areas you could improve on, as well as an honest critique of your work.

Get a Booth at the Art Festival

There are generally several art festivals through out the year. Look up the websites online to find out information on days and hours, as well as what the guidelines for artists are. You might have to pay a fee, or provide your own tables and easels. But, this might also be an opportunity to sell your artwork, and you might be able to share a booth with a friend, cutting your costs in half.

Submit Contest Entries

Check the campus website for information on school-run art contests. You can also check with the county fair, and various art supply companies. Contests are great way to expose yourself as an artists, and winning entries are often posted online and in contest specific galleries. Plus, every contest you win you can post in your resume and link the web galleries to your online portfolio.

Volunteer at the Local Art Museum

You can get a lot of hands on experience volunteering at some of the local art museums. Not only does it expose you to the museum community, but sometimes there are staff art shows that you might be able to participate in. Depending on the context of your volunteer work and the museum you are at, you might be able to work with children on different projects. That experience will help give you more exposure in the art community.

Filed Under: The Arts

Advantages for Performing Artists of Joining the Campus Newspaper

There are many advantages to joining the campus newspaper if you’re a performing arts student. When you’re writing for the media, you’ll be able to gain access to directors and choreographers for interviews, as well as actors, dancers and musicians. You’ll also meet other member of the media and can learn from them. And you’ll be exposed to the performing arts community as a whole, and each event you attend you’ll be able to make new contacts.

Gain Exposure in Your Field

As a journalist you’ll be able to go places other audience members can’t. It’s a great way to begin to meet people in your field. You’ll be able to conduct interviews, attend performances and write reviews. And with each pieces that’s published you’ll begin to become a reliable persona in your industry.

Meet Other Members of the Entertainment Media

There are plenty of journalism workshops that bring students face to face with professionals. When you’re able to meet other people who work in entertainment media you’ll be able to make a lot of valuable contacts. Most professional journalists and media personalities are eager to help students, and you should be able to get lots of good tips and pointers from them.

Learn More About the Local Performing Arts Community

When you have this kind of exposure to the performing arts community you’ll have access to information most people wouldn’t even know existed. You’ll be able to gain information on the theatres, the publicity behind each performance, and the effort that goes into making a show. Go to every event you can cover, and try to get as many interviews as you can. Soon you’ll begin to piece together the ins and outs of the industry, and with enough time you’ll have a strategy that will actually take you on stage and out of the audience.

Filed Under: The Arts

How to get Your Foot in the Door

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 05: Sir Peter Bl...

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Join the Campus Newspaper

There are a lot of advantages for an art student to be on the school newspaper. You’ll have a chance to cover all the local art events, you’ll be able to conduct interviews with cast members and artists, and you’ll develop a close relationship with the people in the art community. Plus, the more articles you write the more your name gets out, and soon you’ll develop a following.

Get a Job at the Theatre or Art Gallery

A great way to keep your finger on the pulse of the local art community is to work at either the theatre or the art gallery. You’ll have first hand experience with how the back end of these businesses operate, plus you’ll have a chance to meet the professionals in the industry while working one on one with artists already in the field.

Enter all the Contests You Can Find

Local radio stations will often sponsor battle of the band events. It’s a good idea as a musician to submit an audition tape to compete. Likewise, visual artists should try to enter all the contests that are available. There are art organizations that put on contests to help develop student artists. By competing in these events you’re exposing your artwork to the community you want to be a part of, and also getting your name out there.

Volunteer at the Arts Festival

If you check out the websites for the various art festivals in your area, you’ll be able to find contact information for the people who are running them. Shoot them emails explaining that you are an art student and want to volunteer to help in any way you can. Even if all you end up doing is fetching water, by helping at these events you’ll be able to meet a lot of people, and you’ll develop a reputation as being very eager and motivated.

Filed Under: Careers, The Arts

Four Basic Classes not to Take for Granted

When you’re studying visual and performing arts, there are basic classes that you should never take for granted. As an artist, you need to be able to draw and know how to compose images. Theatre art majors need to know how to act, as well as the structure of stage management. Singers need to know how to read notes, compose music, and how to control their voices. Dancers need to understand cultural influences on dance, as well as techniques and choreography.

Drawing and Art Composition

Before you can run you need to learn how to walk. Visual arts are so varied, but they all rely on the basic skills of drawing and art composition. Even if your art involves three dimensional pieces or sculptures, you need to be able to sketch out your ideas in a way that’s understandable.

Acting and Theatre Production

Believe it or not, but acting is an important skill to fine tune if you want to make it as an actor. Acting classes offer hands on experience with trying different techniques, as well as a basic foundation for terminology and history of the art. Theatre production is important because it will give you a working knowledge of how all the back end stuff works, which you need to know if you plan on spending any time on stage.

Music Theory and Voice Lessons

If you’re going to be a musician you need to be able to read music. You also need to learn how to control your voice, adjust pitch and volume, and learn basic terminology. You won’t be able to successfully write music if you can’t put it to paper.

Dance History

Dancing is such an integral part of human history and every culture, and many of forms of dancing can be traced back to their cultural roots. Taking a dance history class will give you a better understanding of different forms of dance, as well as terminology and a base knowledge of choreography.

Filed Under: Education, The Arts

Digital Music: The New Face of the Future

Lisa Harriton performing with The Smashing Pum...
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Digital music, along with all types of digital media, is here to stay. Whether the sounds produced by digital music are your taste or not, it really doesn’t matter. The fact of the matter is that youth today enjoy the electronic sounds that are being produced by musicians. The truth is that many young adults and children are actually interested in the arts again because of digital media. That in and of itself is a reason to keep digital music around.

Where Is Digital Music Found?

If you are old school music, then you may think you’ve never heard of digital music. Think again. Digital music has been popular for many years. You can go as far back as the 1990s to find the origins of digital music. Surely you’ve heard of some of these bands:

  • U2
  • Radiohead
  • R.E.M.
  • The Smashing Pumpkins
  • Oasis

This list is just a sampling of some very popular bands that have used digital music. U2’s Achtung Baby, Zooropa, and Pop albums were all produced with digital media. Kids that grew up listening to any of these bands have been influenced by digital media for years. Remember T-Pain and his auto tune for vocals? He sang about girls in the club wearing Apple Bottom jeans. With the likes of T-Pain, U2, and other popular bands, kids in today’s world hardly know music without a digital influence.

The Future of Music

For a few years, it seemed that music and especially music in the public school system was going away. With the use of more digital music, young adults and teens are interested in music again. It’s amazing what kids can do on computers. There’s much more than playing World of Warcraft when your child is online. Encourage your child to explore his creative side and experiment with digital music. Surely, this is the wave of the future.

Filed Under: The Arts

3 Tips to Creating a Resume as an Artist

Give it a Visual Impact

You’re an artist, no matter what your chosen field is. Your resume should reflect that and you can easily build a visual around your area of expertise. If you need help with some ideas, do a quick internet search for artistic resumes or look to one of your show programs for inspiration. If you still need help putting your ideas together, ask a graphic designer for some pointers. Keep in mind that it still needs to look professional, and you should take the time to proof read and check for spelling errors. And don’t forget to add a head shot, if it’s appropriate for your field.

You Have More Experience Than You Realize

You don’t need to have held a paying job to have experience in your field. Every performance you’ve done, every coffee shop your painting has hung in counts in this industry. You’ve also learned a lot in your classes, from acting methods to dance moves to brush strokes. Chances are you also know some of the back end stuff as well, such as setting up a theatre or an art gallery. All of it is important, and you shouldn’t overlook any of it while you’re building your resume.

List What’s Important, Ignore the Rest

Almost every word processing program has a resume template. It’s filled with objectives and hobbies and career goals. Ignore it; it’s not going to help you. What you want to list instead is all the experience you’ve gained from college. Instead of Work Experience make a heading for Performances or Art Shows and list all the productions you been a part of, or all the galleries and coffee shops your art has been featured. Under Skills, list the techniques you know, and how well you’ve mastered them. Don’t forget to include your college degree and your contact information.

Filed Under: The Arts

How to Build up Your Performing Arts Portfolio

Category:Photographers who committed suicide

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Get Head shots

First you want to get some professional head shots taken. You can do this several ways. If you’re lucky, the production you’re in will have a photographer come by and take pictures. If not, then you can talk to a photography instructor on campus and volunteer as a model during one of the portrait taking classes. Your third option is to go down to the mall and have some pictures taken at one of the portrait studios. Some of them will have prints ready in a few hours, while other send them to an outside lab. Ask beforehand how long it will take to get your pictures back.

Hire a Photographer for Your Performances

You’ll want to hire someone to take photos of you while you’re actually performing. While you can get away with some photos during a rehearsal, pictures taken during an actual stage performance are better. You can talk to a photography student on campus (don’t forget to remind them that they can use these images for their own portfolio), or you can talk to the school newspaper and find out if they’ll be covering the show. If they are, ask if you can buy prints from them after the paper has already been published.

Keep all Your Programs

Show programs for performing artists are like bylines for writers: they help document what productions you’ve been a part of and show a time line of your work and experience. You want to make sure to collect all the programs your name appears in. Also keep an eye out for reviews in the local newspapers and on the various campus websites. Print and clip these out, and include them in your portfolio. All of these items will create a history of the work you’ve done and can be used later  to help you find a job in the industry.

Filed Under: Careers, The Arts

Entertainment on Your Computer: Choosing the Right Software Is a Must

apps
Image by FabioHofnik via Flickr

It will be difficult to enjoy good quality entertainment unless you install the right software applications on your computer. Most people fail to understand that the choice of software application has a huge impact on the quality of entertainment. There was a time when the role of a music player or a video player on a computer was restricted to simply playing the audio or video file. However, this is no longer the case.

Today, there are numerous options available that help you not only view the file, but also carry out minor changes to improve quality. For example, having a software application that helps you upload subtitles directly into the entertainment program will simplify the process of watching foreign movies.

Any good quality audio player should help you convert the sound file from one format to another without any difficulty. You should be in a position to restore the audio file to a high quality high-size format, or reasonable quality low-size format, as per your needs and requirements.

Many people presume that it is unreasonable to expect all of these features in a free software application. However, most audio and video entertainment software applications offer numerous features in the free version and additional features in the premium version.

Hence, do not make the mistake of concluding that you cannot enjoy all these features on your computer. As long as you have sufficient space and are prepared to search and experiment with different programs, you can easily locate the right solution on the internet. The best part is that you can do all this and more for free.

Just make sure that you have good quality antivirus and anti-spyware software applications installed on your computer when downloading and trying different programs. The last thing you want is to end up infecting your computer with viruses by relying on the wrong software downloaded from the wrong website.

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