BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

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GDADSTAXI
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by GDADSTAXI »

Robin64 wrote:Here are a few random tips from our experience.
Best advice is go through the thread for the previous year - there is a lot but you will catch up to speed on all the ins and outs!

Many of the auditions will be for consideration for degree and diploma - student loan for degree / DADA funding (sometimes another audition needed) for diploma - it is useful to understand the two options.

Unless money is not an issue then you need to carefully check which courses will expect you to top up the fees - ie the fees are more than the student loan will pay eg Arts ED

If she is offered a foundation is this an option?

Is your gdd triple threat or stronger on one or two out of the three? Some colleges lean more to acting/ dance side of MT. If she can play an instrument she could try a conservatoire eg royal conservatoire of Scotland (quadruple threat)

Some colleges will require meeting qualifications (but with a slim chance of these being waived on an outstanding audition) eg GSA here you are looking at good A levels (in the A/B grade level) or distinctions at BTEC - they are generally strict about meeting the high offer.

Ensure your gdd is reading and seeing plays and shows - she will be expected to have read the whole play for any chosen monologue. I like Nick Hern Books website for plays but try ebay too. Also look at Monobox website - a resource for auditioning with chance to work on pieces with directors.

Consider a summer school if there are places left or book one of the audition workshop courses run by various colleges - these run through the year.

Don't leave filling in the UCAS form and getting a personal statement together.

Book open days early. But not all places run them now.

Get photos done - you might need passport size and photos of ballet positions, also might need a reference from dance teacher.

Book some singing lessons if she does not do these already.

Consider possibly booking more than one audition close together if you have far to travel to London - saves on cost of travel.

We did the rounds of a few colleges this year in an attempt at an MT degree or diploma - GSA Urdang Bird and ArtsEd - DD has been offered a foundation (Bird) and will re audition after that. She won't be choosing to audition at ArtsEd (didn't like it) but will try the others again and add Central. Nail the singing to get a recall for GSA as the recall is a decent full audition.

Happy to answer anything if I can help.
Thanks for the reply, VERY informative. It is also pleasing so note that some of the things you mention we are already doing, so I know we are at least on the right track.

You mention the Foundation courses, we have not really considered TBH but I would welcome your thoughts.
Robin64
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Robin64 »

Hi GDADSTAXI

Before auditioning we thought foundation was out of the question due to the cost. Apparently there is one that is funded at East15 which I had not heard of. After doing her auditions DD only got a foundation offer for Bird College which has always been a place she was keen to go to. She did get a recall for GSA but no offer and did only try 4 places (very competitive ones!) In hindsight maybe she should have tried more auditions, I am not sure, but maybe? We spoke to quite a few auditionees who had been doing a foundation year and they seemed to be the successful ones on the whole (particularly at GSA audition).

After a huge amount of soul searching we have decided to take out a career loan to fund the foundation for DD. I will up my hours of work - it is no small decision for us. We felt that getting even the foundation was a big achievement and hopefully it will be the best preparation for another go at auditions. If nothing comes of those then a re think will be the option but at least we will have done all we could to try. DD might have stayed at home, worked and tried another round of auditions early but there are no local opportunities that would have upped her game in preparation. She will have a triple distinction btec to audition with next year but foundation will be the best practical preparation.

I suppose my advice would be to consider the option of a foundation in case of that scenario and find out about that funded one maybe. Foundation courses are around £8-9 thousand (or more) plus maintenance and no funding from dada or student loan. Or maybe spread the net when auditioning first time round.
dancemom43
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by dancemom43 »

Robin64 wrote:Hi GDADSTAXI

Before auditioning we thought foundation was out of the question due to the cost. Apparently there is one that is funded at East15 which I had not heard of. After doing her auditions DD only got a foundation offer for Bird College which has always been a place she was keen to go to. She did get a recall for GSA but no offer and did only try 4 places (very competitive ones!) In hindsight maybe she should have tried more auditions, I am not sure, but maybe? We spoke to quite a few auditionees who had been doing a foundation year and they seemed to be the successful ones on the whole (particularly at GSA audition).

After a huge amount of soul searching we have decided to take out a career loan to fund the foundation for DD. I will up my hours of work - it is no small decision for us. We felt that getting even the foundation was a big achievement and hopefully it will be the best preparation for another go at auditions. If nothing comes of those then a re think will be the option but at least we will have done all we could to try. DD might have stayed at home, worked and tried another round of auditions early but there are no local opportunities that would have upped her game in preparation. She will have a triple distinction btec to audition with next year but foundation will be the best practical preparation.

I suppose my advice would be to consider the option of a foundation in case of that scenario and find out about that funded one maybe. Foundation courses are around £8-9 thousand (or more) plus maintenance and no funding from dada or student loan. Or maybe spread the net when auditioning first time round.
If I can just say I think East 15 is very much an acting school rather than musical theatre.

I agree we never considered a foundation but appears more the norm now with foundation students taking alot of the 3 year spaces. You are not guaranteed a place as the school but same as Robin64 we felt her game could drop if did not keep up high level of training. Never say never. x
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by chivers61 »

E15 is very much acting rather than triple threat MT.
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by chivers61 »

As you'll gather from this thread and all the others there is no right and wrong way to go about this. What's right for on DD may not be right for another. Also you can get easily sucked into over analsying how to maximise DDs chances. Our DD got into one of the very succsssful London colleges with very little by way of preparation really. It was certainly not planned that way, we just hadn't realised how intensively some people prepare. She had grade 8 singing, grade 7 ballet, grade 6 modern. She'd only been getting singing lessons since age 12 and dance from age 14. Some colleges just like to see someone with the right attitude who's trainable.
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Robin64 »

chivers61 wrote:As you'll gather from this thread and all the others there is no right and wrong way to go about this. What's right for on DD may not be right for another. Also you can get easily sucked into over analsying how to maximise DDs chances. Our DD got into one of the very succsssful London colleges with very little by way of preparation really. It was certainly not planned that way, we just hadn't realised how intensively some people prepare. She had grade 8 singing, grade 7 ballet, grade 6 modern. She'd only been getting singing lessons since age 12 and dance from age 14. Some colleges just like to see someone with the right attitude who's trainable.
I kind of think all the colleges are looking for someone with the right attitude who is trainable and not many of those auditioning won't have those 2 attributes. Congratulations but it isn't always easy to get in first time. I'll leave it at that.
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2girlsmum
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by 2girlsmum »

Congratulations to your DD on her triple distinction BTEC Robin64, that's brilliant news, well done to her :D
Robin64
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Robin64 »

2girlsmum wrote:Congratulations to your DD on her triple distinction BTEC Robin64, that's brilliant news, well done to her :D
Thanks 2girlsmum. Hope you hear from Bird soon x
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by jennifer1972 »

Just saw on Facebook that Performers are going to be offering a BA in MT for Sept 2018 in conjunction with Chichester university. Details out soon apparently.
dancemom43
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by dancemom43 »

jennifer1972 wrote:Just saw on Facebook that Performers are going to be offering a BA in MT for Sept 2018 in conjunction with Chichester university. Details out soon apparently.
Yes I saw that but if like PPA they may not get student finance for a year or so ?
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Munchpot »

jennifer1972 wrote:Just saw on Facebook that Performers are going to be offering a BA in MT for Sept 2018 in conjunction with Chichester university. Details out soon apparently.
Saw that too. Need to know whether it's similar to Bird where the fees are capped at £9250 with Student Finance of like Arts Ed where they set their own fees and limited Student Finance
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Caroline A-C
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Caroline A-C »

Think it is worth remembering that all these colleges are looking for POTENTIAL that they can train. After all, isn't it the job of the colleges to train their students. It is an advantage to have dance/singing/acting experience but you don't have to have studied since you were in nappies. DS had virtually no dance training apart from about a term's worth of ballet lessons and he was not the only one by far when he started at Arts Ed. The students were divided according to dance ability in their first year and they were soon brought to the point that in the second year there was no division according to your dance ability.
All new to me!
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Rhymie »

Hi,
You are in the right place for advice with tons of great info already. But I wanted to add a bit of my own. T
he MT school quality varies hugely. One of the ways you can identify which will be right for your Granddaughter is to look at who is graduating and who has been signed by an agent. (Central is a far different kettle of fish to The Hammond for example, with different types of agents filling different types of requirements). Look at the type of work the graduating students are getting, does your daughter want to work on cruise ships? or the West End? what are her ambitions? if she sees herself in Films then a purely MT course may not be the best route.I would start there and then whittle down your list.
With regard to Uni courses, as has already been mentioned earlier in the thread, the contact time is less and there are more people on the course, you are far less likely to get signed by an agent out of uni than out of a top MT school.
Finally, the top schools only take small numbers, this is to ensure that they all get maximum exposure, not only throughout their training but also in end of year showcases to agents. If there are 200 on the course, then there will be less individual time per kid than say GSA with 36 on the course.
The most important question is what does she want to do as an adult? what will this training enable her to achieve? Once she identifies that then the schools will fall in place. There are some great MT specialists on this site who can help with the individual schools once you have your list :-)
Robin64
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by Robin64 »

Caroline A-C wrote: Thu Jan 24, 2019 8:44 am Think it is worth remembering that all these colleges are looking for POTENTIAL that they can train. After all, isn't it the job of the colleges to train their students. It is an advantage to have dance/singing/acting experience but you don't have to have studied since you were in nappies. DS had virtually no dance training apart from about a term's worth of ballet lessons and he was not the only one by far when he started at Arts Ed. The students were divided according to dance ability in their first year and they were soon brought to the point that in the second year there was no division according to your dance ability.
Substitute a girl who has had "virtually no dance training" into this scenario and it wouldn't be the same. But we've had that discussion before.

Realistically a girl with no dance training would need to think carefully about where to apply. If they had amazing gymnastic or street skills they could stand out if other elements - singing especially were excellent but I think a girl with no previous ballet or jazz would be at a serious disadvantage in MT auditions whatever the potential. But that's not to say there aren't colleges for that candidate because some are more acting or singing led. However there are just more girls auditioning so it's more competitive for them. The ballet and jazz auditions are tough - if you are planning to audition then my advice would be to up your fitness and take ballet and jazz classes.
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Re: BA MUSICAL THEATRE COURSE FOR SEPT 2018

Post by itsalongshot »

Caroline A-C wrote: Thu Jun 22, 2017 2:10 pm DS did the BA in MT at Arts Ed and absolutely loved the whole three years. DS knew the minute he walked into the building for his audition that that was the college he wanted to go for. He had auditioned at the others but just didn't feel the same about them. It is hard work and long hours (8am-6pm five days a week) but all the students are 150% committed to what they love. In their first year they were divided into three groups which related to their dance ability (DS had not really danced before) but for the following two years there was no particular reason for the groupings. When DS was there there was no student accommodation as such but they did provide listings of places to rent etc and there was a very good Facebook page for students who were in their final year to offer their accommodation to the future intake. Most students found accommodation within walking distance of college and it is a lovely area of London to be based. The staff really get to know their students extremely well and the tuition is excellent. There were a few performance opportunities (DS did the Horse Show and the Olivier Awards) and some do panto in their second year. You as a parent/grandparent don't actually get to see them


perform until the shows they put on in their final year and of course the showcase. All DS year had multiple offers of representation although that is no guarantee of work.

I would encourage your Granddaughter to go along to the shows etc at the colleges she is interested in to get a feel for them. Perhaps even go to some of the short courses they do. Yes, these places are over subscribed but somebody has to get offered a place so I would say just go for it. Your Granddaughter could be one of the lucky ones.
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Last edited by itsalongshot on Thu Jan 24, 2019 10:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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