Hi all, here is my first "auditioning" blog. I graduated from the RCS, July of last year. I thought I would share my knowledge of their BA MT audition so people may know what to expect!
I auditioned for RCS two times, getting a reserve place in my first year and then a place the next. Both years were very similar auditions and I believe the auditions still run the same now. I auditioned up in Glasgow, there is the option to audition in London but I had never been to Scotland and I wanted to get a feel for the school and the city.
In the Glasgow auditions, the first and second rounds are held at the Speirs Wharf Campus up the road from the main school. This campus is where the main dance studios and rehearsal spaces are, the Ballet course live there and MT and Acting courses spend a lot of time up there as well.
You turn up about an hour early, give yourself plenty of time. You will be signed in and greeted by a couple of first year students who will be there to make the audition day run smoothly. Don't be afraid to engage with these students. They are giving up their weekend after a long week to help out and they will be more than happy to answer any questions and have a chat.
In the first round you will be split into three groups. The audition works on a rotating system. One group will have a dance call, whilst one group has a panel audition and the other a break. In the dance call you should expect a technical sort of warm up, a couple of technical and corner exercises and then you will be taught a routine, fairly quickly but only a short one. Don't worry if you can't pick it up perfectly. Do your best and just try to "perform". That's the key word, act through dance, work as hard as you can for however many seconds or minutes the routine lasts for and stand out. The panel audition is where you will get the chance to perform your songs and speeches. You would have been asked to prepare a classical and a contemporary monologue, two contrasting MT songs and a song of your own choice. It is highly unlikely that you will show all of these pieces. It will be quite quick, some people will get to show more pieces than others but that doesn't mean anything. Usually there will be 2 people on the panel and a musical director/pianist in the room to accompany you. There will be a wait after you've finished and then a list will be put up with a list of names. If your name is on the list, that means that you have been recalled for the next round in the afternoon. If it isn't that means that its your time to go home.
In the second round there is no more dance. It is just another panel audition this time probably for a different panel of people. Your time in the room will be longer. Depending on how many people have been recalled you could be in the room for 20 minutes. They will hear some of your pieces again and this time they could redirect you and workshop the pieces. If you don't understand the direction I would definitely ask as you want to give yourself the best possible chance. In this round they could ask to hear your instrumental piece if you have prepared something on your instrument. If you don't play an instrument they might ask you about your musicality etc...Again when everyone is finished they will put another list of names up.
The third round is the next day. This round will now be at the main school. You may have a group workshop with the other auditionees, this may be quite physical and they are just looking to see how you work in a group and how you respond to tasks. This won't be long. You then will have prepared a 3 minute devised piece. This freaks quite a lot of people out but its the best part of the audition process. You get to perform it for everyone in the room which means you get to see everybody else's. The creativity you will witness is remarkable. Both years of auditioning I was absolutely stunned at my fellow auditionees pieces. Your devised piece can be about anything you want. You should use as many of your skills as you can. By this point in the audition you will have already got high marks in your skills to make it this far so this is a way for the teaching staff to really see a little bit more of your creativity and your personality. Lots of people base their pieces on their own personal stories although you don't have to. After this it will probably be about lunch time. You will be given a project. I don't think I am allowed to say what this project is as there must be a purpose for them to spring the project up on the day. Don't fret about this, you don't have to do anything extremely difficult in fact, the more simple you make it the better. You will be given time to practise this and then one by one you will go in for your final audition. You will share your project and then perhaps do a couple more pieces and get redirected and then you will have a short interview.
Thats it! Thats pretty much the whole audition weekend. You should then find out via Cukas if you have been accepted. This could take anywhere between one week up to 6 weeks depending on where they are in the audition season.
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