question for musical theater performers

[ashers2u]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 8:05pm

hey guys, so im finally trying to organize my music for auditions and make an Official Binder...if you audition for musicals, im sure you know "The Binder" I am talking about. Anyways, i need some help on the categories. i want to make sure i have all of the right categories for different music to have/know. Right now my categories are:

Belt songs
Legit songs
Contemporary Musical theater
Traditional musical theater
pop/rock
ballads
60s

...a lot of these seem to overlap (like legit and ballads). Also i feel like contemporary musical theater and traditional could each be broken down into categories of uptempo and ballads. ahhhhhh...can anyone help break it down for me and tell me what is wrong with my list? Thanks

[ashley0139]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 8:15pm

I don't have categories. I put all my songs in alphabetical order (making sure, of course, that I have some from each "category") and put a list on the front of my binder. Then my auditioners can choose which song they would like to hear easily.

[erikaamato]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 8:34pm

Me, too...I'm an alphabetical order kind of gal. Just make sure your book has a variety that you can sing and sing well. Your list of "categories" looks pretty good to me.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 8:53pm

I can see the logic to alphabetical, but I organize by type as almost all auditions ask for a type of song. And if you are asked for a second song, you can easily identify what would be contrasting. You can also go right for a section they ask for.

I pretty much use the following categories (but really--whatever works best for you is what you should do--it's ALL for you):

Legit ballads (traditional)
Character songs
Contemporary ballads
Uptempo (and this can be divided up--swing, wordy, etc.)
Pop/Rock (can be divided into decades)
Country
Gospel

[erikaamato]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 9:03pm

Yeah, I know a lot of people who do the category thing, too... I'm just too lazy to get quite that organized, I guess.

My general categories are:
Legit/traditional ballad
Traditional uptempo
Contemp./belty ballad
Contemp./belty uptempo
Pop/rock
Character songs
Country

[singingwendy]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 9:05pm

Just got back from a musical theatre audition workshop, and it was reccommended that you have a song from every era....not that you neccessarily organize it that way, but that you have a song from 30's-40's, 50's, 60's etc....to match whatever you're auditioning for...

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 9:09pm

erika--those sound great. Because that is essentially what they ask for traditional, contemporary, or rock. And, you usually get to decide if that's uptempo or ballad.

I think it's great to have material from every decade--and to match it when you can.

Really, it's all something you figure out once you have been out doing it. You figure out what you need.

[ashers2u]

Posted: 3/4/06 at 11:30pm

guys, you are such a huge help! thanks so much for your thoughts and input...i appreciate it! if i can ever help you with an opinion, let me know :)