Is The Sound of Music Overrated?

[emilyxstokes]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:41pm

Hi! I was considering singing "I Have Confidence" for my auditions, but I was wondering if that was too overrated. I'd like some extra opinions on the issue. Thanks!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:44pm

Don't let the haters haters run your life. You sing whatever you want to sing.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:45pm

I think it depends on what you're auditioning for. Community theater? A place in a musical theater program? Broadway? The Patti LuPone Variety Hour with special guest stars Audra McDonald and Mandy Patinkin?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:46pm

Don't think you mean overrated. Do you mean over represented at auditions? I've never seen that song on any list to avoid.

Additionally, if you rock it, it will t matter.

[emilyxstokes]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:46pm

I would be auditioning for colleges. :)

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:52pm

Hmmmm I'm not really sure singing something from THE SOUND OF MUSIC is really the best choice for a college audition. If you know you can knock the song out of the park and it's the best song that highlights your voice, then go for it. But if there are other songs that equally show off your voice, I'd pick one of those. Do you have a voice instructor or college audition coach?

[emilyxstokes]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:56pm

I do have a vocal coach! We have picked out a contemporary ballad, and are now looking for an up-tempo before 1970 piece.

[ShakinBaconGirl]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 9:57pm

Wonderful. Then you will be fine. :)

[HorseTears]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 10:05pm

To be perfectly honest, that sounds like a terrible choice for a college audition. Julie Andrews skipping through a beautiful tree lined road in Austria is one thing. You, standing in an audition room singing that song? Perhaps not as charming? It might show off your voice, but does it really show off any kind of dramatic (or comedic) ability?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 10:59pm

Babygirl, you NEED to sing it. Don't listen to anyone but the voice inside you!

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 11:01pm

I don't know about that, HorseTears. The song has often been interpolated into stage productions since the film and I've done a production where it was done "in one" before the curtain while the set was changed to the Von Trapp home. It worked quite well.

It is absolutely age appropriate for a college senior, and the dramatic conflict comes from the tension between the text ("I have confidence") and the subtext ("I'm scared to death").

I'm not an expert on auditions for musical theater programs, but I'd rather hear a teenager sing "Confidence" than many of the usual choices.

[Fantod]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 11:07pm

Hi today I will be singing a mash-up of Tomorrow, Popular, I Dreamed a Dream, and My New Philosophy.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 11:39pm

I've done a few productions of the show and I've never heard someone sing that song and it sound right. I think it fits in a weird spot in a lot of people's voices. I'd pick something that you can actively act more.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 11/4/14 at 11:41pm

RM, I think we're all just assuming the OP can sing "Confidence", since we have no way of telling. You're certainly right that she shouldn't pick anything that sits oddly on her voice.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 12:03am

No, the show itself is not "overrated," but there are probably better choices. What are your alternative audition songs?

[CurtainsUpat8]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 7:59am

I am a vocal coach in nyc. I help many young adults with college auditions. Please read the directions as to what they are looking for in an audition song very carefully! I Have Confidence is NOT from a Stage Musical, it's from a Movie Musical. Since it isn't in the stage version it technically may not qualify. And believe me, sometimes they adhere to the rules they create very carefully.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 9:13am

Excellent point! ^ (However, an awful lot of the adjudicators would know of the song, and likely not be as cognizant of it only being in the film.)

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 10:03am

babygirl, do not listen. You betta sing it! Start with the "A captain with seven children. What's so fearsome about that" part.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 10:06am

What would Carmen Tibideaux think about I Have Confidence?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 10:11am

Don't listen to that bitter old queen, babygirl. Just sang!

[Sister George]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 10:54am

The song has been used for the stage production in London and Broadway before but anyway any college that would sit and listen to a great performance of that song and then not accept you based on that technicality is not a college I'd recommend you attend.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 10:59am

Not at all. The songs are gorgeous and the story is timeless.

[Musical Master]

Posted: 11/5/14 at 10:18pm

I don't think THE SOUND OF MUSIC, stage or screen, will ever be an "overrated" piece of work; as it is the last musical Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together before Oscar's death in 1960.

[Broadwaydreaming]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 12:08am

"I have confidence", if you can really work it, can be a great pick. If you were singing the title song, I may be a bit more hesitant. The Sound of Music is far from overrated, as it is a classic. As long as it fits the requirements, you should be ok.

As much as you are "auditioning" for the college, it's really a test of how comfortable you are and the potential you have. A dynamic performance of "I have confidence" will fair out better than a lesser known piece sang without genuine emotion. Actually the real challenge of this piece is about fighting inner conflict. The audience can't see inner conflict, only feel it through the performer's vocal expression, If you can bring that across accurately and with genuine feeling, you will definitely be a competitor.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 11/6/14 at 5:10pm

Sister George is back!