National Student Audition
2015 NORTH CENTRAL REGION NATS STUDENT ONLINE AUDITIONS
OFFICIAL RULES AND GUIDELINES
To be fair to all participants, these rules will be followed explicitly, with no exceptions.
The Official Entry Form will be emailed to participating NATS teachers. Email Alison Feldt at [email protected] to request the link to the official entry form.
1. Singers must be students of NATS members who are in good standing with both national and state chapters of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Students of non-NATS members are not eligible for this competition. *Important – all member dues (both National and Chapter) must be paid in full before February 1, 2015 for students to be eligible to participate. No exceptions.
2. ENTRY DEADLINE: Midnight on March 1, 2015. No exceptions.
3. Winners in each division may be asked to provide proof of age to verify registration in the correct category.
4. Final results will be announced via email (to both student and teacher) and posted at www.mnnats.org and www.wisconsinnats.org by March 30, 2015. Teachers will receive written comments from the judges to share with their students (either typed or scanned and emailed.)
5. Regional finalists in each age division will then be eligible to submit video auditions to the online NATS National YouTube screening round. Official guidelines, rules and deadline dates can be found at http://www.nats.org/national_student_auditions.html.
6. Each video entry must be posted at www.youtube.com with the link provided on the entry form. For information on posting videos, please explore the Help section found on the YouTube homepage. (I urge you to view the 2011-2013 winners of another online vocal competition through the music publisher Hal Leonard http://www.halleonard.com/vocalcomp/ to get a sense of an acceptable video and audio quality standard. Please record your video in an acoustically flattering room. Test various microphone and camera placements for best results before recording your final submission.)
7. The video must clearly show your face and body (and the pianist.) A fixed camera position throughout, showing your face and most of your body, is preferable.
8. Singers must sing from memory on the audition video entries. If a singer’s performance is not memorized, the entry will be disqualified.
9. You MUST sing with a pianist in your video entry. Your pianist must be visible in your video. Engage a pianist with the appropriate skill level to ensure the best possible performance. Pre-recorded or unaccompanied entries will not be accepted.
10. Accompanists must play from original publications - absolutely no photocopies. Pianists must be visible in the videos. All selections must be visibly played from a published book/score and incorporate no use of photocopies. We urge the use of page-turners as necessary. Due to copyright laws, there will be no exceptions.
11. CUTS are acceptable to stay within time limits. Logical cuts to shorten piano introductions, interludes, and endings as well as long ensemble sections within a piece are acceptable. Take care to make the cuts logical.
12. The video should be in the spirit of a recital or audition. It may be shot in a home, school, church, synagogue, recital hall, or some other appropriate location, with or without an audience. Please take into account the acoustics of the room. A small room with dead acoustics will not flatter a voice. We encourage you to dress appropriately, as you would for a recital or an audition. We remind you that this is a singing competition.
13. Please record the best quality entry possible, both audio and video. While a professional recording is not required, audio and video should be recorded as clearly as possible. Take all necessary precautions to avoid audio distortion in your submission, as this can be greatly detrimental to the vocal quality of the singing. The performance recorded for the video entry must be acoustic and not amplified. The only microphone(s) involved should be for recording.
14. You are required to introduce yourself and your selections on the video entry. This is a simple introduction in the spirit of an audition.
15. Take very special care to pronounce the title of your song (if from a larger work, i.e. an opera, include the name of the opera) and the composer’s name clearly and accurately.
For the North Central Regional NATS Student Auditions, a typical model of spoken introduction before the first selection is:
"I am . I will sing “Non so più cosa son” from Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro." (Or after your name you could simply state the selection without saying “I will sing …”)
Before the second and subsequent selections(s), simply introduce the song and composer, for example:
“Mandoline” by Gabriel Fauré.
16. For North Central Regional auditions, in any age category, your video must be titled as follows:
North Central Regional NATS 2015 Your Name
For instance: "North Central Regional NATS 2015 John Doe"
To be explicit:
North(one space)Central(one space)Regional(one space)NATS(one space)2015(one space)John(one space)Doe
Note capitalization and spacing. If your entry strays from these titling instructions, you risk being disqualified.
17. Video editing during a song is not allowed. The only editing allowed in the audition video is the insertion of an introduction, if necessary, and the editing together of three or four required songs (see you category requirements.)
18. Each singer should submit all required songs within one video entry for a category. Please do not submit a separate video entry for each song submitted.
19. In the official entry form, you provide the link with the web address of your video posting by copying the YouTube URL into the application entry field. Please double check the link provided is correct and opens.
20. Please note that you must select “Public” in the Privacy settings found under the Broadcasting and Sharing Options section when uploading your video file to YouTube. If you select “Unlisted” or “Private” your submission will be invalid. Please only enter the North Central Regional auditions if you are comfortable posting a public video on YouTube.
21. The audition registration fee is $25 per singer for all divisions. Submit a single payment for all entries by check only made payable to NATS (include North Central Region Auditions in the memo) and mailed to:
Alison Feldt
North Central Regional Governor
St. Olaf College
Music Department
1520 St. Olaf Avenue
Northfield, MN 55057
For questions about topics beyond those covered, please contact Alison Feldt at [email protected] or 507-786-3180.
Judging
Judging will be by a qualified panel selected by the North Central Regional Governor in consultation with chapter audition chairs from current North Central Region members. Decisions made will be final. Written comments from the online regional auditions will be emailed to the teacher.
Link to the NATIONAL AUDITIONS PAGE
