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Revised 10-17-2017
Repertoire iPad Usage Audition Structure Adjudication and Scoring
Have additional repertoire or copyright questions?
High school age categories and younger in Chapter and District auditions may require two or three selections as best serves the needs and tradition of the Chapter or District. Regional and National Auditions will require three selections from High School Categories. All college categories remain at three or four selections as written in the student audition regulations. Perhaps a combination of two new selections and one older piece is the solution for freshman categories.
An operetta aria may be used as one selection in the music theater categories.
Memorization of all selections is required in all levels of NATS student auditions.
All of the “judicious cuts” that you have listed below are acceptable, except number 4. We should attempt to represent the vocal line of each piece in its entirety, except where there are traditional cuts, as you mention in operatic arias. So, in the case of strophic pieces, all verses that are traditionally included should remain. The specific rule states: Piano introductions, piano interludes, piano music after the vocal solo is completed, and internal cuts of opera arias and music theater selections are allowed as in common performance practice. Cuts of verse or verses of selections are not allowed. In the case of strophic pieces, all verses should remain that are traditionally included.
As the rule states: Any student may register to sing for comments only and participate in the preliminary audition round.
Yes!
If the singer is in one of the High School or Lower College Classical Divisions (III, IV, VII, VIII), ANY repertoire found in the 24/26/28 Italian Songs and Arias books may be considered as art songs AND/OR as operatic arias, regardless of origin. If the singer is in category IX or above (Upper College and Graduate), ANY repertoire found in the 24/26/28 Italian Songs and Arias books may be considered as art songs ONLY, regardless of origin. Any comparable literature found outside the 24/26/28 Italian Songs and Arias books, regardless of composer, will be considered only as the composer originally intended, either as an aria OR an art song.
There is not a list of arias for singers of any age. The aria choice is made by the teacher and student. The choice of appropriate arias and art songs should be made based on the vocal development and maturity level of the singer.
All repertoire must be from the score of a book show written or intended for a fully realized musical production. The production may be a musical (including film musicals), revue, or song cycle (MUTH). A fully realized production includes blocking/acting, dance, costumes, sets, pit orchestra or piano, lighting, sound, or a combination of the aforementioned elements. Revues should thread back to the original production. Various online resources are available to confirm whether a particular selection was written/intended for a fully realized musical production, and teachers are encouraged to consult these resources when selecting repertoire for the auditions. Singers should ensure that contrasting selections represent the spectrum of their vocal and dramatic abilities. This should be exhibited by selecting pieces of varying style periods (pop/rock, contemporary, Golden Age, operetta), composers, and employing a variety of vocalism (belt, mix, legit).
All arias from opera, oratorio, mass, cantata, operetta, zarzuela, and works titled “concert aria,” or music theater selections must be sung in the original or standard published key.
Music Theater selections in college categories and older must be sung in the original or standard published key. High school singers and younger may use published transposed keys to accommodate voice change issues only. Any published transposition must retain the composer's intention and style of music, and preserve the character being portrayed in the story and lyrics.
If you have the original on hand, you should play from the original. There is no difference between a photograph of a score and a Xerox copy---they are both photographs.
Our present policy on iPad use is:
We currently do not allow the use of iPads until a system can be developed that is able to verify that all material being used on them is legal.
1. We currently have no way to verify that the music on the iPads is indeed owned and the property of the pianist and not simply scans of copied music given them by their singers which is in violation of the copyright laws. It is clearly a copyright violation for a singer to provide a copy to a pianist who then scans it into an iPad. While it is certainly possible for a pianist to own their own copies and scan them for their personal use, it is impossible for us to determine the ownership of the scores without the physical presence of them, thereby negating the need to have the iPad as it only would add to the material an accompanist is transporting.
2. If in fact iPad content is scanned illegal material then this is no different than using a binder of photocopies which is illegal. Of course it is possible that a pianist might have a mixture of material on their iPad but again there is no way to verify everything and of course this would be a very time consuming process for volunteers at audition sites to manage.
3. There are concerns about what happens if an iPad malfunctions (page turn pedal does not work, battery dies, etc). This is not a reason to exclude their use and if other issues did not exist it is likely that the onus would be on the singer if they could not complete a performance due to technical issues with their accompanist's iPad. However, this is being stated because concerns have been expressed.
We certainly sympathize with those who use iPads and certainly are not against the use of technology to assist in performances. Unfortunately at this time we have not been able to develop a verification system that seems acceptable and look forward to the time when we are able to do so.
The regulations are posted on the website.
NATS entities are encouraged to explore categories that accommodate their adult students in auditions either combining or splitting them by experience or educational background. The current examples of non-NSA Categories are:
Adult
For example avocational singers might be in one group. Those singers with music degrees or professional experience in another group. In entities with smaller numbers of adult singers those groups might need to be combined. Singers who have participated in the Advanced College/Independent Studio (13/14) should not participate in Avocational Adult Categories.
Children
To provide the best audition experience for children, teachers should take care to choose repertoire that considers the variables of age, musical ability, training, and appropriate subject matter for each young singer. NATS recognizes that repertoire taken from current popular culture, folk songs, etc., and historical performance practice of children singing classical repertoire by composers such as Bach and others, is all within the realm of possibilities.
The NSA committee encourages NATS entities to share their non-NSA category options with the committee to assist NATS entities with new ideas regarding possible new audition categories of singers.
Audition schedules should include a one or two-minute interval between performance times for singers to enter and leave the room and accompanists to move from room to room.
|
Category |
Interval |
Total |
Purpose |
|
8 minutes |
1-2 min |
9-10 minutes |
Singers to enter and exit room and accompanists to move from room to room. |
|
10 minutes |
1-2 min |
11-12 minutes |
|
|
12 minutes |
1-2 min |
13-14 minutes |
|
|
15 minutes |
1-2 min |
16-17 minutes |
Adjudication Panel - NATS student auditions normally have an adjudication panel of three NATS members. If there are insufficient numbers of NATS teachers/members available for an audition category, a panel of two adjudicators can suffice. It is also conceivable that outside adjudicators who are familiar with NATS procedures, philosophy and adjudications rubrics might be utilized as adjudicators for NATS auditions.
In NATS auditions this is any language other than English.
NATS Members in Student Auditions - NATS teacher members who meet the requirements of a student audition category---age and years of study--- may enter student auditions through the NATS member with whom they are currently studying, but they may not enter themselves in the audition. If they enter their students in the audition, they must be available to adjudicate a category as well.
Length of Study in Singer Category Selection for NATS Auditions - NATS teachers teaching class voice can enter those students in NATS auditions and the class study counts toward years of study. Each reasonable portion of a year of study counts as a full year, even if the singer stops taking weekly lessons during a portion of that year, unless the singer is ill and unable or medically forbidden to sing during that time. Years of study includes study with any voice teacher (NATS Member or Non NATS Member) and is a determining factor in post high school categories only.
We begin describing years of study with one and not zero---meaning we are never in our zero year of study. Any portion of a year would be called a year --within reason of course. Teachers should not be subtracting summer months, etc. A student in their fifth semester is in their third year of study. Students in Upper College cannot be in their sixth year of study.
|
Years of study |
|
NSA Chart |
|
|
First |
Anything past zero to the end of |
0-1 0-2 |
First Year Lower |
|
Second |
Anything more than one to the end of |
1-2 0-2 |
Second Year Lower |
|
Third |
Anything more than two to the end of |
2-3 3-5 |
Third Year Upper |
|
Fourth |
Anything more than three to the end of |
3-4 3-5 |
Fourth Year Upper |
|
Fifth |
Anything more than four to the end of |
4-5 3-5 |
Fifth Year Upper |
Chapters and Districts may adjust the regulations by:
o lower men/ upper men and lower women/ upper women
o lower women/ lower men and upper women/upper men
o High school women and men
o Advanced women and men
o Lower college to 8 or 9 minutes
o Upper college to 10 minutes
Chapters and Districts must conform to:
The categories can be combined with a category the closest in age, years of study and repertoire requirements. The category numbering system and other requirements should be retained. Both categories could be adjudicated by the same group of adjudicators. The site procedures are:
Site Procedures for a NATS Audition
-- Therefore, in preliminary and semi-final rounds, each adjudication panel chair should expedite a rotation cycle among the panel members for subsequent repertoire selections.
-- Repertoire selections should be made immediately because time continues to run between selections.
-- requesting a singer start at the B section
-- suggesting a student skip a prepared recitative and start with the aria
-- stopping a student in the middle of a piece to move on to the next piece
Yes, singers should use the entire time limit unless the total of all selections is less than the time limit. You have the option for a shorter total time limit if you want to limit the number of selections in that way.
The minimum/maximum in time limits is in the regulations to accommodate entities that may already have shorter or longer time requirements in their categories. Teachers and students should be encouraged (but not required) to select repertoire that fills the time parameter assigned to a particular category. Each singer should use the entire time limit unless their repertoire does not fill the entire time. Audition personnel can keep the audition on time by assigning nine minute intervals to eight minute singing time slots. There should be no penalties assigned to time limits.
At the Chapter/District auditions, semi and final rounds are not required. See Options on page 14 of the Audition regulations:
Most Student Auditions have preliminary and final rounds. Larger enrollments may require semifinal rounds or split categories. Live auditions with a large number of singers in a category may be divided into two or more groups for the preliminary round.
OPTIONS: Depending on the structure and size of the auditions the following options are possible:
-- Preliminary round: All singers will be scored with comments. (Scoring will not be used in comments-only categories)
-- Semifinals (where necessary): All singers will be either (A) scored with comments OR (B) ranked numerically with or without comments.
-- Finals: All singers will be ranked numerically without comments.
No Semi-final Round: Occasions may occur where scoring indicates that no semifinal round is necessary in some categories (small numbers of entrants, small numbers advancing to the next round).
The singer category age limits for the National Student Auditions are as of the dates for the Regional Auditions. The singer category age limits for Chapter and District auditions can vary from the NSA and Regional Auditions as long as their respective Regional Auditions are not progressive to NSA. If they do progress to NSA then the Regional Audition eligibility dates would apply.
Yes, the logos are on page 4 of the document and will be available on the NATS web site. The auditions names are: “Chapter and District auditions shall be known as:
“NATS Student Auditions: _____________Chapter” or
“NATS Student Auditions: _____________District”
Those teachers should contact the NSA Coordinator, .
There is no requirement to include this category but all entities are encouraged to include it in their offerings to student singers.
Yes, as stated on page 10 “Monetary prizes and other awards will be developed at the discretion of the entity holding auditions.” There is one regulation pertaining to ties in categories:
“Ties: Should there be more than one first place winner, the awards for the first and second places will be pooled and divided equally among the winners. All will be called First Place Winners. This policy holds for ties in all the places. In the event that there are more than five finalists, a certificate of "Honorable Mention" will be awarded to other finalists.”
All NATS regions means all entities within NATS regions—Chapter, District, Region, and National auditions. Therefore all student NATS auditions will use the same scoring system.
The Chapter should decide the number finalists for the audition. This number can be the current practice that the Chapter has used in the past using the new scoring system.
The rubrics define a national standard with common definition of terms and standards and would be progressive as singers age both physically and musically just as the repertoire and time limits progress in the category charts. The rubric is not the score sheet—it is for reference—to inform teachers about common definitions and reference points---educators use assessment tools all of the time and an audition is an assessment of a performance. In vocal performance we do compare apples to oranges—no two voices are alike and no two sets of adjudicator’s ears are alike but we must have a meeting of the minds: common understanding of terms-especially in pedagogy-this is not something to fear or mistrust. Some NATS entities have been using rubrics for more than ten years—the adjudication of those auditions has improved.
On page 15 it states under “Adjudicating Standard”
“The national standard is stated in the first column of the adjudication rubric. (See pp. 19-20) The language describes the qualities an ideal singer will have. As adjudicators hear singers they should compare the singer’s performance against the general standard for the category they are adjudicating. One way this could be addressed would be to add the clause “for a xxx category singer” to each standard.”
There are NATS entities (chapters/districts) that have established policies regarding adjudicating--either requiring a member who is not in attendance to find a substitute and/or pay an absentee fee. Some entities limit the use of the absenteeism or the number of students the teacher may enter when they are not present. NATS entities should develop policies that best suit the needs of their auditions and their membership.
All questions specific to the rules and regulations, copyright, or about repertoire and requirements, should be directed in an email to the . Please include your name, chapter/district and audition category.
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