College Music Auditions - What are Colleges looking for?

For the vast majority of college auditions, judges are not expecting a "finished product."  Otherwise, why would you need to spend four years of your life studying music?  However, there are several areas college professors look for in selecting their next class of musicians:

1) Talent/Voice Quality - Within fifteen seconds, (perhaps less!), music judges know if your voice has the talent level and/or vocal training to compete on a collegiate level.  This is why it is absolutely CRITICAL to perform your favorite, best song right away and start strong.  First impressions matter a lot in music.  To get into the Yes/Probably Pile, you need to impress the judges with your voice right away, so they can consider other aspects of your musicianship.

2) Attention to Detail/Musicality - While talent is nice, judges want to know that you have more than a pretty voice.  They want to know you deliver engaging performances, with lots of changes in dynamic levels, stylistic ideas etc...

3) Musical Accuracy/Diction - Unlike the High school Region/State auditions, I find most college professors are willing to forgive mistakes (missed entrances, rhythms, pitches) or subpar foreign languages because they understand that not every singer can afford weekly voice lessons or have an excellent choir teacher in high school.  Colleges also know that they can train these skills.  While this does not give a student a free pass to make major mistakes, a missed rhythm or pitch due to nerves is not a deal-breaker.

4) Intangibles/Related Skills/GRADES - Believe it or not, college professors DO CARE about your high school grades, even if you are a SPECTACULAR singer.  Good grades demonstrate a healthy work ethic, which is essential to make a living in the highly competitive market for singers.  The stereotype of the clueless, dumb singer is outdated.  Most successful singers are very intelligent, motivated individuals.

5) Voice Type - Depending on what previous freshmen classes were composed of, certain voice types may be more needed then others.  This does not always mean tenors are in demand, which is a common misconception due to the lack of tenors at the high school level.  At my graduate school, they actually had PLENTY of good tenors, and were looking for lower voices.  However, if you are a soprano, you should expect competition to be fierce for every spot.

DWS