Guide for the MTG Audition/Rehearsal Pianist
By Eric Fegan ‘17
Introduction
This guide is designed to explain the expectations of the MIT Musical Theatre Guild (MTG) audition pianist and rehearsal pianist. Historically, MTG rehearsal pianists have had a wide range of experience levels. Some have had experience as rehearsal pianist for other groups, others have been in the orchestra for a show, but never at rehearsals, and still others have a good deal of piano experience but have never done musical theatre. This guide will explain as much as possible to help the less experienced. It will also provide information that is specific to MTG’s policies, which is valuable for anyone working with MTG for the first time, regardless of experience. Finally, as complete as this guide can be, things vary from show to show, so always check with someone if you’re not sure about something. I hope your experience as an audition/rehearsal pianist is a good one.
Audition Pianist Guide
Auditions
Auditions are advertised as going from 7 to 9, but be prepared to stay later if needed. The MTG audition consists of three parts:
Vocal warmup / range check
Song of their choice
Acting audition
For the vocal warmup, the vocal director probably has certain warmups in mind. Make sure that you ask what they are and figure out how to play them before auditions start. It’s not fair to the first few auditionees if you’re struggling to figure out the warmup during their audition. As for the range check, just keep playing the warmup (which will get successively higher or lower) until either the auditionee stops or the vocal director cuts them off.
For the song of their choice, the auditionee is supposed to bring sheet music for you. If they didn’t, and you don’t happen to know how to accompany the song they’re singing, then they will have to sing without accompaniment. Assuming they have sheet music, take a second to look over it. If you don’t know the song, ask the auditionee for the tempo. If there’s a repeat, ask whether to play it twice or only once. Some auditionees mark where to start and end, but if they don’t, ask about that as well. If you don’t have any questions, just ask if they want to tell you anything before starting. When playing, the most important thing is that you keep a steady accompaniment for the singer. Playing exactly what’s written is good, but not always feasible. Simplify when you have to, and finally, don’t overpower the singer.
For the acting part, you have nothing to do, so just pass time however you want as long as you’re not making noise.
Callbacks
The vocal portion of callbacks consists of teaching the actors short portions of songs from the show and then having them perform for the audition panel. If you don’t want to be sight-reading, ask the stage manager to send you the music that will be taught ahead of time. You might also want to ask for the callbacks schedule if you want to know how long it will last (typically 5-6 hours, sometimes a little less or more).
Teaching the songs runs almost like a vocal rehearsal, so for this part you are essentially a rehearsal pianist. Refer to the “Rehearsals” portion of the rehearsal sopianist guide for advice.
For performing the song, make sure you know where to start. If the singing starts immediately, you may need to count the vocalist in. Again, simplify if you need to. If you get the music ahead of time, try to figure out what you’re simplifying beforehand. That will help you play it the same way each time, which is important for fairness reasons.
Rehearsal Pianist Guide
Before rehearsals start
Look through the score. Play through everything in the score if you have time. Practice parts that you have trouble with. Figure out how to simplify parts that are not humanly playable (which happens surprisingly often in rehearsal scores). If you have any questions about interpretation, ask the vocal director or the orchestra director.
Rehearsals
There is a rehearsal schedule. In general, you will be called for all vocal rehearsals, and not for other rehearsals. If you’re sharing the role of rehearsal pianist, the schedule will typically say which rehearsal pianist is called when.
Vocal rehearsals are run by the vocal director, and you are there to assist. This means that you need to pay close attention to what the vocal director wants, and ask for clarification if necessary.
Rehearsals will most often begin with warmups. Vocal directors will use a small handful of warmups for the entire rehearsal process, so once you learn them the first time, you’ll know them when they come up in future rehearsals.
Teaching vocals to the cast typically starts with you playing the vocal lines on the piano, both by yourself and with the vocalists singing along. If there are multiple vocal parts, you will probably start by playing each line by itself, and then combining them. You may be asked to play multiple lines at once. In many cases this is possible, but when it’s not, just let the vocal director know that you can’t play them at the same time. When there are harmony parts, listen to how the vocal director splits the parts between harmonies, so that you know what each individual part looks like and can play it by itself when asked.
After the singers have a grasp of the vocals while singing along to the parts, you will switch to playing the accompaniment part.
The vocal director may give feedback on how something is supposed to sound (for example, if you’re playing something too fast). Make sure to actually make these corrections, so that when the cast starts rehearsing with the orchestra, they aren’t surprised by major changes in how the music sounds.
Act runs
As the show is getting closer, rehearsals will involve running an entire act of the show. These rehearsals are a good time to get a sense of timing. Pay attention to how long you have to wait between songs, whether music under dialogue lasts the right length, how many times you play a vamp, etc. Afterwards, the orchestra director or vocal director might ask about some of these to get a sense of whether any music has to be changed. If they do make changes in the music, make sure you know what they are so you can play with the changes.
After the act is finished, there will likely be review of some songs. These will run more like regular vocal rehearsals.
Prod week
Prod week is the week before the show opens. For most of this week, the show will be run with an orchestra, but on at least one day you will have to play the full run. Regardless, you must show up to all prod week nights to do vocal warmups and any review that the vocal director wants. The same applies to the performances themselves, so if you can’t be there before a performance, let the vocal director know so they can get someone else.
One more thing: you should learn how to play The Battle Hymn of the Republic. There’s a tradition tied to it.
Brush up
Brush up is a rehearsal between the first weekend of shows and the second weekend of shows. The date varies, so try to ensure it’s on a date you can make.
Brush up consists of running the whole show, with you accompanying. The tradition during brush up is to deviate a little from what is normally done in the show. You can do this too, if you have a fun variation on a song that you want to do. But be warned that brush up is also a rehearsal, so don’t do anything that will make it harder for the actors to sing. Unless you have permission to do so.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide gives you a good idea of what is required of the audition and rehearsal pianist, both in general in within MTG. If you’ve read through the document, you noticed that a lot of the advice is about communicating with other positions. That’s because the primary role of the rehearsal pianist is to help other positions, so the more you understand your role, the more helpful you can be. As a final remark, musical theatre is fun. Make the most of it. Enjoy!