Baltimore Musical Improv House Team Auditions
Baltimore Musical Improv House Team Auditions
Feb 15, 11am-1pm
Location: Highwire Center
400 S. Conkling Street. Baltimore, MD 21224
Baltimore Musical Improv is forming their first ever house team! This house team is formed by a selection committee, and includes an audition. The audition will last 2 hours, where you will perform several fairy tale sets. The selection panel folks will be evaluating performers on certain skills that are essential to good musical improv.
This house team will have regular practices with a coach, and will have various performance opportunities around Baltimore such as with BIG and Highwire. It will also provide an environment to improve your musical improv skills with a group of other dedicated performers.
At this audition, you will:
Hear more about the house team process and expectations
Schedule + expectations
Selection criteria (3 categories)
Audition rubric (today)
Warm up as a group
Perform in 1-3 practice Fairy Tale sets
aiming to have different performers in different roles
If you would like to prepare for this, you could:
Review the BMI standard fairy tale format (the format you’ll audition with), which you can find on the BMI website’s Resources page
Attend a jam or workshop
Practice with some friends
Reflect on past performances you’ve been a part of, with an eye towards the Audition rubric criteria. What are your strengths you want to showcase? What are some areas you’d like to improve on between now and the audition?
What is a house team?
A house team is a team run by the organization that is expected to practice regularly and perform regularly. To get on the team, you must
Audition and get accepted
Remain in good standing with the team
Commit to a practice schedule
Twice a month, the team will have a two-hour coached practice
Individuals must attend at least 1 practice each month
Commit to a performance schedule
Estimated 1 performance per month
Why have a house team?
For performers. Many people want to practice musical improv, join a team, and perform regularly, but there can be a lot of overhead to that! We are creating a house team to make it easier for folks to get this opportunity, where the organization takes care of some of the coordinating for folks.
For the organization. We want to support people to develop more skills, to create more stage opportunities for performers, and to foster more camaraderie among our community members.
Prerequisites
Required:
Introduction to Musical Improv (or equivalent)
“Spoken” Improv 201 / Level 2 (or equivalent)
Suggested:
Some stage experience (any kind)
Just a team
If you don’t make it on the team, that is perfectly alright. There are tons of musical improv opportunities in Baltimore, and there will be future iterations of BMI auditions.
There are many other ways to get stage time that aren’t the house team:
Perform in a musical mashup performance (open to anyone who has completed Intro to Musical Improv)
Join/create an indie team/show
Take other musical improv classes (most have showcase performances)
If you have any questions about your audition evaluation, you are more than welcome to reach out to a judge(s) to get notes.
Selection process
We will choose people for the house team based on three categories:
Stage audition, stage skills
Meeting team expectations, soft skills
Needs of the team
The three rubrics
Stage audition rubric
The selection panel will review performers based on three broad categories:
Song Structure + Musicality
song structure | transitions | melody | volume | endings
Scenework + Narrative
yes, and | CLEAR | philosophy | narrative structure | character | stage presence
Backline + Support
background characters | walk-ons | harmonies | dancing | chorus support
Team expectations
In addition to following the BMI Code of Conduct, house team members are expected to:
Attend the majority of practices and shows
Show up reliably and on time to practices and shows
Pay share of coach dues, split evenly by the team and must be paid by everyone, even if absent
Communicate clearly and kindly with the team
Be attentive (and not disruptive) during practices / shows
Respect each others’ boundaries
These are expected for continued membership on the house team.
During the house team selection process, past behavior on teams may also be considered.
Needs of the team
We are not just evaluating you as a performer — we’re focusing on making a balanced team. We will consider how your particular skills and dispositions fit in with the rest of the teammates, such as:
Balance of voice parts (high, low, etc)
Faster players vs slower players
Thinking (robot) vs impulsive (pirate)
Strength with a particular skill the team could use
Different life experience, viewpoints
More “yes” inclination vs more “and” inclination