College Duo, how different?

[Seabass08]

How different is college duo than highschool duo? Can i do a do in the same style i did it in high school> What do they look for in college? Same with poetry and prose, I am basicaly the speech team at my school so no real help on the home front.

[cpd]

You can do it basically the same way but it is rather unorthodox. College duo is usually longer although it varies from the league you're in. There are a few teams that I've seen who do "high-school style" duos but I've never seen them break into the top three but that doesn't mean that they don't.

[beenthundrstruck]

How different is college duo than highschool duo? Can i do a do in the same style i did it in high school> What do they look for in college? Same with poetry and prose, I am basicaly the speech team at my school so no real help on the home front.

Okay I'm in college at Florida State and have done reasonably well (I've qualed two duos to NFA and am a leg away from qualing one of them to AFA). Duo is different from high school not going to lie. However, that doesn't mean worse in any way. There are things I like and dislike about it so I'll lay them out for you.

Pros:
1) Every piece has a point. Intros are not used to make jokes or to entertain people. That's what the piece is for. Instead, you lay out an argument by which you structure your duo. I'm currently doing a duo about a guy with Aspergers syndrome. Now in high school we would mention what Aspergers is and how many people in the US are affected by it. In college however, we quote a philosopher and talk about how communication or the lack thereof affects everyone. That way you take something that can be personal to you make it important to other people. Lots of fun, and then you see if you buy their argument based on the performance.

2) Stronger emphasis on being natural. Often in high school people who overact are rewarded. In college however, the more realistic the character is to the audience the better the piece. So I don't play into common stereotypes for a mentally handicapped person. I try to act more natural while still keeping subtle hints so that you can imagine me as any normal person. It's actually a lot harder to act subtly than most people would think and overacting is often punished heavily.

3)The Program Duo. This is probably my favorite thing about Duo. There's a different type of duo called the Program duo where you take different pieces and mix them together to aid your argument. My duo that's already finished 2nd and 3rd is a program on how fatherhood's lessons need to be passed down because they affect future generations. We have parts of Big Fish in it, as well as Glee, Dane Cook's Vicious Circle and The Wonder Years. I've actually seen duos on "why we love Lucy" as well as transgenders. It's a lot of fun to do one so it's about 50% one piece duos and 50% programs. There's not really a preference so its cool. Also your pieces do not have to be published. However, it should be available to everyone. For example we had to transcribe our bits from Dane Cook by listening to Vicious Circle and watching it while we wrote down what he said.

Cons:
Book. This is the only annoying thing in college duo. It's got a limiting effect while also having a positive effect though. While you have to hold the book, and thus limit your tech abilities in some ways, it also opens up new avenues of tech. There's pretty much a loophole that allows you to use the book as a prop because it's part of your performance. Page turns are supposed to be in-sync, and so propping is already implied through the use of the book. One kid did a duo about racist attitudes towards black people and he got a green book and had red pages so he "ate" the book as part of his piece. I personally still think it's a little limiting but there are obvious loopholes like I said.

Poetry and Prose are seperate events and are rather tough in College. Not sure if that's how it is for you but we had OI in Florida. Once again, you need an argument for your piece. You also mix your pieces in and out, something most people don't do in high school and instead they read from piece to piece. Lots of fun. Prose can be a crap shoot, but the really good ones really stand out. I've seen some incredible pieces from former high school competitors like Blake Williams (he won DI in 05/06 can't remember which year).

So basically, college speech is more academic. That's pretty much the biggest difference. Arguments can sometimes carry a piece far, arguments with strong literature can carry them even further (I broke a piece even though I messed up my intro during all of my prelim rounds but went balls to the walls during my pieces and ended up taking 6th). It's a ton of fun so I'd suggest doing it. If you can get a scholarship it's really worth it because then you get to do speech and go to college for free. Unfortunately we don't offer them but here are some of the top schools who do:

Western Kentucky
Alabama
GMU
Northwestern
Ohio
Cal Long Beach
Bradley
Eastern Michigan

Get in contact with their Directors of Forensics and see if you can try out. Give it a shot at whatever college you go to if you can't get a scholarship and see what you can do and if you like it. If you're good enough the top schools will sometimes recruit you out. Like I said it's fun and that's really why I still do it. Good luck and maybe I'll see you competing someday!

[Topo]

It is my understanding that Cal State Long Beach does not offer scholarships, but I know that University of Texas at Austin does.

Also, thanks for the lengthy reply to this, I've been wondering about the difference