A Music Teacher's Blog

Audition Preparation in 60 Minutes: Will It Be Sucessful?

May 28, 2010 at 8:48 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment
Tags: audition preparation, audition secrets, private music lessons, private voice lessons, singing lessons, vocal instruction, vocal singing lessons, voice lessons, voice teachers

Audition Preparation is a unique service Learn Piano In Your Home offers. Many of our voice teachers have long performing resumes and lots of audition insights to share with their students. However, is it possible to “cram” for an audition? Is Audition Preparation going to help?

Most voice teachers have experienced this at least once in their teaching career: A person calls asking for last minute vocal singing lessons to help them prepare for an audition. They want to have two 30-minute lessons over the next two weeks to get them ready. The conversation usually goes something like this:

“When is the audition?” I ask.

“Two weeks,” says the caller.

I ask, “Have you ever taken private voice lessons or had any kind of vocal instruction?”

“No, I’ve never had lessons before. But I really want this part,” they say, inevitably referring to a lead role.

Since we teachers have a hard time disappointing someone, we usually respond with something like, “Well, lead roles usually go to those with a lot of vocal experience and skill. However, 60 minutes of preparation is better than no preparation. I’ll help you out as much as I can in those two 30-minute lessons, but you have to understand that the people you are up against have been training for years!”

The caller will usually say something like, “Oh, I understand. I just need an extra push in the right direction so I know what to expect at an audition.”

Having done several “audition cramming” sessions with my students over the years, 99% of the callers with similar stories as mentioned above do not get a callback or a part. The sad truth is, these “audition crammers” usually get discouraged and never try out for an audition again. Most of them do have good voices that could blow people away if only they were trained. Most of them are natural actors and could have a good shot at lead roles if only they trained.

I have to blame shows like American Idol, America’s Got Talent and the like for the attitude of these students. Where else do you get the impression that you can “make it” with little or no experience or training? Where else are we told that education doesn’t matter? Where else are we told that time and dedication isn’t a factor?

Well, maybe we all have these attitudes from time to time. I’ve met many recent grads who complain that they aren’t making $60K a year yet, having been in the work force “for an entire year?”

I’ve met parents of 8-year-olds who can’t seem to figure out why their child hasn’t progressed on the piano yet. After asking the parent if the child has practiced, the answer is always “no.” And, admitidly, I see the same attitude in myself often (“Why hasn’t anyone responded to my job ad for new teachers. It’s been online for a whole hour now!”).

When is audition prepration cramming successful? The answer lies in an example from one of my students. She is currently preparing for an audition with Casa Manana’s Sound of Music. It’s a pretty big audition, semi-professional performers and all! Two weeks ago this student’s mother contacted me to tell me about the audition and what was required. Since the family is going out of town, we only had two lessons left to prepare for this audition.

Audition Preparation Cramming at its finest!

So the student, her mother and I took a big breathe and went for it. This is to be her first big audition of this magnitude, so a positive experience (despite the casting outcome) is imperative! Well, this student and I were able to pull together a beautiful 16-bar passage of “Whistle Down the Wind” from the Andrew Lloyd Weber Musical of the same name. She’s ready to audition, complete with gestures, acting the song, solid vocals and a couple of extra audition secrets only my students are privy to.

How was this student able to cram her audition preparation and others aren’t? This student has been taking voice lessons for three years. So in essence, she has been preparing for this audition for three years. No amount of cramming can compare to what you learn in weekly voice lessons. It never will. While I’m sure that there will be some students there with more experience (4-5 years of voice lessons and maybe a musical or two under their belts), I am very confident that she has what it takes to make a good impression on the director, despite the casting decision.

While some preparation is far better than no preparation, audition cramming only works when the student has been preparing all along through regular, weekly instruction. There are so many people I’ve run across through the years who I wish would grasp this concept. “Even Mozart had to practice,” I tell them!

If you’ve been considering auditioning for a musical, play or show, don’t wait until you receive the audition notice from the director! I beg you! Good, Successful, Effective Audition preparation is a long process and should be started on as soon as the desire hits you. Not when its too late.

Break a Leg!