Audition speak 1

Driving home from Cheshire we are listening to Desert Island Discs. Renee Fleming is talking about her career and the setbacks she has suffered. It is a relief to hear that someone at the very top of her field has been ignored, overlooked, or just got it plain wrong.

There was a lovely description of auditioning; she believed as a young singer that in an audition she had to sing difficult arias to prove that she was worth employing. In particular, in one audition for the Metropolitan Opera, she offered Pamina's aria from Mozart's Magic Flute having only started learning it the week before. As the panel grimaced and her colleagues sat with their head in their hands, she realised that "The real object of an audition is to go in and do what you do best."

Hurrah! So many singers I have worked with carry the same negative view of auditions - that you must sing something difficult to show that you are "worth employing". But if you think about it from an employer's perspective, (s)he will want someone who can do the job right now with ease, someone who is on top of the task. Not someone who might be able to sing the role once a week, or in a year's time - employing someone like this would be putting the show at risk. I cover this whole topic in more detail both in the Successful Singing Auditions book and the Successful Singing Auditions course we are running next weekend (see previous blog).