Successful Singing Auditions 2

Yesterday was the Successful Singing Auditions day. We created this course as an opportunity to help singers with one of the most frightening aspects of the job - the audition!

The course is based on the information Gillyanne (Kayes) and I wrote in the Successful Singing Auditions book. Gillyanne has a wealth of experience teaching both classical and non-classical genres, so she is on hand to deal with the technical challenges that each singer faces. I earned my living for some time as an audition pianist both in the West End and in the opera world, and have been involved in more than 8,500 auditions, so I know the genres and the job backwards.

We began the day by hearing the singers perform two songs (or extracts) that they felt showed what they could do. Of course, singing to a panel is difficult enough, but it's made even worse by having to sing in front of your fellow actors, particularly if you have only just met.

When we asked the participants for their particular list of challenges, it was obvious that there were a number of similarities in everyone's experience: "I'm so nervous", "where do I look", "what do I with my hands", "how do I play the space", "why doesn't my voice come out", "does it matter if I forget the lyrics?". We spent the morning dealing with these issues (and more), and the afternoon coaching each singer to get the best out of their song and their presentation.

We always get great feedback from this course. Funnily enough, we don't run it because of what people tell us. We say this in the book and we mean it - you know when something is good or has gone well, and although it's great that people mention it, that's not essential. You have that feeling of "that went well" or "I couldn't have done that better". As for me, I just love helping people to clarify and improve what they do. Mind you, I have an ulterior motive: if the singer is happy and focussed, as an accompanist I don't have to worry about "supporting" them and I can concentrate on my real job - making the performance work. It's a rare joy when that happens.