Successful Singing Auditions in Motherwell

Am sitting in Glasgow airport typing this into my blogspot account. Ah, the wonders of the internet.

We've just finished giving our Successful Singing Auditions masterclass to the students at Motherwell College. It's 6+ hours of practical advice and techniques on successful auditioning.

Gillyanne and I get meaner each time we do this course. We started at Motherwell by making the students sing only 16 bars of their two chosen pieces. 24 songs, one after the other. The 16-bar audition is now starting to happen in the West End, and I think the Brits got the idea from the American College system of auditions. On one of my trips to the US I sat in on one of the auditioning days, and it was a revelation. Each person has to do the following: give their name, do their spoken piece, sing their song and finish by giving their name again. All in the space of a minute and a half!

The fascinating thing is that you really can tell in a few bars/lines whether someone knows what they are doing, whether they have prepared, and what standard they work at. The process acts as a quick filter for the panel, showing them who to move on to the next level of auditioning, and who to let go.

Gillyanne and I are used to working with singers at most levels (we tend not to do beginners), and doing the 16-bar auditions in Motherwell gave us a great snapshot of where each singer was heading. After they had all sung, we shared a number of great auditioning techniques, and then spent the rest of the day working with each person in front of the rest of the group.

Most of the students told us that they found it pretty scary, but that they realised we were being kind to them(!) It's good preparation for when you have to face someone like Simon Cowell. Love him or loathe him, he certainly sees a huge number of singers, and he has to make a decision quickly.

Incidentally, we had some great feedback from one of our participants on the public Successful Singing Auditions last week. One of our more experienced actresses went for an audition the following day. Here's what happened:
"I felt so different about it as a result of your workshop. I sang 'Tell Me' and I've never felt better. I think I tend to try too hard and it turned out really well, I was asked to read, and they all applauded after!"

Now that's what I call a result!

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk for the latest downloads:
the Vocal Process eZINE (free electronic magazine)
86 things you never hear a singer say (free ebook)
Looking at a Voice (endoscopy video download)