Chutzpah and my first professional audition

My first professional audition came about in a rather strange way.

I had just spent six years of my life at the Royal Northern College of Music, studying oboe, then piano, then accompaniment, and was very successful at what I did. But when I left college, I had no job to go to, and very few prospects of concerts, despite being a prize-winning accompanist.

I looked around for jobs that might suit my particular brand of skills. Love working with singers, excellent sight-reader, interested in the theatre. I know, I'll become an opera repetiteur. So I rang Opera North, the nearest professional opera company, in Leeds (I was in Manchester at the time). And I swear the following conversation is word for word what was said:

Me: Hello, I'm a wonderful pianist, and you simply must employ me.
Opera North: Yes dear, send us your CV and we'll audition you in 20 years time or when someone dies.

I put the phone down, thinking, what a great answer - I'll do it.

So I sent my CV (resume) and didn't hear a thing for about 6 months. Then I had a phonecall from Sheffield Crucible theatre saying that Opera North had recommended me as a good pianist, and they needed a rehearsal pianist for the UK Premiere of Carmen Jones, would I like to audition for the musical director?

When I arrived in Sheffield, the musical director, Jeremy Sams, met me at the stage door and took me to a dressing room. No piano, but that didn't seem to bother him. I talked a bit about what I had done at college, then asked if he wanted to hear me play. "No, it's OK. You won the same prize that I did, so I know what standard you are. You've got the job".

And I hadn't played a note to anyone.

As it happened, I couldn't do the first day of rehearsals, so I arrived on the second day and the first thing I had to do was transpose the Toreador's song down a tone into Eb minor. Have you ever tried playing it? It's somewhat fiddly. And the second thing I had to do was play the Gypsy Dance (Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum) down a fourth at sight.

At the end of the day I thought I had better resign before they sacked me. Fortunately I went to lie down until the feeling wore off. Needless to say I can now play both of those pieces in both keys without breaking sweat.

It just goes to show that sometimes you have no idea how well you are doing. And sometimes it doesn't matter how hard you work, the casting decisions are out of your hands.


Jeremy will be teaching on the Successful Singing Auditions day course in London on Saturday March 3rd.

Visit http://www.vocalprocess.co.uk for the latest downloads:
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The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on style, memorising and musical genres.

Tribute to Stephen Pimlott

Sad news this week.

The theatre director Stephen Pimlott died of throat cancer at the terrifying young age of 53. I'm 45 myself, and Stephen was the co-director on my first professional job. I'll tell you about how I came to be working on the production in a later blog.

It was an interesting company - the Musical Director was Jeremy Sams (now an opera translator, composer and stage director), and the assistant Musical Director was Stephen Jackson (now conductor of the BBC Chorus). Stephen Pimlott was a keen amateur oboist - something that we shared as I had originally studied oboe at the RNCM before changing to piano and specialising in accompaniment). Stephen Jackson, as it happened, was a keen bassoonist, so we of course ended up playing the Poulenc trio for oboe, bassoon and piano for fun one day.

The list of actors in the production contained one Derek Lee Ragin, normally a counter-tenor (and a very fine one), making his debut as a tenor. Clive Rowe (musical theatre and tv star) and Clarke Peters (currently playing Porgy in the West End) were the comedy duo, and a very young Kwame Kwei-Armah (then called Ian Roberts) who was a last minute replacement for a sick chorus member, and had to learn the entire opera in about four days. Kwame is now famous for his role in Casualty, for his appearance on Celebrity Fame Academy, and as an acclaimed playwright. It sounds corny, but I thought he was very talented even then.

It was an extraordinary production that has stayed with me ever since - a great job to work on as a recently graduated, wide-eyed newcomer.

Stephen gave a great deal of pleasure to people through his work. To me he was quiet, unassuming, very good at his job, and unfailingly polite. No tantrums, no problems, just great work.

Thank you Stephen for a great first job.

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)
Constriction and Release (opening the throat on video - the latest endoscopy video download)

The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on style, memorising and musical genres.

And Now The End Is Near...

Several interesting things happening this week.

The first one to hit the headlines was the world singing record set by a Korean woman. Kim Seok-ok sang for 59 hours and 48 minutes to set a new unofficial world record last Thursday. What is even more impressive is the fact that she sang 979 songs, and had prepared 35 more. How many singers do you know with a repertoire that big?

Well actually, I do know several. Toni, Kirsty, Richard and Bryan of Hatstand Opera.

Hatstand Opera have more than 20 complete concert programmes at their fingertips, and I think the last count on the database was more than 800 songs, duets and trios that could be sung at the drop of a hat (and from memory, naturally). In fact, Bryan probably has and additional few hundred songs under his belt alone.

It's one of the things that make finding new singers for the company so difficult. Incoming singers have to be able to provide a list of ensembles that they know, that don't come from a role on their known-role-list, and usually in more than one language (original language and English).

But going back to Kim Seok-ok. When you read further into the report (I found the first version via the Korea Times) you realise that she was in fact singing Karaoke. That puts a slightly different complexion on it, as Karaoke usually has the words (together with the bouncing ball) on the screen. However, almost 1,000 songs in the space of almost 60 hours is still an extraordinary feat. Apparently The Guinness Book of World Records still consider it continuous singing, even though she was allowed a 10 minute rest every 50 minutes (strange rules, I always think).

What makes it really interesting is the reason she was doing it. Her goal was to encourage her 45-year-old husband in his fight against a brain tumour. Perhaps her grit and determination in keeping singing for 60 hours was to be an example to him. The reports don't say if it worked or not. Life would certainly be interesting (and slightly noisy) married to her.

Incidentally, the karaoke session was broadcast live in its entirety. It doesn't say what the ratings were.

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)
Constriction and Release (opening the throat on video - the latest endoscopy video download)

The Vocal Process website has a series of free articles on style, memorising and musical genres.