Dreaming of a future this audition could bring...
You’re in a room with two strangers whose job it is to scrutinize you and decide your future. You have a mere ten minutes to impress them; cramming in as much impressive skill and flare and personality as you can. Every note is played like a plea “let me in! Let me in!”
You are ruing not choosing something a bit more sensible, a bit more straightforward like Science where it all comes down to your exam numbers. Nothing like this complicated mass of variables, from the state of your nerves to the auditioner’s mood to the air-conditioning potentially putting your instrument out of tune to the very drops of sweat on your hands. The questions teem, “Have I chosen a good enough selection? Will they hate it if I don’t use an accompanist? Oh my gosh the person down the hall sounds so much more impressive”… and it all comes down to that big question that plagues every musician, singer, actor, dancer and performer out there, “Am I good enough?”
Being one of the many have traipsed from uni from uni selling my skills like a door-to-door salesman …I completely understand. It’s survivable. Today was my last audition and I await results. It’s such an odd position to be, one that none of my friends could properly sympathise with. Anyway here’s some things I picked up from my * harrowing * experiences of the last few weeks.
- Pretend you’re in Fame – Well it works for me ok. I like to picture I’m in a movie, helps me to enjoy what would otherwise be a harrowing experience. Got a flat tire on the way to the audition? Oh that’s extra drama thrown in to add suspense to the plot line. In the poorly “soundproofed” practice rooms I had this drummer next to me stomping away and a virtuoso violinist down the hall playing impressive trills and runs. So in the spirit of ‘Fame’ I practiced my scales to the beats the drummer was playing and hoped the virtuoso violinist would be accepted to a prestigious college in Norway.
- Get the less stressy parent to take you – Pretty obvious but you want to have the clearest state of mind, and trust me any little thing is liable to unhinge the tenuously balanced calm you’re clinging onto. My Dad, whilst the less stressy of the two unfortunately had a cold taking me down to my auditions and so the relentless “sniff, sniff” (more like a hearty “snort, snort”) almost drove me wild. But I hung on.
- The key: warm up – Warm up the morning of your audition. This allows for a comfortable drive without any paranoia’s that you have lost your skills overnight. Get there at least an hour early. I found that although the official pamphlet said to expect a meager “15 minutes” in a warm up room, by showing up early I got up to an hour of warm up time. The more you play your pieces the better they sound and the more your confidence grows and the tension dissipates. I find the simplest exercise almost a form o f meditation when fully zoned into what I’m playing. Playing your instrument if the best way to get rid of stress – it banishes the what if’s and engages your mind.
- Embarrassing moments – Are golden. It breaks the ice immediately and dispels the tension. Not to mention making you memorable to the auditioner and showing off your poise as you laugh it off and recover. Setting up my stand for one of the auditions I banged my violin bow against the stand like a total noob/amateur. “Ah well I needed a new one anyway” I hastily added and everyone in the room chuckled. On my exit I thought it would be a good idea to shake the hands of the auditoners, and having my violin in my right hand reached with my left hand. There were some confused looks but I left with the comment, “Well we are pretty backward in Picola!”
- Flat tires happen: Keeping the stress at bay – The best method I have found is pure distraction. Find something that will keep your mind from worrying, relieving what hasn’t even happened yet and imagining a thousand disastrous possibilities. We got a flat tire on the way to the audition today and I almost lost it. But I went straight to my book (Anne of Avonlea) and read like crazy. My favourite distraction is turning the music up really loud and singing along. If you have to wait around beforehand (and you’re a girl or a different sort of male) shopping works wonders with it’s sort of pleasant, numbing sensation.
- Dealing with the comments auditioner’s make – I had one highly esteemed auditioner comment after I had finished playing, “Well you’ll have to work on your technique”. I felt quite shattered until I thought about it and decided it (hopefully) wasn’t a bad thing. Apparently they say that sort of thing to most applicants anyway so don’t base too much on the random things they say, though I know you will anyway. I ended up passing that audition after all.
- If you are a rural student or suffer any other such disadvantages milk it baby - use it as ‘colour’ to your personality. I had one auditioner say to me that “a no isn’t a no” and that I didn’t get in, based on the fact I’ve had such a hard time living on a farm in a town of a hundred people he would personally push my case for me (and true, it is darn hard to pursue music with the lack of resources and support you’re faced with. I had to go to another school to be able to study music)
- Different levels and mixtures of other applicants – As my teacher sagely says, “there will always be someone better than you and someone worse than you.” So this is just unnecessary stress because it’s impossible to know everything about what they’re doing – those thousands of variables apply to them too. There is one thing for sure however: there are no other you’s auditioning with your particular mix of personality, talents and experience. So…
- Be yourself
Resources and Links:
- One of the best books I have ever read on music is ‘The Inner Game of Music’ by Barry Green. Essential reading – it has revolutionised the way I think about playing the violin (and any instrument, indeed any discipline would benefit)
- The second greatest book to counteract nerves and offer loads of advice is ‘Taking Centrestage’ by Ruth Bonetti with many case studies from famous people and step by steps guiding through every situation, this book has been a massive help!
