I have a confession:

In July, I had my first audition in 8 years.

I had a callback in January.

I did not get cast.

How can the loss of something you never had be so devastating?

Let’s talk Rejection: It sucks.

You put your heart and soul into auditioning. You put your time and energy and money and psyche into auditioning. You put yourself out there to be judged, critiqued, scrutinized, and ultimately either rejected, or, preferably, chosen.

I frequently talk with my students (and frankly, myself) about having the courage to believe in themselves and their talent enough to audition. Interestingly, I have noticed that most of the people I have this conversation with are above average, definitively talented students/singers who, for a multitude of reasons (both known and unknown), feel unequal to the task, unqualified to put their voice out in the world. Fear rules them: fear of rejection, of being found out as a fraud, of failure.

LET. IT. GO. Out into the universe. You’ve prepared, you’ve practiced, you’ve done your best work at that time, in that place.

Opinion is NOT fact.

Facts in singing: correct pitches, lyrics, rests, musical notations, intonation.

But everything else, EVERYTHING ELSE is opinion. Beautiful voice? Opinion. Flawless technique? Opinion. Horrible singer? Opinion. But far too often in the arts, people in positions of power often mistake their opinions for facts and the artist on the receiving end does too. And that can be terribly destructive, both emotionally and psychologically.

When I auditioned for Into the Woods a few years ago, I desperately wanted to play the role of the Baker’s Wife…

But the director had other ideas. Not once did I read for either the Baker’s Wife or Cinderella, or any other role, barring one: The Witch.

The importance of a great collaborator, a musical scene partner, if you will, cannot be overstated. As a singer, your pianist can make or break a performance, or can at least make your job easier or harder

Auditioning is probably one of the most stressful things anyone can put themselves through.  The scheme of stressful events should be amended to death, taxes, moving…and auditioning! Besides wanting to perform well, your only other desire is to be able to read the minds of the auditioners. What are they thinking?

I’m glad to know all those years watching The Wizard of Oz paid off.  Thank you Billie Burke! You were right there with me, whispering inspiration into my ear with your sweet, trilly voice. “Are you a good witch or a bad witch? Which?”  I am honored to follow in your footsteps. 

So, how does one choose the right repertoire?

1. You do NOT get points for trying, meaning: Always choose a song completely within your ability level.

There were two basic problems with 99% of the singers’ song choices:

They almost all sang inappropriate repertoire for their youthful ages.

The difficulty level of their songs was generally just beyond their abilities.

the multi-layered topic of choosing repertoire, for young singers in particular. This is a subject near and dear to my heart as both a singer and a teacher because I know first-hand how incredibly important it is; song choice can make or break an audition or a performance, or a voice for that matter.

When I was nine years old, I was cast as Duffy in Annie with the Diablo Light Opera Company.  It was in the midst of the early 1980’s fervor for that wildly successful new musical. At the time, every little girl clamored to be on stage wearing that curly red wig, hugging that shaggy blond dog and belting their brains out. But ironically, I was not one of them.