In the blog “You begin with Do Re Mi…” I found that picking
a song to use for an audition is a completely subjective decision. The concrete
things I could offered were:
1.) Know what product you’re
selling
2.) Pay attention to the audition
notices
3.) Find music similar in style to
the show you’re auditioning for
4.) Singing from the show is
alright if you are comfortable doing so
5.) Know what you sound like
singing the song
6.) Leave a positive message about
yourself through the song
7.) Avoid iconic songs and the
singers who sing them
8.) Target a specific role or show
9.) When in doubt, ask!
I’d like to add one more thing to the list:
10.) Avoid songs heard on reality TV
and current TV shows. In fact as a performer you should be avoiding watching reality shows in general. They
cause you to lose jobs (more about that in another blog).
In today’s market it’s no longer acceptable to sing whatever
you sing best, unless that’s what the people behind the table specifically are asking.
Practically every call for singers, principal and chorus call alike, lists a
type of music the people behind the table wish to hear.
I recently went to an Equity Chorus Call that asked for a “standard
musical theatre song”. The music in the show isn’t really standard nor is it
contemporary and it definitely isn’t Sondheim or pop or rock. I was undecided
right up until getting in line. I had contemplated singing one of my “songs du
jour” because it seemed to fit the bill of not really being standard or
contemporary. Ultimately I had decided against it. The guy directly ahead of me
sang it. As I walked into the room the people behind the table were discussing
the previous auditioner. They were commenting on how the song he sang (my song du jour) wasn’t an
appropriate choice for this call.
After I had scrapped the idea of singing that song du jour,
I had narrowed my choices down to two other possibilities, one very standard
and one more contemporary standard. Since I was still torn over which to sing,
I asked the people behind the table which they would like to hear. The man
leading the audition replied “We want you to choose.” I chose the uber-standard
song. Considering I had to wait four hours before actually getting in the room
to sing it went well. The man behind the table did comment on the song.
He said “that was a good choice.”
Fats Waller was right. “Find out what they like and how they
like it and give it to them just that way”. This means you as the performer
need to be prepared with basically every possible style of music that may be
requested at any audition…and probably some you wouldn’t normally sing.
Jamibeth Margolis is a New York based Director and Casting Director.
She believes in empowering actors through knowledge and teaches a class called
Musical Scene Study Class. It’s the only one of its kind that I know of in the
city. In class she pairs you with a
partner. She then picks a scene with a song from the musical theatre cannon for the
two of you to work. This scene with song fits your specific product. At the end
of the several week session, the scene with song is then presented to industry
professionals. When I took this class with Jamibeth we met and performed for an
agent and a composer.
The Musical Scene Study Class is wonderful for many reasons.
There are three that are highly valuable in today’s market:
The class gives you a direct link,
backed up by actual vocal material, to what a casting director perceives your
product to be.
The class presents you with a
unique opportunity to gain insight from industry professionals on brand new work,
without them actually seeing your learning process.
And specific to the topic at hand,
Jamibeth has compiled a list of the
types of music that every actor should have in his or her “book” and shares this
list with her students to assist them in choosing new audition music.
Once songs are chosen, the sheet music should be put into a
binder. This binder containing your collection of audition music is referred to
as your “book”. Do not bring in actual books, scores, vocal selections, vocal
scores or compilations for the accompanist to play from. In this day and age of
technological advances it screams lazy and unprofessional. Besides do you want
an accompanist using one hand to play while the other hand holds an actual book
in place?
The look of your book should be professional and polished
but still represent the best of your unique personality. A colleague of mine,
Louise, loves the color pink. It makes her happy. The binder she chooses to
keep her music in is pink.
A lot of singers have several different “books”, one for
each type of music. They have a book for pop repertoire, one for contemporary
musical theatre repertoire, one for standard musical theatre repertoire and so
on. The audition they’re attending dictates which book they bring. If the show
is asking for a “pop contemporary musical theatre” song, that is the repertoire
book they bring. This can become a bit of a challenge when at the audition the
people behind the table seem to suddenly change their minds on what they want
to hear. This happens a lot. And it usually happens right as the first group is
being lined up to go into the audition room. For just this reason I keep two books:
a mega book and a working book.
The mega book is the entire collection of music that I can
sing. The working book is all my songs du jour, the standard things that I sing
at auditions, and all the songs that are tried and true and cross over into
more than a few musical categories. When targeting an audition, I add specific songs from
the mega book to the working book. For example when I audition for The
Drowsy Chaperone, I take music appropriate to this call from the mega book and
put it into the working book. I bring the working book to the audition. The
things I sing for The Drowsy Chaperone are targeted specifically for the
role of “Aldolpho” and aren’t necessarily wise choices for much else. At that
call, I have my audition specific songs and a whole host of often used music in
one book…with me. When that audition is over the sheet music that had been
added is taken out to be replaced by the next set of audition specific songs.
If you remember from “You begin with Do Re Mi…” targeting
specific roles and shows in a season’s audition, will be helpful to the people
behind the table in casting you and thus beneficial to you.
Each piece of music in both books needs to be marked for easy
access. Some actors keep a table of contents at the beginning of their book.
Some put tabs on each individual piece. Some do both. You have to do something that makes it easy for you to
find a song and find it quickly while under pressure while in the audition
room. Eddie Schnecker (the Doctor from part one) says that actors who were
asked to sing a second piece sometimes had that privilege revoked because they
couldn’t quickly find appropriate music. Having the people behind that table
change their mind has little to do with the actors themselves and more to do
with time. Time is quite often a huge factor in the way auditions are run and
how much you actually get to sing while in the room.
When picking songs for your mega book you need to be
constantly asking yourself “Do I like the song?” and “Do I enjoy singing it?” Nothing
will sabotage your audition quicker than singing a song simply because your
voice teacher said you should or you learned in a class or a blog somewhere that you need
this particular type of song. Your joy in singing the song should radiate
throughout your entire being. That’s attracting. That will get you noticed.
If you’ve found a song that you enjoy singing the next thing
to consider is whether it’s a good first piece or second piece. The piece you
begin with has got to show your “star quality” straight away. Think of it as a
vocal first impression. The people behind the table need to hear why you’re
special and why they should hire your voice for their show. Once you’ve done
this, if asked for a second piece, you can move on to other aspects of your
talent.
You’ve picked a song you like. It fills a niche in your
book. You’ve decided whether it’s a good first or second piece. Now you have to
learn it. This may sound elementary but it’s really not. At the summer season
auditions Dr. Eddie played for, he was literally astonished at how many
performers, good talented performers, who didn’t know the introduction to their
song. It resulted in a lot of false starts, which immediately highlights a
performer’s potential weak point: homework.
Dr. Eddie advises in having some sort of introduction with either the piano starting or the
vocalist starting. Having both starting at the same time could result in one
trying to catch up to the other. Again this is a less than strong, confident
polished and professional first impression. Set an intro and learn it.
Once your song starts, the music pages in your book should
continually move forward. The accompanist should never have to flip backwards,
even one page, to search for a repeat. The more accomplished accompanists will
deal well with these types of musical markings. Whether you actually get to
sing with an accomplished and competent accompanist is anyone’s guess. You could hire the same accompanist for every vocal audition you ever attend. For
some auditions, particularly those asking for more complicated music like
Sondheim’s, this is the best course of action. Incurring this expense on a
regular basis isn’t a realistic option for most performers.
Take the time to write out all of the music. By “writing out
the music” I mean take out repeat signs and codas. If the song layout is verse
then ending one, go back for a repeat of the verse then ending two, and then
the chorus, the music in your book should be laid out as such: verse one, verse
two, and chorus. There should be no backward page turning. Why take the chance
on the agility and adeptness of an accompanist you just met 10 seconds ago.
With that concept of keep your music straight forward and
simple in mind, any measures that are not needed for your rendition of the song
should be completely exorcised from your copy of the sheet music.
The sheet music in your book should be in non-glare sheet
protectors. Putting the music in non-glare sleeves gives the accompanist a
fighting chance to read the music under the glare of those wonderful
fluorescent audition room lights. It helps save your music from wear and tear. It
also helps save your music from accidentally being ripped out of your book by
overzealous pianists and thus helps save a tree.
Every single piece of music in your book needs to be marked
for a 16 bar cut and a 32 bar cut. Because of the current climate in auditions,
I would say it’s not necessary to have much more than approximately a 32 bar
cut of most of your songs. I know this goes against what everyone has been
taught, including me. But today, even at Equity Principal Calls and invited agent
calls, actors are being asked for “short” or “brief” songs. I was at an Equity
Principal Audition recently that asked for a “brief contemporary pop musical theatre
song”. The guy before me basically sang an aria, in style and length. Again I
was torn between two songs. I offered both pieces to the woman behind the
table. Because both are very long pieces, in offering I add that both have been
extremely cut down. Her response was “That’s the right answer!” That casting
director was now in my corner more than she normally would have been.
As an actor, you want to leave the people behind the table
wanting more, not wishing there was less. This opens the opportunity to be
asked for a second piece…which you already have, already prepared and easily
accessible in your working book.
Please note that if you are asked for an “audition cut” or
an “appointment cut” of a song, you are specifically being asked for 32 bars.
The exception to having only 32-ish bars of a song would be
if you’re singing from the show for the show. In this circumstance you should be
prepared with a cut version and be able to perform the entire song. In my book
I have entire songs arranged for me to sing, no repeats and extra measures
deleted. I make two copies of the pages that will be marked for a 16 bar cut or
a 32 bar cut. I put the page with the demarcations in red in the sheet
protector behind the unmarked copy. I
have at the ready in my book the full song, a 32 bar cut and a 16 bar cut.
There is a lot of talent coming through those audition
doors. It’s no longer enough to just sound good. When choosing a 16 bar or 32
bar cut, Dr. Eddie says it’s important to consider several things. The
performer has to choose a cut that has a complete thought. This is quite easy
in 32 bars. It can be challenging in a 16 bars. All it really takes is just
one well written sentence. That sentence should start and finish within the 16
bars.
Another thing to consider is whether there is a build in the
16 or 32 bars. Does the snippet of music you’ve chosen start off at one level
and stay there? If it’s all quiet, it can tend to not pop out and grab the
attention of the people behind the table. Or if it’s all loud it just “blows their
hair back”. In a word it’s called “dynamics”. Dynamics should be present in
everything you sing, even a 16 bar cut.
As for the dreaded 8 bar audition…I wish you all the best.
The most important thing to consider while singing actually applies
to all performing auditions. You have to be a living breathing whole person
while in the room. The people behind the table are casting human beings.
Because of the inundation of reality TV, a majority of casting people want the
bona fide real deal. If they’re casting a rock musical the trend is to look for
rock singers as opposed to musical theatre people who can sing rock. You have
to know who you are, target auditions and bring the whole “you” into the room.
It all continually circles back to this one premise: You
are ultimately the product you are selling.
There are so many variables in the process of auditions. You
as the performer, as the sales person of your product, need to be in control of
every aspect of the audition that is in your power to control. Properly
preparing your sheet music for the accompanist, organizing your “book”, and having
an array of different types of music at the ready are some of the simplest and
most effective ways to exercise that power. It shows you’re serious about what
you do. It shows you’re ready and willing to do all the homework necessary when
you actually book the job.
It shows you’re a professional.
