Rising Stars Auditions: A How-To Guide
Get excited, guys - the audition dates for the fifth annual Rising Stars Camp are drawing near! Personally, I LOVE listening to camp auditions. In addition to hearing lots of new talent, we directors also get to hear exciting improvements in returning campers. Then we get to decide, based on the auditions, the 8-10 musical selections that we're going to be eating-sleeping-breathing for the next month. (I think I STILL have Pick A Pocket stuck in my head from last year.) So basically it's a win-win for us.
Our goal is to make your audition experience as enjoyable for you as it is for us. If you've never done a Rising Stars Camp audition before, you're probably wondering what it's like. You might be a little nervous - which is perfectly natural before an audition! - but never fear! For in this post I am going to reveal all. Or at least I will try. If I don't answer your question please please tell me, k?
First of all, it is important to remember that the auditions are non-competitive. Meaning, you don't have to worry about "getting in." We take everyone. The auditions are simply a chance for us to meet and hear you. Since our camp program is a musical revue instead of a single show with a fixed cast, we choose the musical selections based on the talent we see in the auditions. So, you get to participate in a program that is tailored specifically to your strengths, and the strengths of your peers - how cool is that?!
The auditions are one-on-one appointments. You will not be singing in front of your peers (you're welcome). You will be singing for me and Kim, our artistic director.
For your audition, you must prepare some kind of solo selection. It does not have to be long - one verse and chorus is enough - but it does have to be memorized. Let me repeat that. THE SONG MUST BE MEMORIZED.
You should come to the audition with the sheet music for your song three-hole-punched into a hardcover binder. This is for the pianist who will be playing for your audition.
Acceptable genres for an audition song include musical theater, Disney, church songs, folk songs, or classical art songs. Please please please, for the love of Pete, do not sing a pop or rock song. We have very good reasons for this stipulation. They are...
1. Pop songs usually have a very small, low range. A song with a five-note range that sits in your vocal basement is not going to tell us very much about your voice. Be sure to choose a song that highlights what you believe to be your best vocal range.
2. People usually just end up imitating the artist who sings the song. Even if you think you're not doing this, let me assure you that you are. Sorry. We want to hear YOU, not an imitation of Taylor Swift or Katy Perry. Furthermore, most of today's pop singers have terrible vocal technique. It doesn't mean the songs aren't catchy or entertaining or that the singers aren't good performers, but it does mean that most of them have enough questionable vocal mannerisms to cause concern in a voice teacher. We don't want you imitating their poor technique and ruining your voice.
3. Singing a pop or rock song with good technique is much harder than you think. The technical demands of singing this genre well are much greater than most people realize, and can put quite a strain on a young, inexperienced voice. This is why many voice teachers will initially assign songs from other genres (musical theater, folk songs, etc.), and save the difficult stuff for after the student has some solid technique under his belt.
Okay, now that that necessary soapbox is over with, let's talk about what will actually happen during the audition.
First, we will do some simple stretching and breathing exercises with you. This warms your body up for singing, and also helps you to relax a bit.
Next, we will do some vocal exercises with you, which will give us an idea of your vocal range and comfort zone. If you've never done vocal warm ups before, you might feel very ridiculous at first, but don't worry. We singers do these weird warm ups every day, so we will not think you are ridiculous.
After the exercises, we'll have you sing the (memorized, three-hole-punched-for-the-pianist) song that you prepared. After you're done, we may ask you to sing all or part of it again and change something about the way you sang it before. Don't worry - it will be something simple, like stand up straighter, or smile more, or stop wiggling your fingers.
We may also ask you any questions we might have based on your audition form. Usually we'll ask about your dance experience, or ask you to tell us about your experience playing other instruments if you've listed them.
The four main things we are looking/listening for during your audition are:
1. Your voice. This means overall range, tone quality, and where you are most comfortable singing (high or low).
2. How well you respond to direction. For example, if we ask you to adjust your posture, or sing something slightly differently, are you able to adapt quickly?
3. If you adhered to the audition requirements. Was your song memorized? Did you pick the right kind of song? Did you three-hole-punch your sheet music? We're more apt to bestow responsibility on you at camp (read: assign you a solo) if we see that you followed directions for the auditions.
4. Your personality! We want to get to know you! Believe it or not, aside from vocal quality, this is probably the biggest deciding factor for us as directors when we are choosing the camp repertoire. We want to choose pieces that you will have fun singing!
So there you have it. Any other questions about the audition process? Let us know in the comments!
