Sunday, July 01, 2012

Ideas to pass along – how to help your accompanist at auditions

Subtitled: How to be like the pros (i.e., Actor’s Equity members) in a singing audition

 

My vantage point for the auditions
I had the opportunity to be the accompanist for a full day’s worth of local equity auditions at a theater nearby.

The deal was that the actors (Actor’s Equity members) were auditioning for the theater’s upcoming season … it was a general audition and not an audition for any particular show.

So, the actors could do two monologues and sing one song of their choosing.

Throughout the day I observed the actors and here’s what they ALL had in common … and I mean every single one of them did these, without exception.
I’m passing this along because I consider them to be GOOD PRACTICES.

Use simple, straightforward songs
You may love love love! JRB … but you have no idea how difficult some of his music is to sight read. And then add the pressure of having to play for YOUR audition where a decision will be made as to whether or not YOU get a job at this theater … well, don’t blame me if you’ve picked complex music.
At this equity audition, every song was from a known show … and I mean a WELL known show (Chicago, My Fair Lady, Godspell, The Most Happy Fella, Once On This Island, etc.) – shows that may even be considered ‘classics.’ There’s a good reason for that … they are straightforward and even show one’s voice off better than some of the rock/pop songs.
Stick to the simpler songs that will show off your talent. (And if you do give me some JRB or Sondheim then don’t glare at me or give me dirty looks … I have no qualms about stopping and letting you sing a capella. You want the job?!? Then work with me on this one)
Put it in a 3-ring binder
I have lost count of the number of actors who bring in their music … all separate sheets of paper. And inevitably when I’m playing the songs, these pieces of paper are out of order; or one or more of the papers fall off the piano ledge. What a nightmare!  Another problem is when an actor brings in the vocal selection or song selection book itself. These things are bound so tightly that it never stays open to the page I need. Invariably while I’m playing the song, one of the pages ever-so-slowly flips or it just doesn’t stay open to that page.
Please use a simple, three-ring binder! At this equity audition, the music was in a hard covered, 3-ring binder. This made sure that the pages laid flat and open on the piano – which, of course, made it easy for me to see. No separate, unmounted sheets … and no one brought in the original song selections book (you know the kind that you buy in the music store).
Use Non-glare protective sheets
Along with the 3-ring binders, each actor had their music in non glare, plastic protective sheets. This made is so much easier for me to turn the pages when needed while playing. I didn’t have to worry about ripping papers nor worry about pages that were already ripped … everything was nice and neat and easy for me to use.
And be sure to use the non-glare type …
Complete copies of each page
Oh … the number of times I’ve had someone come in with photocopies of the song, but the top of the page (or bottom or one side) was cut off due to poor placement on the copy machine … or perhaps the page needed to be resized.
But every actor at this equity audition had complete pages for each of their songs. I didn’t have to guess what my left hand was supposed to play because the bottom was cut off … I saw each and every note and lyric on each and every page.
Markings on the music are clear to me
You have a voice teacher … you practice the song at home … GREAT!
But I don’t need to see all the handwritten marks about how you’re to sing this phrase or where to take a breath or how to combine a vowel combination … and so on. That confuses me – because if I see something marked on the paper, I’m going to assume it’s something I need to know about in order to play the song.
All of the actors at this equity audition had clean copies … and the only markings were specific to how I was to play it. For example:
  • they would indicate where a tempo change was to occur – faster or slower
  • they marked where they wanted the music to slow down
  • they clearly marked “START” and “END” so I knew what in fact to play
Something else I noticed … for this audition, the actors were asked to prepare 32 bars. Quite a few of them had two copies of some songs – one copy was when they could sing 32 bars; the other copy was marked for 16 bars. I thought that was rather smart. They already figured out the best part(s) of the songs to use for their auditions … and they were prepared with a shorter version of each song.
The bottom line in all of this (and in my previous posts about auditioning for a musical) is that as the accompanist, I want to do my best for you … to play the song so that you can shine – so that you can show your talent – so that you have a good shot at the job/gig/role.

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