The Education of a 1st Audition

My first audition for a musical was 2 days ago. It was quite a learning experience that I was not as prepared for as I would have liked to be. From that experience, I have decided as part of the direction for this blog will be auditioning and theater tips from my own perspective, which may be outside the box, but I'm going to go with it for now.

1. Song choice is everything!

If a song is from the musical one is auditioning for does not show your range and show off what you can do and you have the option of singing something else of a similar style: Go For It!

As a soprano that can sing very high, I auditioned with "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid, for that show. The notes do note go very high, and it is not a difficult song to sing. I felt good about how I sung it; however as other people auditioned, they showed off their vocal abilities with other music. The main thing is that I sung it from my heart and soul, without any nerves, but I honestly believe that it was a mistake to sing that. I chalk it up to a learning experience and I have already begun to choose new music for my upcoming auditions that are more complex to sing to show my abilities.

2. Type-casting is a thing!

In this show, I read much better for Ursula the Sea Witch than I did for Ariel. I apparently do better with overly dramatic roles than I do with helpless damsels. I look forward to my upcoming auditions for Evita and Ragtime, as there are more dramatic strong willed female roles I think I would be better suited for. I will still audition for the other production of the Little Mermaid though, I will just have a better idea what to expect the lines to be like. Ursula is still not in my vocal range however.

3. Dance Like No One Is Watching!

After taking ballet classes, I have decided that I love ballet, and this new confidence has given me the ability to believe that I can dance. Confidence is incredibly important. After listening to those who put my dancing abilities down, it took me a long time to find the courage to dance. In fact I may not have fallen on my butt during my wedding dance had I viewed things that way.

So my followers, this is what I have learned from the experience. It was very humbling and very educational. I was offered a part in the ensemble, however the particular place I auditioned did not give me warm and fuzzy feelings, so I did turn the role down. If it was not a sketchy place, I would consider it for fun- but im not. Happy Friday!

<3 Erin Nicole