Until your name becomes a household word, auditions will be an unavoidable reality. Yes, auditions can be brutal. They can also be career-making or career-breaking. To most singers, the word “audition” sounds an awful lot like “root canal.”
To help alleviate audition anxiety choose to sing songs that you are completely comfortable with, songs that fit you like an old pair of gloves. Many of my students choose to audition with the songs they’ve learned just recently. This is a mistake. You have enough to worry about without throwing memorization into the mix.
To combat anxiety, I repeat my mother’s mantra: “If you can’t take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.” Well, that’s an easy choice. I want to be in the kitchen where all the action is! Keeping your end goal in mind puts things in perspective; I was a competitor in a business that’s tough on competitors, and if I wanted to stay in the game, I had to cowboy up and make my nerves work for and not against me.
Don’t take the outcome of auditions too seriously. Savvy singers know that many, many factors influence the outcome of all singers’ auditions. And it may have little or nothing to do with you and your skills.
If you do not win, or are not chosen, it doesn’t mean you aren’t a good singer. It simply means you weren’t the singer they were looking for. If you were, they would have immediately moved you forward to the next round or hired you.
However, if you do win the contest or get the gig, it doesn’t mean you’re the “Next Big Thing;” it simply means you were what they happened to be looking for that day. It’s simple, you either fit their profile or you don’t.
Not winning doesn’t mean you are a loser. If you remember that, it will take some of the pressure off. Go out, do your best, and have fun; just another day at the beach.
I welcome your comments. Renee
Leave A Comment