Commonalities

So, I mentioned in my last post that I noticed some things that seem to remain consistent across auditions, regardless of level.
And I thought I would talk about that a little bit.
I want to preface this by saying that I have heard and seen some wonderful performances from all levels of singers over the past weeks, and I find this all very encouraging for our art form.

What I would like to see more of, all this time is.......

1.  Take chances dramatically and musically
2.  Show more of who you are
3.  Don't be afraid of making mistakes
4.  Own the room, and don't audition defensively.

As I told a group of students at Rutgers University;

Generally speaking, you probably have a 10% chance of getting hired at any audition.  Given those odds, why not let the real you come through?
The reality is, the best chance you will have of getting hired will happen when the authentic you, the one that has something to say, comes through in your audition!!

What a week!

This last week was one of the most vocal music filled I can remember!

Thursday - conducted vocal masteclass at Rutgers University
Friday - concert performance of new opera, The Judgement of Midas
Saturday Morning - performance of Little Red's Most Unusual Day at our Opera Center
Saturday Afternoon - judged the Regional Artist Auditions for Bel Canto Chorus here in Milwaukee
Saturday Night - attended the Rising Stars Concert, presented by the Ryan Center Young Artists at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Sunday  - conducted High School Masterclass here at the Florentine.

With such a wide variety of experience levels, you would think there would be some commonalities to comment on, but in fact, there are some - in my next post, I will talk about that.

Off to Rutgers

I am looking forward to conducting a Masterclass this week at Rutgers University with students from their voice and opera program.  It is always a pleasure to hear students as they work toward the next phase in their careers.
I try to concentrate on identifying things that the singer is presenting that might or might not be helping in securing the next step, be it a job, apprentice program, or placing in a competition.
This doesn't mean that I won't say anything about purely vocal matters, but the other things that go into an audition don't get mentioned as much, so I feel that this is where I can be the most helpful.