Blake, Adam, Alicia, and Gwen are waiting….
Part of knowing what school activities students will participate in comes down to “tryouts” or even the dreaded “audition.” School bands, orchestras, ensembles, choirs, plays, and musicals will usually hold their auditions within the first few weeks of class. For some students, auditions can be a terrifying concept. “You mean I’m just going to stand there and play for a nearly empty room of people sitting at a table??!!!” Yes. That’s exactly what’s going to happen. This could be where fingernail biting originates. The good news is that the same audition process used in grade school is also used in every professional setting. Check out some of the benefits that come with being involved in auditions at a young age by clicking here. The experience gained from taking music and arts auditions and participating in athletic tryouts will have an unquestionably positive effect on a student’s success during job interviews. After all, success in these situations comes from confidence, and confidence comes from experience.
"How do you prepare for an audition? How do you calm your nerves? What do you perform?"
Calm down. Take a deep breath. We can help with all of this, and so can you.
Step one: Research
Contact the music director at your school prior to school starting and ask when and what auditions will be taking place for the upcoming fall semester. You should also ask if they have any recommended audition materials and what will be evaluated in the audition. Write this information down and see if the music director can send it all over in an email. The next step is to give our office a call or your private lesson instructor and forward the information over. We will take a look at everything, discuss with your family’s instructor, and come up with a game plan to prepare the student for the audition. At the next lesson, we will choose an audition piece and introduce the student to any supplemental information that may be required for the audition, like scales, chords, or techniques. Typical preparation should take three to four lessons depending on the difficulty of the material and how much practice the student is putting in.
Step Two: Practice
Practice is the obvious difference maker. Check out what Harvard says about the importance of "Practice." Remember that although success comes from confidence and experience, the quality of the experience is dependent on preparation.
Step Three: Perform
As soon as the audition piece is performable, the student should perform the piece for parents, friends, and family in as many settings as possible. One fun thing to do is to simulate the entire audition. Set up chairs at the far end of the room and act like judges for your child. Maybe even get a few friends involved. Then at the end, critique the audition American Idol style.
Conclusion: Let go of the results
The process can be fun and rewarding. The most important thing to remember is that it’s about the journey and not the destination. Learning to let go of the results is priceless. This article discuses the tremendous health benefits of letting go of the outcome. Of course we would all like our students and children to win every audition, place first, get all A’s, go to Harvard, become astronauts, and discover sustainable life in another galaxy. Okay, maybe that’s too far. The point is that students put a lot of heart and emotion into auditioning, and no matter the outcome, they are gaining tools that they did not have prior to the process. They should be proud, and so should their parents.
If there are any music auditions available to students in their school or community, we encourage participation. Please contact us and let us know how we can help.
-Chris Vazquez