I will be out of town for auditions. 2 road trips and 3 flights, all to determine where I'm going to be 2 days after the wedding until my Artist Diploma and/or Doctoral degree is finished. I feel prepared for all my auditions, though the process was rigorous. I had to learn 5 arias and a recital to perform, as well as review music history and theory for qualifying exams. Thanks to my BM and MM training, I was able to get ready for these auditions in a timely manner.
While I've been doing all this, I've maintained a studio of about 25-30 voice and piano students. Some of THEM are also getting ready for auditions...for local shows, school plays, and college auditions. While I'm trying my best to help them prepare, I've realized I can't force them to be ready. They have to come to it on their own. I can't memorize a monologue for someone, or chart their audition schedule. All I can do is share with them the tools I've acquired for proper preparation, and hope that they listen. But I am grateful to everyone who helped ME realize what it takes to be ready for something. My parents, who helped me schedule and audition for 10 different colleges. My teachers in undergrad, who taught me how to make a spreadsheet to track auditions (and expenses!) And my Graduate school seminar, which forced us to do mock audition after mock audition until it felt like auditioning was my job. Guess what? For the next 5 weeks, it is!
