YOU DID IT!

So you've sung your audition... Maybe it went well, maybe it didn't, maybe it went neither... But here we are at the end of it. Time to grab your book from the pianist, say "Thank you" and head out the door.

SAY THANK YOU TO THE PIANIST

Always, always say "Thank you" to the pianist. Even if they played a completely different song and played that different song poorly. Always say "Thank you". The pianist and the people behind the table know what's up, they know who was the person that made the mistakes. But saying thank you makes you look gracious and understanding that sometimes people just mess up. Hard.

When I mess up an audition I'm the first to say "I'm so sorry!" sometimes I'll just stop playing and we'll start over again. I have no shame when I mess up. I already have the job, and it's my job to make sure that you are able to do the best you can so that you can get the job. If that means that I need to stop and collect myself and restart, that's what I'll do. You also have the power to stop if you know the audition is going to go off the rails right from the top. There is no rule that says you can't go back over to the pianist and clarify things and give it a second chance. Just don't be rude. That's a pretty basic rule. Don't be rude. You'd be surprised how many rude people walk through the room everyday. We all have our shit that we're working through, your's isn't special, leave it outside. Be your best self in the room.

Time to get off my soap box. Sorry.

KNOW WHERE THE DOOR IS

Know where the door is when you leave the room. I've seen people try to walk into closets on their way out. Not sure how that happens, but be aware of your surroundings.

“They won’t let me smoke inside, but you can pee in Leo’s closet?”

— President Bartlet - The West Wing

I'm not kidding on this one. Know where you are in the room and where you need to go next. It's amazing how easily you can get flustered. Be aware.

A special note: The doors to the studios at Telsey + Co are particularly heavy. Be strong.

FINALLY OUT OF THE ROOM

Okay, so you're finally out of the room. What do you do next? If I were an auditioning actor I would immediately whip out my audition journal and make sure I make a note of everything that just happened. SaveMyAudition.com will shortly have a free PDF journal page that you can use to journal your auditions. I think it's smart to journal all of your auditions, it's important to be able to recall who was in the room, what you sang, what you wore, what feedback you got. You might start seeing a trend with certain songs sung in front of certain actors. Or the way a certain pianist plays a song that you can't stand. It can help inform what you do next. After you fill out your journal, go about your day. Don't linger on any audition you gave, know it's up to the fates now. Go, be at peace and live your life.

WHAT HAPPENS IN THE ROOM WHEN YOU LEAVE

Not much. Usually the casting director will make a few notes on your headshot and move it to one of several piles, usually two. One pile means you move on to the next stage, the other means you don't. The reasons you are put into one pile or the other are mostly out of your control. Maybe you don't look right for the roles being cast. Maybe you don't have the right voice type. Maybe you don't fit in the costume. The reasons are endless as to which pile you end up in. We then move on to the next person walking into the room and start the process all over again. All day long.

If you are in a callback then the people behind the table have a little discussion about you and move you to one of the piles before moving on. It all tends to happen fast, but as the rounds go on the discussions become longer. 

Maybe next week I'll write something funny. I don't know. Until then Every Audition Counts!

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So you've finally made it to the audition and you're standing on the precipice of walking through that door into an unknown future. Maybe this is the big one! Maybe this is the audition that finally gets you your big break and makes you a star. Maybe the outcome isn't quite as exciting. But regardless you take a deep breath open the door and off you go!!!

ENTRY!

For the sake of length... I'm going to assume you can make it over to the piano without falling. But then again, you would be surprised the stuff we've seen in the room. Anyway –– time to talk to the pianist...

THINGS YOU NEED TO COMMUNICATE TO THE PIANIST:

1. What song are you singing?

2. Where does your cut start and where does it end?

3. How fast does your song go? More importantly, what is the feel/groove of the song. How do you want the pianist to play it. This is, surprisingly, the step that most actors fail miserably at.

4. How do you want to begin your audition? When should the pianist start playing?

LET'S BREAK THESE STEPS DOWN:

1. WHAT SONG ARE YOU SINGING?

When you walk in the room have the song you are singing ready to go. Don't plop your book onto the piano and need to look through it to locate the song you want to do. Know where it is.

Chances are we've played your song about a thousand times in auditions before. Not much walks through that door that we haven't played.

Oh, you've got a song that you did in a reading that's about the life of David Koch and his love of dance? I've seen it. True story. While it is always nice when new material comes through the door and we truly get to sight-read some music, it doesn't happen very often.

Anyway, moral of the story, know where your song is in the book. Also know what show it's from and who wrote it. You'd be surprised how many times someone in the room will ask what your song is from and who wrote it... Have an answer. It's embarrassing if you don't.

2. WHERE DOES YOUR CUT START AND WHERE DOES IT END?

This should be pretty straight forward. Your song should start at the beginning and end at the ending. Seems easy enough, right? HOLY SHIT! The roadmaps that people have tried to explain to me about their cut would confuse the smartest of logic puzzle solvers.

“Okay, so this is a little tricky, you start playing here, then we are going to take the 1st ending, but instead of going back to the 2nd verse we are going to cut to the bridge, but just half the bridge, then turn back a page and we’ll do the second verse, but just half the second verse and then directly to the chorus 2 pages later, then when you get to the end of the chorus follow the sign back to the 1st page and we’ll do the 3rd verse, then back to the chorus again 2 pages later, take the coda 4 bars early, it’s a key change so just make something up into the new key and then we’ll repeat the last phrase 3 times, on the last time we’ll double it up for a big ending. Oh, and I know this last chord is wrong, just play whatever to make it sound like an ending.”

— Actors that drive me insane

The above quote is a little hyperbolic... but not much. I've heard every all the bits and pieces above in the audition room, not necessarily together, but I've heard it all. The crazy paths through peoples music that I've had to take are uncalled for. Have someone fix your music for you. Have it all laid out so that I start at the beginning and end at the end. If there is music you don't want me to play because it isn't part of your cut... GET RID OF IT! I can't play it if it isn't there.

Basically, please for the love of all things holy, pay attention to the music you put in front of the pianist. We are on your side until we aren't. Have respect for your work and your craft. There will be a future blog post about reading music. If you are in music theater, you should know how to read music. End of story. It's not hard to do and shows basic respect for your craft. SaveMyAudition has a great Audition Services section to help you with your music, don't be shy.

3. HOW FAST DOES YOUR SONG GO?

The more appropriate question is:

“How do you want me to approach this song stylistically? What’s the groove and how do the drums sound?”

— Me, if I were to ask the question properly...

Simply telling me how fast the song goes isn't enough. Now, chances are I know your song and I've played it a million times. But I still ask, I always ask (98% of the time, always) because I don't know how you do your "version" of the song. So take a second, find the part of the song that grooves the best, usually the hook/chorus of the song, and let it get in your body as you sing a little and show me the groove of the song.

“Oh, it’s 87 beats per minute”

— Actual thing someone has said to me

Yes, that is technically exactly how fast your song goes. But that number is meaningless to me. Not that I don't know what roughly 87 beats per minute is... But you're better off if you sing me your song to give me that number....

4. HOW DO YOU WANT TO BEGIN YOUR AUDITION? WHEN SHOULD THE PIANIST START PLAYING?

This one is easy. Just tell us when you want to begin your audition. Whether it's a bell tone or an actual introduction. When should we start playing? When you get to center? When you nod at us? When you look at us? Right as you are leaving the piano? When?

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Not me playing.

We are behind the piano to support you. Most of us have been doing this for a long, long time. You'll encounter some new faces as the next generation of audition pianists comes through the door, but for the most part, we've been through the ropes. We are getting paid well to be back there behind the piano.

Anyway, that's your interaction with the pianist. We are there to support you and we are genuinely hoping you book the job. That's the best part of our line of work, when we know someone booked the gig.

IMPORT AFTERTHOUGHT:

I don't care if you want to use your iPad for your audition. I prefer it if you have the bigger model as opposed to the tiny model. And please, I'm begging you, pretty please, turn it on airport mode when you are auditioning. I've seen more than one sext. That is unfortunately not a joke.

That's it for this one. I'm sure there is much more that can be said about the interaction you have with the pianist, maybe I'll write a book about it.

Until next time: Every Audition Counts!

 

El Ranchero Burritos
359 W 45th St
New York, NY 10036

Some damn fine and quick Mexican food. Great for lunch. A literal hole in the wall.

Alright - I'm going to start a mini-blog series that explains some of my audition rant Facebook posts. I know that these posts have given you all some laughs and some anxiety. So let's start with one that is just a basic "how-to":

“Ya’ll:

When you’re giving me the tempo of your audition cut... The space between the phrases, when you aren’t singing lyrics, is actually more important to me then what comes before or after. Don’t just ease through the silence in a phrase, it’s part of the song.

A beat of silence = a beat of sound.”

— Aaron Jodoin, Facebook post, June 5, 2017, 5:28PM

This one is pretty straight forward. A lot of you that walk into the audition room are very good and efficient at explaining your audition to me. This mostly stems from your music being set up properly, with proper markings. But there are some of you, and I won't mention names, who SUCK at this portion of your audition. If you want to make sure your music has all the information needed please visit the Audition Prep portion of this website.

There aren't many things in the casting process that you can have complete control over. But one of them is your interaction with the person behind the piano. Namely, for this circumstance and blog post convenience, me.

"How fast are you going?"

While this is a favorite question of mine to ask is really an imprecise question, the real question should be:

"How should I, musically, feel this song while playing it for you, what is the groove, how do I support you best musically?"

That is a more precise question, but for expediency I ask the former. That being said, when giving me the tempo in which you want to sing the song, don't sing me the portion of the song where you do the most back-phrasing (also known as - not singing in time). Sing me the hook of the song, sing me the part of the song that locks into a solid groove and you can show me with your body. If the song has several different tempos (this will be covered at a later date) then be precise in showing me the feel for each of these sections.

To circle this back to the Facebook rant, when singing me that portion of the song, or any portion of the song... DO NOT SKIP OVER THE RESTS. These, for me, are the most important part of me knowing that I've locked in with your tempo. This is how my head works when you are establishing your tempo...

• Oh God I love/hate this song
• Let's hear some of this great/awful song
• The phrase is ending, here come some rests in the music, sweet
• Counting silently "1-2-3...."
• Great they started singing again right when I was done with the rest, this is perfect/What the hell! Why did they start singing 3 beats before I was done counting the rests?! This is going to be a shit-show, oh well, be better at giving me your tempo.
• Here we go.

If you skip over that silence in your music because you are rushed and think you're taking up too much time, I don't get the information I need and it'll take me a good phrase to really lock in with you.

As a wise man once told me:

“A beat of silence is equal to a beat of sound.”

— Dr. Thomas Albert, Shenandoah University, sometime in the early aughts

I was picking my brain trying to figure out where to start with this SaveMyAudition blog. So I figured the first stretch of blog posts (hopefully 1 a week) would cover the room, the audition room. What to expect and what it's like to be in the room for 8 hours a day.

Let's start with the basics (in the music theater world):

What is an audition?

An audition is a crazy, entirely unique, situation. You walk into a room, spend a minute or two trying to convince someone you may or may not have ever seen before, that you are worth investing their money in. Well, first you have to get past a casting director. We'll get into that later. But it's made up, this experience is made up and unique to the performing arts.

Types of Auditions:

This is not an actual audition. This is bullshit.

• ECCs - Equity Chorus Call - Also known as a Cattle Call. Webster's dictionary defines an ECC as... well nothing, it's not in there, I didn't actually look that up but I've yet to find a phrase in the dictionary, just single words. 
     This is where most shows begin. There are two types of ECCs, singer and dancer. The casting call will tell you what the show is and what to prepare. Then a bunch of people show up at a rehearsal studio and line up for their chance to sing 32/16 and sometimes 8 bars for usually a casting director and a representative from the show's music department, usually an associate. A week prior to the audition you can sign up for an ECC at the Actor's Equity Association building. There will be a list for men, women and dancers. The list is taken down when Equity closes the day before the call.
     On the day of the call you should arrive early. The monitor will call the names on the list, since there are usually a lot of repeats and no-shows your actual audition time slot may be much earlier than you anticipate, so show up on time (early)!
     Singers - You will then be lined up at the door of the audition room. Bravely enter the portal and sing your heart out.
    Dancers - You'll enter the room in groups and learn a short combination or two. Sometimes you'll be asked to stay and sing a short piece. Always have your audition book on you. ALWAYS. Let me repeat that. ALWAYS HAVE YOUR AUDITION BOOK ON YOU. It amazes me that people travel to auditions without their book. There is no excuse for that. Even if you've been given specific callback material for an audition and told that there will be absolutely no chance that you'll be asked to sing something of your own... ALWAYS HAVE YOUR AUDITION BOOK ON YOU! And while I'm on it, have a picture and resume on you, or a couple. Always be prepared.
    These calls can be closed at any time once they begin. So don't plan on showing up a 5:50 and being seen. Chances are if the call didn't attract too many people that the people in the room left a long time ago after closing the call.
   
• EPAs - Equity Principal Audition - Generally the same as an ECC but you sign up for a specific time slot. You show up prior to your time slot, get lined up, walk in the room and do your thing. The rules for material here are slightly different. You are given an allotment of time not a number of measures.
   
• Open Call - The most chaotic and dreaded of the calls. This is a call that is literally open to anyone. Your hairdresser who has never sang a note in his life can swing on by and be seen. Equity, non-Equity and EMC are all given the same priority. You show up and you are seen in the order you arrive. AuditionUpdate.com is glorious on these days!
   
• Submission Call - This is exactly what it sounds like. Your agent, or manager, or even the director, choreographer or music director of the show holding auditions will submit you to the casting office and you'll be given an appointment for your audition. Show up early!
   
• Callback Audition - Once you make it through the first round of auditions listed above the next step, should you be so lucky, is callbacks. You'll most likely receive material from the show to prepare, or be asked to sing what you sang at your initial call for some of the creative team from the show. This round of auditions can go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. It's not unusually to have seven or eight callbacks for a show. Not as common as it once was, but it still happens. Eventually you'll have your final callback, for the full team of the show (creative/producers/other fancy people that seem to hang out in the room and I can't quite figure out what their role is), but you can sometimes be greeted by 10-20 faces behind the table. It can be daunting. But you've made it this far because someone likes you, have faith in that.

More bullshit.

So that covers most of the different types of auditions you'll encounter. Feel free to comment and correct me below.

It's not an easy life, and you'll go to far more auditions than first day's on the job... But live your life, be you. Every Audition Counts

***EDIT - CORRECTION ***
Apparently you can sign up online now for calls. Technology, man, it's crazy. Do they post anything on those boards anymore? But the rest of that description should be acurate.

-Aaron Jodoin

 

Today's great midtown place...

City Kitchen
700 8th Avenue
New York, NY 10036

Still a relatively hidden place for a solid, but mildly pricey lunch. Located on the second floor with floor to ceiling windows that look out over 8th Avenue. They have lots of delicious food and DOUGH doughnuts... Get like 4 of them and eat them all, don't share.

Blogs... Are those still a thing? Not that I ever had one, actually I think I may have had one. I can't even remember. Oh well, I'm getting sidetracked. What was I saying...

Oh yes, this is the official Save My Audition.com blog. Hopefully it will become a nice place to come find some humorous musings about the audition world from an audition pianist and learn some things through my sarcastic sense of observation. After all, there are only so many times you can make me turn a page in a 2 page cut - let me repeat that - TURN A PAGE -- IN A TWO PAGE CUT! - without me getting a little annoyed at you.

But that's why we are here! Save My Audition.com is being built to help you with all of those audition needs. It's focused heavily on music right now. I'm an audition pianist. That's what I know best. I've been an audition pianist for a lot of years. I played my first set of auditions at 16, I'm now much older than that. I tried to do the math on how many auditions I've played and I realized I couldn't even try to figure out how many times I've played an audition cut. But I would guesstimate that a rough estimate would be tens of thousands of auditions. That's probably conservative. What I'm say is - I've played a lot of auditions.

I've been in the room a lot. I've been handed a cocktail napkin with some lyrics and chords scribbled out as "sheet music". I've been handed a lyric sheet with NO chords as "sheet music". I've been handed a vocal book with just the melody and no piano music or chords. I've been handed shattered iPads as "sheet music." I've also seen sexts on those iPads while playing your audition. I've had pages missing in your cut and just played the rest of the song without you missing a beat. I've also messed up your audition. I apologize for that, after a full day of 16 bar cuts, you're bound to completely mess one up. I once played "Natural Woman" in four. That's hard to do, I couldn't shift to the proper feel, I was stuck.

I'm wandering now. So - this blog will be a place for some humorous helpful hints and more appropriately thought out tips and advise. Maybe we'll have some guests come by and write a blog and give us some insight on the whole audition thing.

-Aaron Jodoin

Today's great place that gets me through the day in midtown..

 

 Margon Cuban Restaurant
136 West 46th Street
New York, NY 10036

Hands down the best Cuban Sandwich you can find in the city.

Do it.

With everything.

You will not be disappointed.

Until then, every audition counts.