Confidence. According to Webster's it's, "A feeling of self assurance arising from appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities." Confidence is talked about a lot in performing, "Sing confidently," "Walk with confidence," "Be confident," but how do you do that? What if you don't feel so self assured? What if you're scared..or intimidated..or unsure?
I had a conversation with a student yesterday that prompted this post. She's 15, a good singer and performer, and I had previously encouraged her to audition for a summer show. She brought in her chosen audition music, but before we had a chance to run through it she told me she wasn't sure she wanted to audition. I asked why, and she said that another girl at her school..one who gets a lot of leads..told her how competitive the audition would be and "no offense" but "are you really ready for that?"
Any chance my student had at feeling self assured, of feeling confident in her own abilities, went right out the window. Clearly she just wasn't good enough. My response was this:
1) She's correct. There will be better singers than you. There will always be someone better than you. There will always be someone better than her. There will always be someone better than me. It isn't about being "better" it's about being "right." And the only person who has any say about how "right" you are is the one with the vision for the show, the director.
2) The only thing you can control in this whole process is your audition. Now, I don't give meaningless praise, if I think a student isn't ready for an audition or performance I will be the first person to tell them. But 9 out of 10 times that conversation isn't about how "good" of a singer they are, it's about how much they've prepared or haven't prepared. Know your piece: character, context, and culture. Know the show you're auditioning for. Know all of the music you could POSSIBLY be asked to sing at a call back. Michael Jackson said..and yes, I got this from The Voice..that if you're prepared you have no reason to be nervous. So prepare.
3) Know what you're good at. Auditioning isn't about showing off the thing you can get right once in awhile when you're home alone and in the shower. It's about showing off what you do best, and that's awfully hard to do if you don't know what that is. And you are good at something. You are "better" at something that is uniquely you than anyone else is.
4) Every audition is a chance to get better at auditioning. Auditioning is scary. It's putting your self and your hard work out on the line in front of people you don't know and asking them to like you, to choose you. It's like giving your long time crush your whole heart and then waiting to see what they'll do with it. But the more you do it, the better you become. Your legs start shaking less...the hives you break out in from stress happen less frequently, and yes I'm speaking from personal experience, but you can't tame the beast if you don't face it. You also can't get cast in show if you don't audition. Mmmhmm.
A college professor of mine told me that you should walk into every audition room like you are the best singer in the room. It doesn't matter if that's true. And you might not want to tell anyone else you are thinking that. But you need to think that way. You need to appreciate your abilities, because if you don't, how in the world is anyone else supposed to?
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