Hi, "Zerbie"! Here are my thoughts on your questions re: auditions.
1) Yes. IMHO, there should NEVER be any guesswork about what notes you do
or do not have in performance - and an audition is nothing less than a
performance. I've often been told that one should be able to sing a few
notes above or below the range of your normal repertoire - for instance, the
reason I (as a lyric w/ an extension) have a solid whistle-range E-flat is
because I know where my high F is, if I need it. I don't constantly sing
those notes, because my voice doesn't "live" there, but I know where they
are. We all have good and bad days vocally, which means a singer needs to
take the responsibility of having alternate audition pieces for those days
when a really high or really low note just won't happen. Or when a singer is
so nervous they psyche themselves into blowing it.
2) If you (I use "you" in the general sense) know that - for whatever reason
- you can't sing the way you should, you have to really evaluate how well you
can do that day. If it's of utmost importance that you nail certain notes
for a specific role and you can't, plead illness and ask for another time.
If it's a general audition, and the rest of your voice is fine, show off your
other qualities instead. It all comes down to the self-knowledge that comes
from PREPARATION. There is nothing more demoralizing than not preparing
quite enough, ignoring warning signals, then being spotlit in the middle of
that audition room, singing your aria, hurtling toward those primo notes, and
realizing you can't sing them. Therapists make lots of money off of moments
like that.
I really feel for that soprano - there but for the grace of God, etc. etc. I
just hope she was having an uncharacteristically lousy day, and that she's
not mis-fached. I also hope this company doesn't write her off permanently -
the bigger the company, the less likely they are to make excuses for any
singer who doesn't have it together. The next time she sings for this
particular company, she's going to have to blow their socks off.
So there's my $0.02 (adjusted for inflation)! I hope you sang well, Z - what
did you sing BTW?
Regards to all Vocalist-ers, T.
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