Remember that everyone is on YOUR team in the audition room, and wants you to be the one that is PERFECT for the role.  Every few days, I am going to post a tidbit of information that may be of use to your audition:

How to Make Your Music Clear for the Audition Pianist, and more…

1)  Do not bring in loose pages, and if you must, do not bring in a string of 6 pages and expect the pianist to be able to spread them across the piano.  Remember, you now risk your music falling off the piano, getting the order mixed up (ALWAYS CHECK THE ORDER OF PAGES), etc.  Your job is to make it as easy for the pianist to play so that you have nothing to worry about when you sing.

2)  If your music is in sheet protectors, make sure they are ANTI-GLARE protectors.  (And make sure your music doesn’t stick together).

3)  Make page turns easy.  If you have a two-page piece, hole-punch the first page on the left side, so the pianist doesn’t have to turn the page.

4)  Explain and circle neatly, in red pen, all CUTS, KEY, METER, STYLE, TEMPO changes (etc.)  Do not expect the pianist to remember all of the intricacies of your audition piece. Try to limit these changes.  If you have to, it is best to get a copyist to redo your music specifically for you.

5)  If you are starting mid-song, make sure that the key and time signatures are re-written on the staves.

6)  Do not bring in anything that is terribly difficult to sight-read.  This is a debatable subject, but generally stay away from: Jason Robert Brown, Adam Guettel, and even Stephen Sondheim, when possible.  While a good pianist should know the cannon and/or be able to sight-read the music, it is wiser to not take a risk on a highly complex accompanied song.

7)  Know your tempo and the style of the song so you can sing a little bit of it to the accompanist quickly before you perform.

8)  If something goes terribly wrong at the beginning of your audition, it is better that you stop, take the blame for not explaining clearly how you wanted the song played, and start again.  DO NOT LOOK OVER AT THE PIANIST AS THOUGH HE/SHE IS RUINING YOUR AUDITION, NOR EVER SAY ANYTHING TO THAT EFFECT, INSIDE OR OUTSIDE THE AUDITION ROOM.

9)  Be ready to have something else to sing other than what you originally planned to sing.

10)  Be courteous to everyone in the room.  Smile.  Have fun.  People like to work with fun people.