News!

I have some news! One part of my project which is very personal and requires me to grow based on the knowledge I garner from my studies, is my own vocal training. Since I applied as a vocal major back in November, I had to pass the pre-screeinging round before I could be invited to a live audition at any schools. Since there are simply so many applicants, the pre-screening process has been implemented to cut down the number of live auditions the faculty and jury must arrange on campus. So far I have heard back from Eastman, NYU, Mannes, Northwestern, and Carnegie Mellon, and they all have called me back! So these next two months will be very busy with me preparing technically and artistically for these auditions. I read somewhere that the live audition, for some schools, comprises 95% of the criteria for admission. Therefore, I must be on my game when I go in there for the live audition. In most cases, I will be judged by a jury including some if not all of the vocal faculty. In most cases I do not get to bring my own accompanist nor work with the chosen accompanist before the audition, which adds a bit of stress. What I find exciting and interesting about this whole process is that this is exactly how all of the singers I have been studying and researching started out: auditioning. Before anyone of them made it, they had an education. Who knows, maybe while I'm at one of these schools auditioning, I'll meet the next Leontyne Price or Maria Callas. This is also just the beginning of auditioning, so I had better not only get used to it but get good at it. It doesn't matter if you can sing wonderfully with amazing artistry, skill, and technique, if you can't nail that in an audition, you will never be given the chance to have a career. Auditions are vital, and understanding them is also crucial. I have to think about why I am there and what I am trying to do. What does the jury want? What are they looking for? A professor from Curtis (perhaps the most difficult music school to be admitted to in the country) said they are looking for someone to make them feel something. If someone made him cry, he or she would be in. Simple. Not so simple. It's not easy to break the hard outer shells of these judges, and they will probably be exhausted from seeing so many students. But my job is to trust my technique is there, what I have so far at least, and to let myself understand and interpret the songs I am singing as seamlessly as possible. If I can do that, hopefully, I will get in somewhere. However, my first audition is January 25, so I don't have much time! I need to start polishing my technique, working on my breath control and support, and really spending time thinking about which character I'm playing and what that character wants. It's going to be a hectic few months, but it will prepare me for my future in this business with out a doubt!