Good evening!
Greetings - again - from Memphis, TN, USA!
Well, the second day of auditions went well. A lot of good talent today, but again, no one really spectacular. Oh wait, there was one young woman who made my day! She sang "Flaming Agnes" from
I Do! I Do! She performed the song. She acted the song. She sold the song. She belted the song. She knew what she was doing with the song. And when a singer really knows what they are doing with a song, it makes my job much easier and enjoyable. I don't have to sit at the piano trying to guess - and second guess - where he/she is going next. *And I made of point of finding her after the auditions were done to compliment and thank her. And I did.
DR Jennifer - I do not get to provide feedback as a rule since "I'm only the pianist". However, sometimes singers/actors will come up to me afterwards and ask me for some constructive criticism. There are also times where I'll leave a little note or Post-It note on their music: a wrong note, a missing key signature, a better way to indicate their cuts, "please recopy your music so that all the piano notes (my notes) are on the page", "you should not have torn your music out of the book" (which happens a lot!?!?!), or "next time, to make it easier, please put the music in a binder". -Stuff like that - the practical stuff that seems to get overlooked more often than not.
DR Noel - "a brown song" - Are you talking about a "Jason Robert Brown" song? I don't mind them - too much - but, ladies, if you can't and/or don't know how to belt and/or mix, then please find another song! *The tricky one for me is "The Red Hills of Georgia" - is that the right title - most singers give the tempo in "2", when, in actuality, the song is in "3" - the joys of hemiola!. And when it goes into the 4/4 section, the "string figure" in thirds - and in fast sixteenths - is just not practical on most audition room pianos. -I also find that singer will look over at me trying to find the beat, but there's not really much I can do since there's not much on the page unless I change the accents. *And if you listen to the recording, it's very hard to hear the pulse - definitely one of those "watch the conductor" moments.
-Sorry if the above makes no sense to anyone... I'm babbling.. So.. I shall stop now... and continue babbling in another post...