#7: Pick Yourself A(nother) Road

 7/9/24

How’s your audition book? Good? Ok, so next step: Are your songs flexible in use? How many of your songs can be repurposed? 

WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT

Yup. Some of your songs should serve multiple purposes. Can your “classic ballad” also be funny? Can your uptempo pop song also be a sad ballad? Or folksy? 

Let me explain. 

Your book is a precious tool and while it is “set” - you can change it as you need. BUT, you may need to update & change it less if you have some songs that pull double duty. Here is an example: a million years ago, I taught a class called “3/2/DONE”. We take 3 audition songs for each singer of various styles and create 2 pathways for performance. 

One of the songs performed was “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” - the pop mega ballad made famous by Michael Bolton. There is the standard interpretation of the song - a person sincerely asking how they are to move on with their life after a breakup with a gorgeous long melodic line and great singing.

BUT WHAT ABOUT AN INTERPRETATION WHERE….

A person being OVERLY SINCERE to the point that they want whip out a hand fan to push their hair in the “wind”. 

Or what about my go-to, The Trolley Song from Meet Me In St Louis. A song where the main character belts about an exciting encounter with a boy. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE INTERPRETATION WHERE it’s delivered as a Pick-A-Little-Lady gossiping with her town cronies.

There are so many ways to do this in your book. Think a bit outside the box or think of those random roles you audition for. For me, I am called in all the time for Eulalie Shinn or one of those pick-a-little ladies and I don’t want to dedicate a whole cut worth of real estate in by book just for this, or this type of, character. So, a double duty is a beautiful thing! 

I guarantee you that a few of these already live in your book. This is a FUN activity to see how creative you can be. Occasionally, you may want to make notes for alternate tempos where appropriate but that would be something you can easily communicate with the pianist live. 

GIVE IT A TRY!

Dreams Don’t Die

Julie