Another Audition Experience

 

Yesterday I had another audition, but this one was a bit on the unusual side.  I contacted the conductor of a local performance ensemble because I was interested in performing the tenor solo in a concert that was to be performed in the area within the next few months.

I sent the conductor an email:

“My name is Nourrit’s Number and I am a tenor currently studying with Martile Rowland. I learned of the upcoming X performance through  [Local classical music/opera newsletter] and I would like to express my interest in auditioning for the tenor soloist. I would like to inquire about the audition process and whether there are any dates available to audition. I can also send my resumé over e-mail using either PDF or Word/RTF format, whichever is more convenient.”

The exchange was bizarre from the beginning: After my introductory letter (where I specifically indicated that I was interested in performing in this concert) he suggested a meeting time and place, mentioned that there were “several tenor solos available” (the Cantata in question only has one aria and one recitativo for tenor) and referred to my audition as “trying each other out.” This gave me a weird vibe, since this is usually the kind of language a prospective voice teacher uses with a prospective student- hardly what you would expect to hear from a conductor and a performer, at least within my experience.

The second bizarre tidbit about this was that he requested no audition repertoire. In 99.99% of auditions, you walk into the room and you sing one or several pieces from a prepared list of repertoire that will show your strengths as a performer.  The parties interested then will judge your skill and artistic level and decide to whether sign you up or not for the opera/concert/gig/whatever.

What I mean by ‘requested no audition repertoire’ is that he said that he could give me a full hour or half an hour, the full hour having an accompanist at hand “depending on if you would like to work on rep with me,” the accompanist fee to be charged at my expense.  Now, normally you go to an audition and either the interested parties provide the accompanist or you can bring your own (and therefore negotiate a fee with the accompanist, in exchange for an accompanist who is familiar with the rep you are singing, and familiar with your way of singing it.) 

It was the second part of the sentence that puzzled me. I have never really been to any auditions where the conductor or music director was interested in ‘working on repertoire’ with me. Working on repertoire is, again, something you do with a coach or your voice teacher – for an audition, you present material you already have polished and ‘worked on’ with somebody else, so I was getting increasingly mixed signals. The email continued with:

“If an hour, we can do other rep as well. We neednt spend a ton of time on [The composer whose Cantata I was interested in.]”

In my mind I thought “I’m not going there for a voice lesson or to be coached, I’m auditioning for a concert,” so I told him I would rather do the half-hour (again, most auditions never take more than 5 – 10 minutes), and that I would like to bring [X aria from the cantata in question] for him to hear.

Instead, this conductor said “I will be very familiar with your unique instrument and talent from the vocalise session. Don't worry about rep in that case. We'll just take it easy.”

Vocalise session? As one of my favorite authors once put it, curioser and curioser.

I arrived at the designated place and met with the conductor. The vocalise session started – the first thing he had me do was do a 1-3-5-3-1 arpeggio on a purely nasal squeeze. I am not exaggerating, the sound he required me to do was a high laryngeal, frontally placed nasal emission that made my larynx figuratively shoot up through my nose… very uncomfortable. This was to be followed by another arpeggio properly produced – I knew that after squeezing in such a manner I wouldn’t be able to get the space I have been developing with my teacher, but he insisted. 

Eventually I finished vocalising for him through several other exercises – he kept demonstrating in his own voice what he wanted me to do, and it was very much the ‘pinched’ nasal tone that had proved to be my undoing from previous teachers in the past. I approached it the way I have been learning with my new teacher—where frontal placement and resonance is a by-product of the combination of an open throat, a raised soft palate, proper breath support and lack of excessive pressure (the problem with having frontal placement as a primary effort and focus is that you end up with a collapsed soft palate and a raised larynx… i.e., how I was singing before I started with my new teacher) … I succeeded to a certain extent, but the first squeezed vocalise had given me a whole lot of tension to work with and not much time to reset my larynx.

When we were finished he didn’t address the Cantata casting per se, but vaguely hinted at the fact that he would like for me to work in ‘this environment’ (the place where this group sings) and even take lessons from him (knowing full well I was studying with another teacher), saying that he didn’t know how ‘the politics of that’ would work out. He mentioned that he had worked with ‘all the big boys’ and did a brief recount of his credentials for me, hinting at the fact that he could teach me how to do things in the style of the aforementioned big boys. He said that it was also possible that one day I might end up with a position at this place, provided I was willing to work with the music director who is a rather intense fellow (who must be so due to the enormous amount of music he must cover in such a short time.)

I was more or less stunned at this and said I’d e-mail him back. The whole deal struck me as simply bizarre. He said he thought my voice was excellent, gorgeous and beautiful, but the overture of offering lessons to me disoriented me – in ‘the field’ so to speak, it is considered very unethical to make overtures towards another voice student unless that student has openly expressed a desire to change teachers. Martile would not have me discuss changing into her studio, for example, until I had settled the matter with my previous voice teacher, out of professional respect. So, in a way, I came out with a certain unsettling feeling at what had happened.

I have thought about what my answer will be, and I think that the best course of action is to stress my interest in the solo tenor in the cantata—I am not interested in joining an ensemble group, as I spent several years in two very fine choirs here in Colorado and in North Carolina, and I have no desire to pursue choral work. If he would rather not have me for the soloist in the cantata, it is perfectly alright – I just need to know that so I can turn my attention to the other December engagements. As for the work position, the only way I could consider it is if the place in question would be willing to front an H1-B visa for it. My time is growing short on the immigration front, and so I do not have time to spare on potential employment that isn’t going to allow me to become a permanent resident.

All in all, a supremely bizarre experience.

 

Update: My voice teacher sent me an e-mail saying 

“Just a “by the way” – This sort of thing happened to me often when I was singing professionally.   Teachers would try and get me to study with them after they heard me sing and everyone seemed to have a suggestion of teachers and repertoire. So, consider it a compliment that you are getting more desirable as a singer! ”

Well, that’s a nice way of thinking about it. My mother used to have a nickname for people who were extremely alluring and/or flirtatious, but which is humoristically appropriate here: I guess I’m becoming the Coca-Cola of the desert!