Auditions. They’re stressful, pressure-filled days that can feel like the end of the world. The need to perform at your absolute best in front of people can be incredibly intimidating and can make you lose confidence in your abilities. But the truth is, you can be entirely in control of your audition if you go into it prepared and with the right mindset.
So how can you master your audition? Practice these tips and you will be the master of your fate at your next audition!
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Come prepared
- Whether you’re performing a song, a dance, or a monologue, you should practice your audition so many times that it feels like second nature to you. Beyond practicing by yourself, make sure you practice your audition to your friends and family, it will help you prepare for the nerves of performing in front of your classmates and directors.
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Identify your strengths and weaknesses
- While you’re preparing for your audition, take a moment to list out your strengths and weaknesses. Think about how you can use your strengths to elevate your performance. For example, if you’re particularly good at singing falsetto, make sure you use falsetto during your audition. Then think about how you can improve your weaknesses. For example, if your weakness is belting, watch videos on other people belting and the techniques they use. Practice that weakness so much that you feel confident doing it over and over again.
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Emotionally connect to your performance
- Before your audition, make sure you understand the emotional message of the piece you’re performing. What kind of message are you trying to get across to your audience? The piece you’re performing may be sad, playful, uplifting, or funny. Whatever it is, make sure you’re acting that out in your performance— your audience should be able to connect with your performance and experience that emotion with you.
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Fake it till you make it
- Walk into your audition like you’re the most confident person in the world, even if you don’t feel like it. When nerves start to come, tell yourself that you are confident and your audition is going to be amazing. Eventually, you will naturally start to feel more confident just by simply pretending to feel confident.
- But making yourself feel confident may not always be so easy, especially if you experience performance anxiety. To overcome this anxiety, try the breathing and muscle relaxation techniques found in this article.
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Don’t stress about things out of your control
- In the midst of an audition, it’s easy to think ahead about everything that can go wrong. You may think about how you’ll mess up, about how you won’t get the part, or about someone else performing better than you. But that’s a bad use of your energy because that’s all out of your control. The only thing you should focus on is performing your best because that’s all you can control.
Use these tips to ensure you have an amazing audition! Auditions can definitely be nerve-wracking but think of auditions as a time to showcase all your hard work and preparation. This is the moment you’ve been waiting for, so go in confidently and believe in yourself!
For more audition tips, watch this video:
