The first audition is always the worst

      Oh please, let it be so.


I wonder if Elton John remembers his first audition. I wonder if it was messy, awkward and embarrassing, or if it sparkled with the confidence and self-assurance that it takes to wear whole outfits just as sparkly.

I had my first audition this week, and while it was an experience I'd sooner forget, I'm sure I'll remember it for a long time to come.

To cut a long story short, I was made to do an impromptu 'audition' to get into a Ensemble class for the semester (a class made up of small groups in different musical formats). Despite the fact that I'm a Composition major, and was hoping for the vocal ensemble (where I could comfortably blend in with some other baritones and sway in all the right places), they wanted to put me into a group with Contemporary Performance majors. But they had to check I was up to scratch.

Thus ensued my unprepared, unrehearsed, nerve-wracked piano and singing audition, and, after bumbling through a rather awkward recital of 'Georgia on my mind' on the keys, I was asked to sing something.

I. Had. Nothing.

Nothing.

Drawing blanks.

Good grief, this is so embarrassing! He must think I'm such a twerp.

"Um, what would you like me to sing?" I asked, stalling for time.

"Anything you want," said he.

Thanks for your help. 

"Like what?" I persisted, silently pleading with God for either divine inspiration or a fatal aneurysm.

"Well, what you normally sing. What do you sing when you have a gig on a Friday night?"

Are you serious? I've never had a gig in my life! At least none that somebody's enjoyed so much they felt they needed to pay me for it! "Oh. Ok. Um..."

Nothing.

In hindsight, I could have sung a Disney song. I've done a couple of those at weddings. Or a Casting Crowns song - I had some good feedback on those when I'd performed at special church services.

Nothing. Nada. My head was as blank as the expression on my face.

And so, grasping at the first and only thing I could think of, that's how I came to sing 'Advance Australia Fair' for my audition into a Contemporary Performance class.

What. A dork.

If the bloke assessing me was laughing on the inside he deserves a damn medal for keeping himself composed. I don't know what he would have found funnier: my unrehearsed, off-pitch singing or the fact that the nervous fiddling with my necklace as I sang probably looked remarkably like holding my hand to my chest in a dedicated show of patriotism.

Please, just let the ground open up and swallow me whole...

Strangely enough, instead of my enrolment being cancelled on the spot, I was accepted into the class.

(As a pianist, fortunately...)

So now, whenever I hear our beloved National Anthem, I know I'm going to remember my first ever audition in the big, bad music world. And cringe.

Oh hell. The Olympics are on this year.

I'd better steer clear of the swimming.