(Why is it I always want to start writing with the word, "so"? Sheesh, haha.)
...SO, My mom is a private brass instructor and the other day we were talking about how she's preparing some of her students for an audition for all-county honor band. She was explaining to them that auditioning is tricky and that everyone, even seasoned professional performers like herself still get nervous. The trick is to work past the nervousness, prepare, and do your best. Anyways, her and one of her musician buddies were reminiscing about their first performances and auditions. It got me thinking about mine. At first, I couldn't even remember mine, but after a while it occurred to me that the only one that mattered is the first one that made a distinct impression on me ('cause I'm sure there were more before this, but I don't remember, and so there you go).
I think I was about 10, and I was auditioning for Dames At Sea with the Children's Musical Theatre of San Jose (fabulous group, by the way, just a smidge expensive, though). And, I distinctly remember what I wore and what I sang. My sister curled my hair, it was quite long then. I wore a red long-sleeved shirt, and overalls. But not just any overalls. These were Winnie the Pooh overalls. And not just Winnie the Pooh overalls, but the whole Hundred Acre gang was present: Piglet, Tigger, Owl, Kanga (possibly Roo), Rabbit, you get the picture. Anyways, I mention the outfit because I sang...wait for it...."Winnie the Pooh"...as in his theme song. Cute, right? Well, yeah, probably. But, I find the whole experience interesting because I distinctly remember blowing the audition. Not like I did poorly, but I remember being embarrassed because of all the people in the room. I did not use vibrato, and I remember singing the song with no "oomph," it was very musically bland. I remember after the audition thinking that had I sung a more mature piece and sung it with the talent and skill I knew I had things might have turned out differently.
All this to say, I think God works in amazing ways. You see, after this audition I don't think I auditioned for a musical for several years. I played volleyball, and played in bands, and sang in choirs...but I don't believe, to my recollection, that I had the nerve to audition for a musical for a while. There have been times throughout my college experience where I regretted some of these extra-curricular choices, that maybe I would be that much closer to fulfilling my dream had I auditioned for stuff in high school. (Actually, I take what I said earlier back, I auditioned for The Music Man in eighth grade, and Footloose sophomore year of high school, and bailed both times. I had maturity and pride issues back then....water under the bridge...) However, recently we lost an uncle of Eric's due to cancer, and I actually felt closer to him than others whom I have known who have passed. So I was thinking about his influence on my life and my life with Eric and it occurred to me that I might not have met Eric without this uncle's financial contribution to Eric's education (Eric wouldn't have gone to Valley...etc.). This kind of snowballed into this whole series of thoughts. Had I performed the Dames at Sea audition differently I might have done really well early on in theatre....
...but I for sure wouldn't want it all that way now. 'Cause, you see...God has used every opportunity, experience and curve in the road for His plan. I was meant to meet and marry Eric, whom I wouldn't have known if God didn't put me in marching band instead of theatre. I was supposed to play trombone in band, go to CBU for a semester, hate it and then start a different college path. Everything that has happened has led me to where I'm at now has been part of God's plan. I think it was entirely part of His love story for me to have gone to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, study vocal performance, get married, move to Roseville, work as an intern at Music Circus Sacramento and move down to southern California in the near future.
God works in amazing ways, and even though some days I get frustrated that I can't figure out where He's leading me or what His plan is...He still works it all out for good, and gets me past those days to get to the days where I don't so much care that I can't see 50 feet in front of me...it's kind of nice letting someone else take the reigns.
Enjoy :)
Today's food for thought.
Oh, p.s. to answer the question I know is running through your head, yes, yes I was thinking about the Alanis Morissette song "Isn't It Ironic?" when I made this post...I don't know why...the neighbor girls across the street from me growing up were fans, so I knew a couple of her tunes.....whatever...;)
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Disney Audition #1 (of many, hopefully)
I suppose this is the first post of many about auditionings...
I auditioned for Disneyland. Glamorous, right?! Not really. Haha
Earlier this year I flew down to Burbank, CA at 6am from Sacramento and went to the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio. I was auditioning for two new shows for California Adventures: one set in the 1940's, a quartet of flight stewardesses with tight-knit harmonies reminiscent of the Andrews sisters; and one set in the 1920's, a trio of sisters from the middle-of-America, also tight-knit harmonies, also reminiscent of the Andrews sisters.
I had literally NO IDEA what I was doing, or what to expect, or what was going to happen. Granted, I have a friend in-the-know, but it was quite a different circumstance and I'm not nearly as trained in the art of auditioning as she.
Anyways, check-in was supposed to start at 9:30am for a 10am audition. Mistake #1: I showed up 15 minutes early. Now, to those of you who have never been to a large-scale audition, this might not seem like a big deal. I was early, right? That's a good thing, right? Well, yes...but here's the thing: roughly 500 people show up to open-call auditions. It's first-come, first-serve. You do the math. So....needless-to-say, I got in line that was already making its way down the street, and watched it snake (fairly quickly, Go Disney!) into the dance studio. I ended up being #147 of the non-union auditionees. There were at least 2 alphabet runs of union auditionees...They were bringing in 10 people at a time to hear them sing their 16 bars of their piece. Yikes. At 1: 00pm Eric picked me up to have some lunch. At 1:30pm he brought me back to go wait some more. I had the privilege of watching some of the union auditionees who had made it to the dance round learn and perform some simple but well-choreographed movement. Professional entertainers are so very fun to watch. That is their job. :) When they finally called my run of numbers around 4pm, they were (obviously) just trying to get through everyone. My guess is that they already had picked their 5 people for the small cast (they were hoping to cast the same actors for both shows...which narrows the cast down even more) and were just being polite not asking everyone else to go home. How kind of you, Disney. :) So my group was told to get in numerical order and we were led to the hallway where we waited and individually went into one of the small rooms to sing. I walked in, went straight to the piano. I handed my binder to my accompanist, chatted-it-up with him a little. He completely understood my piece, tempo, dixie-swing, everything. I was feeling great. I got up, they said, "Katie, is it?" I said, "Yes! Hi!" They said, "Whenever you're ready." "Ok, great!" Then I began. I sang all 16 bars. At least they didn't cut me off! They warned us that they might. So, that felt nice. Then I finished, they said, "Ok, great, that's all we need. Thank you." "Thank you so much for your time." I walked over grabbed my music from the accompanist, and walked out.
Eric took me to dinner, and I flew back to Sacramento.
And that was that.
In retrospect, I probably sang the wrong song, because as it is Disney, they were looking for a VERY particular sound, and on that day I did not fit it. But, that's okay. I had NO idea what it was going to be like.
Now I know. I'll be better prepared next time and it won't be so much of a shock. I'll also get there earlier ;)
Until next time! Happy auditioning, everyone!
I auditioned for Disneyland. Glamorous, right?! Not really. Haha
Earlier this year I flew down to Burbank, CA at 6am from Sacramento and went to the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio. I was auditioning for two new shows for California Adventures: one set in the 1940's, a quartet of flight stewardesses with tight-knit harmonies reminiscent of the Andrews sisters; and one set in the 1920's, a trio of sisters from the middle-of-America, also tight-knit harmonies, also reminiscent of the Andrews sisters.
I had literally NO IDEA what I was doing, or what to expect, or what was going to happen. Granted, I have a friend in-the-know, but it was quite a different circumstance and I'm not nearly as trained in the art of auditioning as she.
Anyways, check-in was supposed to start at 9:30am for a 10am audition. Mistake #1: I showed up 15 minutes early. Now, to those of you who have never been to a large-scale audition, this might not seem like a big deal. I was early, right? That's a good thing, right? Well, yes...but here's the thing: roughly 500 people show up to open-call auditions. It's first-come, first-serve. You do the math. So....needless-to-say, I got in line that was already making its way down the street, and watched it snake (fairly quickly, Go Disney!) into the dance studio. I ended up being #147 of the non-union auditionees. There were at least 2 alphabet runs of union auditionees...They were bringing in 10 people at a time to hear them sing their 16 bars of their piece. Yikes. At 1: 00pm Eric picked me up to have some lunch. At 1:30pm he brought me back to go wait some more. I had the privilege of watching some of the union auditionees who had made it to the dance round learn and perform some simple but well-choreographed movement. Professional entertainers are so very fun to watch. That is their job. :) When they finally called my run of numbers around 4pm, they were (obviously) just trying to get through everyone. My guess is that they already had picked their 5 people for the small cast (they were hoping to cast the same actors for both shows...which narrows the cast down even more) and were just being polite not asking everyone else to go home. How kind of you, Disney. :) So my group was told to get in numerical order and we were led to the hallway where we waited and individually went into one of the small rooms to sing. I walked in, went straight to the piano. I handed my binder to my accompanist, chatted-it-up with him a little. He completely understood my piece, tempo, dixie-swing, everything. I was feeling great. I got up, they said, "Katie, is it?" I said, "Yes! Hi!" They said, "Whenever you're ready." "Ok, great!" Then I began. I sang all 16 bars. At least they didn't cut me off! They warned us that they might. So, that felt nice. Then I finished, they said, "Ok, great, that's all we need. Thank you." "Thank you so much for your time." I walked over grabbed my music from the accompanist, and walked out.
Eric took me to dinner, and I flew back to Sacramento.
And that was that.
In retrospect, I probably sang the wrong song, because as it is Disney, they were looking for a VERY particular sound, and on that day I did not fit it. But, that's okay. I had NO idea what it was going to be like.
Now I know. I'll be better prepared next time and it won't be so much of a shock. I'll also get there earlier ;)
Until next time! Happy auditioning, everyone!
Entertainers: fame-seekers or joy-bringers?
So, I've been thinking about this a lot recently...
...My dream is to perform. Though some may think it's cheesy the song "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from Disney's Cinderella means a lot to me. For a couple of reasons: First, I believe that God puts passions in your heart as a part of you, and He wouldn't make that part of you only to take it away from you later. He has a plan for that special part of you. Musical theatre is a passion of mine, and I don't think God made that a part of me just for giggles. He has a plan for me, even though I can't see it. Second, I think dreaming is an amazing thing. Though reason and intellect have a lot to do with making incredible things happen, I think faith and hope (which are what dreams are made of, after all) give it the extra "oomph," ya know? Anyways, I learned the full-extent of the lyrics of that song recently for a Disney audition (an entirely different post, to be sure) and it really "hit home" for me:
"A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through.
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true."
Obviously, there's a little more to it than a children's fairy-tale, but Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I guess my point is this, I pray that by allowing me to perform, my passions, talents, and gifts can be used for His glory and in return bring me the joy that musical theatre brings me. And, as an overflow, I pray that others will be blessed. 'Cause here's the part that I've been thinking a lot about recently...and those of you who are performers (regardless of whether or not you believe in God or not) I hope this makes you stop and think just for a second....
...I've noticed a significant difference between entertainers: fame-seekers, and entertainers: joy-bringers.
There are those who are in it simply to gain attention, and get people to like them. Such a sad life this must be. I think I used to be this way. And, looking back it makes me regret the way I acted towards some. But, I don't want to live my life in regret. And I certainly don't want to live my life trying to make myself happy. I have found so much more joy in trying to make others happy.
There are also those who are in it for the love of performing. There is nothing like the heat of the light hitting your face, as you're in costume and make-up pretending to be someone else; not in an attempt to cover up who you really are, but in a sort of allegorical way of teaching something, a moral or something of the like. There is nothing like looking out past the lights and seeing bodies of people filling the seats, but not being able to see faces; this sounds morbid, but I mean it only because you never know who you can touch with a piece of music and a fantastic lyric. The arts are categorized as "humanities" because it reaches to the very core of humans, the heart. People relate to each other through theatre and music just makes it sound better. ;) Singing, for me anyways, is an overflow of the heart. I was once told that as all theatrical direction should have motivation, an actor should only start singing because there is no other way to say what needs to be said. That's exactly how it should be, no other way to explain what you feel, so you sing it. The other portion of performing that I've become really attached to is dance. Dance make my heart feel like it's exploding with emotion. (P.S: I'm an emotional person. Sometimes overly-so. I can be quite sensitive sometimes. My sweet husband says that he admires that about me 'cause I feel so much when others sometimes feel nothing.) I wish I had something more to say about that, but maybe that's the point. Dance says with movement what I can't sing or say with words.
Anyways, I hope that if, God willing, I have the privilege of performing for a living that I never lose sight of why I do it: for the LOVE of performing and the joy it can bring others through the human connection, not to be famous.
Perhaps I should sign off the way my mom sometimes signs off her emails: Today's Food for Thought.
...My dream is to perform. Though some may think it's cheesy the song "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes" from Disney's Cinderella means a lot to me. For a couple of reasons: First, I believe that God puts passions in your heart as a part of you, and He wouldn't make that part of you only to take it away from you later. He has a plan for that special part of you. Musical theatre is a passion of mine, and I don't think God made that a part of me just for giggles. He has a plan for me, even though I can't see it. Second, I think dreaming is an amazing thing. Though reason and intellect have a lot to do with making incredible things happen, I think faith and hope (which are what dreams are made of, after all) give it the extra "oomph," ya know? Anyways, I learned the full-extent of the lyrics of that song recently for a Disney audition (an entirely different post, to be sure) and it really "hit home" for me:
"A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for you keep
Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through.
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true."
Obviously, there's a little more to it than a children's fairy-tale, but Psalm 37:4 says "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." I guess my point is this, I pray that by allowing me to perform, my passions, talents, and gifts can be used for His glory and in return bring me the joy that musical theatre brings me. And, as an overflow, I pray that others will be blessed. 'Cause here's the part that I've been thinking a lot about recently...and those of you who are performers (regardless of whether or not you believe in God or not) I hope this makes you stop and think just for a second....
...I've noticed a significant difference between entertainers: fame-seekers, and entertainers: joy-bringers.
There are those who are in it simply to gain attention, and get people to like them. Such a sad life this must be. I think I used to be this way. And, looking back it makes me regret the way I acted towards some. But, I don't want to live my life in regret. And I certainly don't want to live my life trying to make myself happy. I have found so much more joy in trying to make others happy.
There are also those who are in it for the love of performing. There is nothing like the heat of the light hitting your face, as you're in costume and make-up pretending to be someone else; not in an attempt to cover up who you really are, but in a sort of allegorical way of teaching something, a moral or something of the like. There is nothing like looking out past the lights and seeing bodies of people filling the seats, but not being able to see faces; this sounds morbid, but I mean it only because you never know who you can touch with a piece of music and a fantastic lyric. The arts are categorized as "humanities" because it reaches to the very core of humans, the heart. People relate to each other through theatre and music just makes it sound better. ;) Singing, for me anyways, is an overflow of the heart. I was once told that as all theatrical direction should have motivation, an actor should only start singing because there is no other way to say what needs to be said. That's exactly how it should be, no other way to explain what you feel, so you sing it. The other portion of performing that I've become really attached to is dance. Dance make my heart feel like it's exploding with emotion. (P.S: I'm an emotional person. Sometimes overly-so. I can be quite sensitive sometimes. My sweet husband says that he admires that about me 'cause I feel so much when others sometimes feel nothing.) I wish I had something more to say about that, but maybe that's the point. Dance says with movement what I can't sing or say with words.
Anyways, I hope that if, God willing, I have the privilege of performing for a living that I never lose sight of why I do it: for the LOVE of performing and the joy it can bring others through the human connection, not to be famous.
Perhaps I should sign off the way my mom sometimes signs off her emails: Today's Food for Thought.
Greetings, My Dear Void!
In one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail," (By the way, if you haven't seen it, watch it. It is fantastic. It'll make you smile.) Meg Ryan says to her 'anonymous chat-room buddy': "the odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something. But I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings." So I suppose that right now this is just an oportunity for me to write down my "nothings" and allow others to read about it. I hope it will become a "something for me someday, as it will be made up of my thoughts, ideas, and -- in my opinion, most importantly -- dreams. Maybe it'll become "something" for you too, maybe even thought-provoking...may it be entertaining at the very least. Enjoy! :)
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