Pet Peves from a Pianist.

Hey All!

I recently finished up playing a round of auditions in Manhattan, for a professional equity company, and I can not believe how some people come into auditions! My specifics

*Coming in with music that is not in a binder, is single sided, and looks like the auditioner threw it in their bag, put it in the washing machine, and then pulled it out for you to play - regardless of the difficulty, you need to worry about turning twice as many pages while the music is falling on top of you.
TIP - Put your music into a 3 ring binder, preferably in plastic sleves, and dont fill the binder so much that it is nearly impossible to turn the pages. Don't bring in the long cardboard stand with music glued on it unless you have it on 1 piece. When someone brings in the first 3 pages on one piece, and the next 3 pages on the 2nd piece, its a pain to move it without dropping out for 2 or more bars in one hand.

*People who come in and sing On My Own, Think of Me, and the other cliche songs.
TIP - Sing something original that shows off your voice, there is more out there then Think of Me to show off your high notes ("Golden Ram" from 2 by 2 for instance, "Vanilla Ice Cream" which, although not a favorite of mine, is sung less then Christines cadenza.)

*People who get pissed off at the accompanist when they bring in "Thank Goodness" from Wicked, claiming the pianist was not following them when they were singing everything in a straight 6/8.
TIP - Practice your songs before you get there with a REAL pianist, not the CD, and get your tempos, notes, etc. down pat before you come in. And if you do screw up, wether your fault or the accompanists, be gracious about it. Personally, when I play an audition with a smaller company (equity or not) if I screw up a song I will be the first one to say to the producer or MD, "You know, I think that I may have thrown him/her off, could we hear another 16 bars." If I don't get any respect though...no way!!

Any other input from Actors, Pianists, or Producers?

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Good point. I jsut have one question.

Isn't it bad to put your music in laminated sheets? Because then, doesn't the light sorta create a glare? Also, is it okay for the sheet music to a) be taped together so it folds in and out and comes out straight without falling off on the piano or b?be in a book? Just wondering.

I usually fold the op edges of my music so they can turn the page better so.. yeah. thanks and AMEN!

No Problem.

Obviously, every pianist has his own ideal way to get things done, but it is frustrating to everybody when someone comes in that is not prepared, including the Directors and Producers.

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Updated On: 8/29/05 at 04:48 PM

Since I have no idea how old you are, I'll tell you what I tell general age groups.

If you are in Middle School or High School, ask your choral director for the name of somebody who plays whatever style you are looking for well.

If you are in college, or above, you just need to do your research, look through old contact lists for your accompanists name and number, do a google search for Piano +CITY and STATE.

If you look and look and you can find nobody to play (friends, family, old musical directors, accompanists, teachers, etc...) then call your local American Federation of Musicians office, or a local music store, or find where they give piano lessons in your area, and contact those people.

You can always find somebody somewhere, even if they may cost some money.

The other thing that you can do is hire somebody to make MIDI tracks for you. At least that way you will hear what the accompinment sounds like before you get there. Also, if you download your music off of musicnotes.com, you can often play the songs and hear the Piano and Vocal parts together.

Hope that this info helps a little.

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Advice on finding sheet music - check your local library's music section. I found a ton of stuff at the Michigan State University library - new and old, rare and common. The Chicago Public Library has an AMAZING musical theatre sheet music section, though a little disorganized.

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thanks, Aqp, that will clear some much heated debate with my friends. I personally would NEVER walk into an audition with sheet music that is not prepared for my accompianist. It is hard enough playing the music let alone remembering what the singer told you to leave out/add in/change yadda yadda

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I personally don't care if someone snaps a tempo for me if thats what makes them comfortable and thats what they have practiced. Regardless of how they set the tempo, either singing or counting or snapping, I play a bar or two until they say - "Yup thats what I need."

As for restrating an audition - I am going to assume that we are all on the same page of professional auditions because school and community theatre it happens all the time - I have seen some producers put people in their 'junk' pile because people ask to restart a song regardless of their talent. Trust me - if we like your look, but we think you screwed up your song, we will ask you to sing it again or sign something else - please just keep going.

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Thanks - its always nice to hear that once in a while (and trust me it is once in a while) - however the musicians will never be the star of the show (unless maybe you are in Moving Out) and thats OK - it's all part of the job.

And to be honest - a lot of times - audition pianists are in it for a check to pay their rent. Dont get me wrong, I love what I do, but playing auditions you dont get a chance for any creative input - its for the cash.

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As long as everything can turn OK and the cuts are clearly marked that is a great idea.

Nobody has ever brought in music like that to me but it sounds great! A PLUS FOR EFFORT!

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It's deffinatley better to be 2-sided.

It gives us less pages to turn so we can play more of what you brought in for us instead of dropping out one of our hands every 8 bars.

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Don't be Sorry for asking smart qeustions.

If you are going to post it onto card stock or some other heavy paper - make sure you can fit it all on one sheet and dont make it longer then 4 - 5 pages max or you need to risk it falling off in the middle of your song, and then that would be a bad thing.

I still prefer the tried and true binder method - it just looks the most professional as opposed to bring in a big piece of Cardboard with music on it.

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AvenueQ--this has got to be the most useful and productive thread that I have seen on here! Yea for you!

MagicToDo--is it the main branch of the Chicago Public Library that you use? I've never been, but I know that most large city and university libraries have large collections of plays and music.