My aim for today was to comfortably present the pieces I had been working on for the past

few months and get a feel of how the audition room will feel in my real auditions. Another
aim of mine was to be able to show my ability within styles of musical theatre I had never
shown before at college, most notably the pre 1965 song from Anyone Can Whistle. I was
hoping to get feedback on that song specifically as I had the worry that I would either
underact or overact the song.

I would consider that my biggest strength in today’s audition was my extended knowledge of
all pieces and preparation for unit 10. I had prepared what I would say about each piece and
do contextual research prior to the audition. I have incorporated the characters motivations
and su-per objectives into my acting through song, specifically my Avenue Q piece.
In the audition Tom asked me to explain the characters' situation in Anyone Can Whistle and
what my motivations as Hapgood were. I explained that I am trying to convince the town that
going against what others say is sometimes the right thing to do. I was able to incorporate
this prior knowledge into my piece when I performed my piece for the second time. Looking
back this could have been done before today, however it was a helpful exercise as I may be
asked to change elements of my songs or monologues in auditions to better suit the
character I am portraying.

On my feedback sheet it was mostly feedback for Everybody Says Don’t from Anyone Can
Whistle therefore I cannot say what I could improve on my other pieces. One of the biggest
takeaways from today was perhaps trying the song in a different key could help with
pronunciation and diction. That would also help with the breath control. The song is very fast
and ‘wordy’ therefore breath control is vital to the performance. As it is a song I am planning
on using at a few schools that has a module on Sondheim’s music it's important to show the
panel my ability to sing clearly with a fast tempo.
Another piece of advice was to practice reaching the top of my range. Being a bari-bass it is
very difficult to find songs within MT that are within my range and suitable for audition. This
song gives me the opportunity to find the top of that baritone range and impress a panel.

In terms of reaching the top end of my range, I will begin to practice vocal warmups on a
regular basis and become more comfortable with those top notes. This ties into practicing
breath control. In my research post audition I have found some warmups on Youtube that
will help with my breath support and being able to sustain notes both high and low. As I
bought my sheet music for Everybody Says Don’t on MusicNotes I can change the key
automatically via the app therefore I will practice the song in lower keyes to find what works
for me the best. I will use this going forward and hopefully I will be able to present the song
in front of the same panel and workshop playing with the key.
I am currently hoping to use Everybody Says Don’t for my Central School of Speech and
Drama self tape audition as I have to sing two songs unaccompanied. I feel as though this
song is perfect for that, therefore the feedback regarding my breath control and
experimenting with key will be incredibly useful for singing when unaccompanied by a pianist
or backing track.

I don’t believe there was anything I did today that hindered my audition experience and feel
as though it went much better than I believed it to be. I do however feel as though I could
have received peer feedback of the song from my peers and workshopped it with them
before bringing it to a panel. However regarding this I will have opportunities in the future to
work with others on our audition pieces before our auditions/self tapes.
Overall I am pleased with the outcome of today as I am able to now work on my pieces in
more depth and apply the feedback from my pre 1965 song to the rest of my repertoire and
even my monologue. As all three of today's pieces are done with an accent I can work on
diction with my audition coach and in my own time.