Auditions Sharpen Skill

Auditions are often viewed by many as a necessary evil to advancing oneself in the performing arts career. They are certainly no walk in the park, otherwise everyone and their mother would be doing them. They were perceived and described to be vital parts of one's career. No problems with that perspective. But they were so often regarded as hard, scary, stringent exercises in one's will to succeed regardless of the reception the one auditioning got from the panel of judges. Again, I don't disagree fully but perhaps they could be perceived slightly differently to benefit more the performer's efforts and career.

Recently I was listening to some motivational CDs. In the middle of one CD the man mentioned a crucial thought to improving one's career. He had been speaking about the necessity for employees to increase their own worth in the eye's of their boss. He said something like this: (paraphrase) Go take interviews as a way to sharpen your skills and continue learning and growing.

As a musician I equated this, of course, to the audition (really an interview but with a different name). Having recently taken an audition myself I began reflecting on my thought that I had improved since the last one. This could be a part in the perspective that I have been missing all along, making auditions a dreaded and fearsome experience for me?

Interviews, auditions in my case, can really be looked upon as exercises in improving skill, adapting to surroundings, finding out how to play better, what to do before hand, how to act while in the room with the judges, etc. Those auditions are meant to make me a better player and person. They aren't there only for me to win, as it were, but to sharpen my ability.

For me, it was a revelation to think of those feared moments in a new way. This paradigm shift has implications well beyond any audition but also to the career itself where we performing artists are seeking to hone our skill every day. The audition is just another tool in the kit.