More Auditions

Last weekend I found myself in Bloomington for my Indiana University Jacobs School of Music audition. As far as auditions go, this was the one I was looking the most forward to, and also the one that caused me the most nerves.

My parents picked me up from Interlochen Wednesday after classes, and, after a long car ride, I arrived at home. I spent the night at home and after sleeping in on Thursday, my mom and I drove down to Bloomington, a very short drive compared to the drive to Interlochen. We stayed at a very sketchy Eccano Lodge that looked like it should be in "CSI: Bloomington" or "Law and Order: University Inspectors Unit". But it was fine. After wandering around Bloomington for a while, we returned to the hotel and got a good night's sleep.

Friday morning, we arrived at the Musical Arts Center (MAC) a little after 8 in the morning to see what my schedule was for the day. I had a music theory placement test in the morning, which wasn't a big deal. My audition, however, was a big deal (big duh there, let's point out the obvious). The audition was at 5:00 (4:58 if you want to be exact), and after warming up, I arrived at the room, and since I was early, I was able to sing about half an hour before I was supposed to.

This was by far the most nerve-wracking audition. My knees shook the entire time. Walking into that room, and finally doing something that I've been looking forward to for five or so years, was truly scary, but at the same time exciting. I only sang half of my Elgar piece, since it's so long, and after a shaky start, I managed to get control of it. I think the accompanist could sense my freaking-out when I was showing him the cut for the Elgar. "It's OK," or something like that. The high A at the end was good, in my opinion, which made me happy. I also sang my Bellini piece, which also went well, at least I hope so. I couldn't really tell what kind of reaction the faculty had, which didn't help the nerve factor. I've most definitely sung better, but I didn't crash and burn. I'm just dying to know how I did; I'll be in a perpetual state of freak out until I find out.

Friday night, my mom and I went to see Richard Strauss's Arabella at the IU Opera Theatre. It is a beautiful opera, and the performance was lovely. The singers were wonderful, and the production was beautiful; the sets and costumes were breathtaking. During intermission, I talked with an usher that had been a councilor at the DePauw Vocal Arts Camp two summers ago when I went. She graduated from DePauw and now studies at IU, and I was able to get her opinion on both schools.

We returned home Saturday afternoon, after having lunch with Laura and Nicole; it is always good to see familiar faces. We had snow and Simon Boccanegra on the drive home. Thomas Hampson is amazing.

So how do I feel about my IU audition? I don't know. I still can't tell how I did. I don't know how I stacked up compared to the other voice students that auditioned, or how tough it was to actually get from the screening round to the audition. There were parts of the audition I was glad about, like the high A that caused all of the faculty listening to look up, but there were other parts that were not so good, like having the accompanist step on the gas in the Elgar, even though I got back on track, and it seemed to turn out fine, but who knows? Of course I wish I could have a second chance, just to prove I can sing better. If I could know how I did, I think I would feel a lot better about the whole thing. So now I wait for the acceptance or rejection letter. The nerves are on end. Let's just say there's been a lot of praying going on...