<p>Question - nothing to do with college auditions in this case - but I guess it could happen there too. But looking for input since there are so many here with so many different experiences.</p>
<p>Has anyone experienced doing an audition when the accompanist completely messes up the song (tempo and/or notes) during an audition. What is the best way to handle? S auditioned for a local show and could just not follow what the accompanist was doing - he said it was all messed up both tempo and he is pretty sure wrong notes too - so he just kept singing through correctly and hoped they would figure out how to follow him. In this case the director had worked with him before so knew they knew he could sing, and they had him do some scales afterwards - so we are pretty sure they know it wasn't him. This has happened to him once before, but not as bad as it was for this one. </p>
<p>Just wondering what others have done in a situation like this and what is the best way to handle? It doesn't seem like it would be a good idea to stop and review the tempo again with the accompanist - but it can totally blow an audition if they do it wrong. Thoughts?</p>
<p>It is acceptable to stop at the beginning of a song to reset the tempo. Be polite, take the blame, move over to the accompanist, hum a couple bars at the tempo that you want, and restart. You may want to read, “The Enraged Accompanist’s Guide to the Perfect Audition” by Andrew Gerle. He has a little video about his approach on youTube which also shows what a good coach looks like.</p>
<p>In his case, I think the beginning was OK. They messed up somewhere along the way - he couldn’t figure out where they were or what they were doing - so he just kept going. Fortunately, we think all was OK anyway - this time. This was an audition for 4 shows over the summer. He had marked down available for all but one. About 5 mins after his audition someone came running out of the room asking if he could do the one show he didn’t mark off - and seemed really happy when he said he could - so we are taking that as a good sign.</p>
<p>When Gary at CMU did his talk at auditions he said if the tempo was off when you were auditioning to stop and talk with the accompanist. This is the direct opposite of what I thought but he said its not a show its an audition.</p>
<p>I actually had this happen to me at two of my college auditions this year:</p>
<p>The first actually happened during my CMU audition. I was singing the standard “Maria” from West Side Story when all of a sudden the accompanist just stopped playing. Since it wasn’t a matter of tempo I decided to just keep going since the part that was left was the iconic “the most beautiful sound I ever heard; Maria”. It was strange because it was properly marked and that had never happened any other time it had been played especially with such a good accompanist.</p>
<p>Which brings me to my next situation at my Point Park audition. It was a young accompanist, I believe a just graduated student. I was doing “Giants in the Sky” which I know is an audition “no-no” and I had even before I showed him saying I had my book with me if he didn’t want to play Sondheim which I wouldn’t blame him but I believe he might have taken it as an insult. The tempo was all over the place but I sang through it and believed I had recovered with my second piece (once again “Maria” which he played with no problem) and monologue.</p>
<p>I’m still waiting to hear from both of these schools so I’m hoping for the best but prepared for the worst.</p>
<p>My son has had this happen a few times, but has never corrected the accompaniest. He just does his best to sing along. The most common is a very different tempo from what you envision–either <em>much</em> faster or <em>much</em> slower. But there was one time where the notes were a bit wrong in the middle. My son just goes with the flow. Personally, I don’t know if I’d correct the accompaniest. Or at least, if I did, I’d be VERY careful to make sure to take the blame as noted above. You’d shoot yourself in the foot if you came across as rude, snarky, demanding, or whatever. Even if you’re ‘right,’ the actor really needs to be prepared for anything with a smile, so the audition would reveal that.</p>
<p>This probably does not apply to anyone here, but I will say that some with limited experience make the error of practicing with something other than the actual sheet music they will use at audition ( a CD version or even a different version of the same piece) which (unknown to the auditioner) turns out to be different than the sheet music presented to the accompanist. I work at a community theatre and have seen it happen over and over. (That awkward moment when the singer realizes there is a complete disconnect). But primarily with novices. So likely not the OPs experience. But it happens a lot.</p>
<p>I should also add that I’ve also seen accompanist lose their place, have the music fall on the floor, or just pain not be able to play the piece. Also happens a lot. And its not always Sondheim!</p>
<p>We actually had one (small) program contact my S the week before his audition asking what he would be singing so the accompanist could be sure he knew it (or learn it if necessary). Then the accompanist spent about 15 mins prior to their audition to work on the song with each person auditioning.</p>
<p>I was never sure if this was planned or a genuine accompanist screw-up, but it’s worth watching this Lea Michele Glee audition clip since in either case it’s pretty funny. </p>
<p>I had about five schools mess up my legit uptempo pretty bad. At the end, I have a sustained high C and they all kept playing a C# in there somewhere, which sounded like I was off. At some schools, I warned them (CMU, Syracuse and Pace) and they played absolutely perfectly, while it made no difference for other schools. I never tried to blame the accompanist but I always left feeling like the auditors now thought I was sharp and I couldn’t tell pitch.</p>