3 Secrets to Mastering Your Audition

The Audition process can be tough.

Whether you are an actor, a musician or singer, or even at a job interview, you are essentially trying to put your skills on display with the hopes that they are a match for the need.

Most want to be themselves but also feel the need to perform.

Some people get loud, others get quiet. Some people overthink, while others run on instinct.

When it comes to auditioning for a worship team, it is important to remember that you will be consistently working with others, which requires you to have the skills necessary to take direction, course correct when things change, as well as adjust to play well with other players.

Here are a 3 things that you need to keep in mind to help you master your audition.

PREPARATION

When you have put in the ample time to not only learn the song, lyrics, chords, you can truly enjoy what you are doing and simply worship.

You can get out of your head, you can stop overthinking what you are doing, and simply focus on the art and expression of love that worship is.

When people don’t take the proper preparation time, they tend to rely solely on their skill and memory.

You want to be able to come in, read the room, learn what they are looking for, and then play everything that you were asked to learn.

When you are confident, prepared, and ready with everything that you were asked to come in with, it conveys that you are serious about your art and your craft. It can also convey that you are teachable and a good listener. When you are prepared, people know that you listened to directions and prepared accordingly.

When you prepare well, You can communicate a lot without having to say anything.

KNOW THE CULTURE & VISION

When most people think about the audition process, they mainly think about an individual’s performance. Did they do well or did they not. Do they have the X Factor or not. I truly believe that if you are someone who I was auditioning, you need to not be so focused on your performance, but instead, be focused on a few other external things.

What is the vision of this church or team?

What is the culture here?

What is the win here?

When you know those things, you can be aware of what is normal, liked, preferred, encouraged. You will be able to reflect those attributes instead of just ‘Do You’.

Many times, the decision of who makes it on a team are not made or based on skill level alone.

Other factors are also considered as well.

Is someone a good culture fit?

Is someone humble and teachable?

Is a person simply a musician or singer, or truly a worshipper?

Learn what the vision of the House is.

Learn what the culture and the goal of the team is, and then aim for the target.

I believe that still allows one to be his or herself, but also can inform one on what to do and how to move during an audition process.

THINK AHEAD

Thinking ahead goes hand-in-hand with preparation.

Being conscious of things like audition time slots, traffic at a certain time, warming up your voice, changing the strings on your instrument, tuning your instrument, etc. Depending on what you are auditioning for and what all you have to prepare, the list can be quite long. I have met so many talented young people over the years. What sets certain people apart is their ability to think ahead. Having the foresight to remove any distractions from your life (even if just for that one moment or night) can make a tremendous difference in your ability to play or sing.

Again, even going back to the previous point of culture and vision, knowing those details before arriving is incredibly helpful to putting one’s mind at ease, decreasing stress, allowing you to be yourself, and just play and sing the parts required of you.