Over the last ten years I have been asked countless times, “Why don’t you just audition for American Idol?” Well, I am now too old for American Idol, thanks for the reminder. However, I recently took the plunge and auditioned for NBC’s rival of American Idol, “The Voice”. You know, the one with Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and some other guy whose name I can’t ever remember. I decided to do this in an effort to skip the many steps it will take me over the next year to have a sustainable career.
I had to sign up online for the audition in advance and show up with a printed audition pass at a specific time, so I was thinking that it was possible this thing might actually be organized and have a minimal wait time. I showed up a half hour before the time on my pass and proceeded to join the line. At first it didn’t seem so bad. They had us in 7 single file lines to sign in that merged into one line that formed around the outside of the building under a shaded awning. This part moved fast, so I was definitely thinking, alright, no big deal. I’ll be out of here in an hour. What I didn’t yet realize was that the waiting had barely begun. Our single line eventually spilled us out into a giant conference room filled with at least 500 people in front of us.
Sometime around hour three, my row finally got to stand up, walk into the hallway and wait another fifteen minutes to go into the audition room. Split into groups of ten, I stood next to people who were still not sure what song to sing and were so nervous they were afraid of peeing on themselves or that they might in fact vomit right there. Awesome. Is this really my competition--I thought? As someone who performs professionally, has obtained tools like the “Essential Compass” and has had the privilege of working with performance coach, Shari Carlson the last three and a half years, my nerves were dull and I was feeling pretty good. While others seemed to believe it was their one shot, I was also clear that no matter what happened in that room, I would still have my career regardless of this moment.
We finally got the wave from a woman wearing a headset and blue jeans to enter the audition room. There was only one judge. The room was sterile, grey and cold from air conditioning. As I watched those in my group walk to the tape on the floor and sing their songs, I realized that aside from one girl who had some experience, most of them had never performed or auditioned let alone ever actually sang in front of anyone before. I thought again, well, if they are truly looking for someone invested in their craft who is polished and knows what they are doing, then I have this in the bag. My turn came. I stood on the mark. I sang my two-song medley. I expressed. I was flawless.
It was time for the judge to let us know who would be invited back for a second audition and who would not. He gave one call back to a young guy who had some promise but clearly needed a lot of work and a “maybe” to the girl with some experience. The judge then proceeded to thank the rest of us and let us know that we were on the right track, but just not up to “par” yet. As I walked out the door and had my wrist band cut off, I realized what they were looking for. The judge was right about one thing--it definitely wasn’t me.
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