30 Days to a Better Book: Day 10 – A Custom Tailored Vet

I read somewhere that Jennifer Aniston gets her t-shirts tailored.  That’s why they look so perfect on her.  I would also suggest her yogi-body has something to do with that as well.  Still, her tailored t-shirts are, in effect, custom made for her.

There are two lessons here for the Musical Theatre Actor:

1.  A Firm Foundation – yuk yuk.  But seriously, a strong and sculpted repertoire makes everything look better.

2.  Making tweaks and tailoring each piece to perfectly fit you makes you sound better and present yourself more confidently.

So how do you do that?

The Perfect Key

Source: cnx.org

First things first, make sure that each piece is smack dab in your key.  Thanks to online sheet music services, this is often an easy and cheap prospect.  However, they usually only offer a few carefully selected options.  And sometimes transposition isn’t available at all.  So what’s a singer to do?

There are (expensive) piano programs that help you transpose yourself.  This is probably overkill on the part of an actor.  Investing in those programs makes more sense for music directors and composers.  Still, worth mentioning.

You can also hire someone to transpose for you.  This is my favorite option.  You are guaranteed the exact key you need, and you can even have them help you make clean audition cuts that show off your voice in a way custom fitted to you.  I love having a person I can go to for this type of service.

Where to find such a genius?  Music directors and composers often perform this service to make a little extra cash.  There are also online services.  You could even inquire at college music departments for students who might be willing to perform the service for a fee.

Transcribed Just For You

I like to have a couple novelty pieces in my repertoire (something I’ll talk more about soon).  Often these pieces can be difficult to come by in sheet music form.  Hiring someone to notate means that you are nearly guaranteed to have something that is only your book, and no one else’s.  For example, I happen to love quirky old music from the 20’s through the 60’s.  Brigitte Bardot has peppy French numbers that delight me.  I love old burlesque tunes.  I also love cute WW II era numbers about pining for sailors and the like.  As such, there was a track called Bell Bottom Blues by Alma Cogan that I fell in love with a few years ago and I couldn’t find the sheet music anywhere.  On top of that, the instrumentation was heavily brass, something that doesn’t translate well to standard piano.

So I hired someone to transcribe it and make it more piano-friendly.  I love having the piece.  Since it’s so quirky and specific, I don’t use it a lot, but it’s nice to have on hand.

A Note on Instrumentation: As I mentioned above, creating sheet music from a piece that was originally written for an instrument other than piano can make some sheet music clunky.  Guitar, in particular, can result in awkward accompaniment.  Electric guitar and upbeat pop/rock pieces often have piano versions written for the mass market that are not very elegant in design.  These bad transcriptions are difficult to prepare effectively and sound nothing like the original piece, which is what attracts a performer in the first place.  These mass market pieces are so true to the original recording, they often include transcribed moments of improv or vocal styling that is unnecessary and makes some pieces difficult to cut.

Hiring a professional to transcribe for you or to take a piece and fine tune it to your needs can be worth it’s weight in gold.

There are some guitar pieces that do translate well to piano: singer songwriters, folk music ballads, and some jazz work well on the ol’ ivories.  This certainly doesn’t mean avoid “harder” rock when auditioning.  Not at all!  It’s just a pitfall to be aware of.

Clever Edits

Source: Wikimedia

Another way to tailor your book to you, is to occasionally make a clever rewrite.  I suggested this in the Comedy post, but you can use it in other ways, too.  In my book, I have a piece that is traditionally about New York, but I made it about Chicago instead.  I only had to change a couple words, and now it feels like I’m sharing something with the other side of the table: our love for our home city.  Tiny rewrites help “un-gender” songs which makes a lot more music available to you.  One thing to note: this tends to work best with stand alone pieces, rather than pieces from within a musical.  It’s easy to change the gender perspective of a Frank Sinatra number.  It’s more difficult when it is a piece from within a story and from the perspective of a specific character.

Another way way to edit a piece is to find or have someone create an interesting arrangement of the piece.  I am a big fan of Barbra Streisand’s first Broadway album because of the clever versions of classic numbers.  No, you won’t be able to haul an entire studio orchestra into your audition with you, but you can hear how an updated arrangement can refresh a piece and make it exciting to perform.

Cut and Pasted

Sometimes audition requirements feel constricting:  32 bars may not be enough to show as much range as you would like, let alone 16 bars.  But rather than getting hung up on the limitation, I suggest using these cuts to your advantage.  Think of them as a structure in which to be creative.  Since you can’t do the whole song, you can make choices that cherry pick the best stuff.

I recommend, for each song in your A Book (See: The A Book Pt 1.  and the A Book Pt 2.) , having 16, 32 and “full” cuts rehearsed and ready to go.  When I say “full” I don’t necessarily mean the whole song (although it can be).  I mean a full intro, verse, chorus, and perhaps another verse and chorus.  This cut will have a full beginning middle and end, whereas a 16 bar cut is often just the big ending.  Some auditions are very generous in their allotment and using a full cut gives you the opportunity to take your audience on a journey with you.  I have full cuts that are actually just 32 bars, for certain songs.  Others are 48-60.  It depends heavily on the time signature.  Also, do yourself the favor of learning the song completely just in case they ask you to keep going.

Having great cuts predetermined can save you lots of time and worry in the future.

Consider hiring someone to help you make awkward cuts cleaner by removing the internal cut material and smoothing the transitions.  Or you can print several copies of the piece and make several different cuts for different auditions – one cut may emphasis drama or comedy, while another is more about vocal range.

These are just a few detail-oriented ways to tailor your repertoire to you and your needs.  By paying attention to the details, you can take your auditions to the next level performing arrangements built around you.

Posted by E. Morgan in 30 Days to a Better Book, Audition preparation, Repertoire, Uncategorized Tags: Actor, Audition, Audition Book, Audition Preparation, Audition Repertoire, Auditions, Musical Repertoire, Musical Theatre, Preparation