Need to pick a good audition song, and overcome shyness?

Question

I'm 13 years old and I'll be going to grade 8 in september. Ever year we do a school musical, and nobody knows what musical the teacher chose until after first auditions. I think i'm a fairly good singer, but i have no experiance with auditioning ( i was in my church musical, but i didn't audition). Now from what i've heard from all my friends, the teachers only let you sing for about 15 seconds because there are so many people auditioning. I want to know if there are any good theatre songs that show of my wide vocal range in about 15 seconds into the song. Also, songs that will help me stand out,and i dont end up singing the same thing as someone! And also, if you could come up with some ways to help me overcome my shyness in front of people, that would be a huge help too :D

Answer 1

i'm not a very big help but just have a lot of confidence and remember you can do it

Answer 2

With regard to overcoming shyness, it will take a lot of work and perseverance and willingness to venture outside of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is the place where you feel safe. It is the place where you spend a lot of your time doing things that make you feel comfortable. In order for you to grow, you will need to venture outside of your comfort zone until doing things that right now make you feel uncomfortable become normal for you. Your comfort zone will expand.

One way to do this is to start taking real acting classes or at least taking drama at school. That will put you in situations that stretch your comfort zone and make you eventually feel more at ease. One of the first things I would recommend you do is to stop telling yourself you are shy in front of people and start telling yourself positive things. There is certainly a lot more to it than that, but that will be a start.

Have a look at this page on my website for new and aspiring actors. On it you will find links to 23 different pages that have to do with different aspects of starting an acting career including how to get over stage fright, the benefits of taking acting classes and how to choose an acting school. http://www.actingcareerstartup.com/teen_...

Also, on the menu of the site you will see a link to finding a good audition song along with tips on how to choose one that is not over done.

Good luck! You will be great!

Tony

Answer 3

First of all, it depends on what type of a voice you have. Do you have a soprano or alto voice? There are a lot of good theater songs you can audition with. That is the problem. You have no idea what songs other people are going to choose and the likeliness of someone having the same song as you is really likely no matter what song I tell you if there are a lot of people trying out. As a basic rule, though, I would stay away from anything in Chicago, Cats, Wicked, Anything Goes, Annie, any musical that has been turned into a popular movie actually. Depending on how good your voice is and how high you can hit notes, I would suggest something from Ragtime. The score is excellent and it is one of the lesser known popular musicals.

Answer 4

Sorry to contradict Dreamer :), but don't sing anything from Camp Rock - as you've wisely said, you don't want to sing the same song as anybody else, and you can guarantee that there will be other people singing stuff from Camp Rock.  My suggestion would be to get some cast recordings of musicals out of the library, have a listen and see what you like (and what suits your voice type) - because if you like a song, you'll sing it much better!  There are some shows to stay away from though - Wicked, Hairspray, Phantom of the Opera, Grease, Avenue Q, Legally Blonde, Chicago and I'd also steer clear of anything by Sondheim as you really only want to sing a Sondheim song for an audition for a Sondheim show.  I'd be looking at some of the "classic" musicals - anything by Rogers and Hammerstein, Cole Porter (there are some wonderful songs in Anything Goes and Kiss Me, Kate), Cy Coleman, Jerry Herman, Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) or, if you must, Andrew Lloyd Webber - but stay away from Memory, Don't Cry For Me Argentina and I Don't Know How To Love Him as they're all very overdone.  Break a leg!

Answer 5

"Our Time Is Here" or "This Is Me" from "Camp Rock" would be good songs. They're very confident songs, and (if you just sing the chorus) can show your vocal range very well. Those songs, however, are big songs. Therefore, they will require a lot of practicing. Just practice everyday & you'll be fine.

And about overcoming your shyness, just go out there and act like it's you in your bedroom singing to the radio. Forget everyone else and just put your heart and soul into it(:

Break a leg!

P.S. I know those songs aren't theatre songs, but those songs are good for practically any voice level & would be good to display your range in 15 seconds.

Note: I was not thinking about songs that wouldn't be performed by other people. I was only thinking about songs that would be good songs to showcase one's voice.