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| Campus shows such as Guitars Unplugged give students the opportunity to audition and show their performing talent. However, getting the courage to audition and being able to handle rejection if they don’t make it in the show is a talent in itself. |
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At a university where the performing arts are alive and well, it isn’t surprising to know that many students across campus are secretly fearing the same thing: the dreaded audition.
Kassie Cook, a senior from Meridian, Idaho, knows the audition process all too well.
A lifetime musician and performer, she auditioned and was selected for Women’s Choir her freshman and sophomore years. Even now, she can remember the nervousness and anticipation that accompanies an audition.
“There are so many good, talented students on this campus,” Cook said. “It’s not an easy thing to audition against such talent.”
The BYU-Idaho campus boasts nearly 30 different auditioned performing groups in dance, music and theatre. The Activities Council also provides endless performing venues for students from casual to spectacular and everything in between.
Nathan Hinckley, a junior from Evanston, Wyo., is also no stranger to auditioning. A veteran of both Men’s Choir and The Best of Guitars Unplugged, Hinckley says that in retrospect, his auditions were fairly “low pressure” situations.
“I didn’t really care if I made it in or not,” he remembers of his Winter 2005 Guitars Unplugged audition. “It was just really fun playing for the panel of judges.”
Despite his laid back attitude toward auditions, Hinckley’s talent impressed the panel of judges and he was selected to perform. But for Hinckley, the hardest part was when he finally stepped on stage for the real performance.
“The truth is, I was sweating bullets,” Hinckley said. “But it was scary and exciting at the same time.”
The pressure that comes from auditions is also upon the shoulders of those in charge. Chelsea Belton, a junior from Wilsonville, Ore., was the head organizer for Guitars Unplugged last winter semester.
“The hardest part was narrowing it down,” Belton said. “We had over 100 bands and soloists, and it was so hard to choose. There is a lot of talent on this campus.”
But when all is said and done, those thinking of auditioning for performing groups or events should take cues from those who have lived to tell their auditioning story, those who have faced their fears.
“Just do it,” Hinckley advises. “Don’t think about auditions too hard, because they’re really not as scary as they seem.”
