Beginning July 15 and running through Aug. 26, Rudetsky will hold a weekly master class from noon-2:30 PM at Ripley Grier Studios on Tuesday afternoons.
Rudetsky will help performers answer the following questions:
How do I end this song?
What do I think about when I’m singing?
Where the hell do I look when I audition?
What should I do with my body/hands?
Can I sing this particular song at an audition for (fill in the blank)?
Classes are priced $110 in advance and $125 at the door. Participants should bring sheet music and a recording device. Click here to sign up.
"My favorite thing is seeing how a mediocre audition can go to amazing with a few quick changes," Rudetsky said. "I help people find the right section of the song for 16 bars, pick the right key, come up with an ending that’s amazing, find comedy moments that are actually funny (!), and I love giving them little tricks that can help change an entire song. An example of the kind of direction I give features the show Wicked when one of my friends was playing Elphaba. She was hating singing the last note in 'The Wizard and I.' It's on a C, and it's held forever, and she felt all this pressure to sound amazing on it and wow the audience. Of course, trying to impress the audience at the end of the song made her sound nervous and tight and decidedly unimpressive! She asked me for some technical tips. "Well, instead of talking to her about breath control or placement, I told her first to realize that a held word in a song is bizarre," he continued. "No one in real life says, 'The wizard and I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I!' I explained that the held word represents different thoughts and feelings, and that she needed to have thoughts while she held the note. For a note that long, she needed three solid thoughts like, 'I'll meet the wizard. He'll take away my green... and then it'll be amazing when we both rule Oz.' As soon as she went to that C and started thinking those thoughts, the note started sounding great because she stopped obsessing about how she was singing. And instead of worrying about her vocal technique to make the note come out, the thoughts and feelings in her head made it come out. And the audience was able to enjoy the song so much more because they saw all these joyous thoughts reflected in her face, instead of a terrified look of panic. The idea of having a few thoughts while you're holding a note is a very simple fix, but it truly makes an incredible difference in a performance."
Watch Seth's 5 Worst Audition Mistakes below:
