Everybody doesn’t know

I used teach a lot of high school and college students. Now, I teach a lot of adult singers. One thing they have in common is the habit of comparing and predicting a negative outcome. You could call it self-sabotage. The conversation goes something like this:

Teacher: Great work on your audition piece! You will be really prepared by the audition next week.

Student: Yeah…..but everyone knows __x__ is going to get the role.

So, who is everybody? And what if everybody doesn’t know? The student who has prepared for weeks goes into the audition with the attitude that their performance doesn’t really matter because the outcome is already decided. That lack of confidence and near-certainty of the outcome will destroy an audition before the singer has opened their mouth. What if, instead, the student thoroughly prepares and brings her very best A-game performance to the audition without considering who else is auditioning. The student may surprise the audition panel.  Who was that girl? Even if she doesn’t get the role this time, she might get noticed. Somewhere between defeat and bravado lies a genuine performance. Bring that.