[Note: All my facts about the audition experience come from Journey Theater Arts Group since that's the only theater group I've ever been with.]
~~
If you're a theater person, you know exactly what I mean.
You've been practicing your intro and audition song for weeks (hopefully), asking your friends if they're auditioning, reading up on the show, and trying to think of anything but that minute and a half when you'll stand in front of a room full of people by yourself and try to earn a spot in the show. In a word, terrifying.
That being said, I have my tenth audition coming up this Friday.
Oh, and in case your wondering, the sixty seconds right before you walk up to sing are just as terrifying the tenth time as they are the first time.
I have heard people say countless times, "Wow, I could never perform in front of four hundred people! No way!" But in reality, we find it a lot easier singing solo in front for four hundred strangers rather than forty friends.
This is the way I used to explain it: "If I mess up in front of strangers, odds are I'll never see them again so it doesn't matter. If I mess up in front of friends, I'll have to live with it forever."
Of course, now I realize that whole idea is kind of ridiculous. You should strive to never mess up, no matter who you're performing in front of.
And if we can't sing, act, or dance well in front of someone we know, how can we be told ways to improve? Face the audience here, pronounce this word this way, you're doing a dance step backwards... all these things we can't figure out by ourselves. We need our parents, our friends, and our directors to help us out and make our performance the best that it can be!
Ok, mostly just our directors at JTAG... but you get the idea.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that we shouldn't be afraid to sing solo for a minute in front of people that love us, support us, and want to see us do our best.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
How Much Do You Smile?
This morning when I fell out of bed and stumbled downstairs, my mom had Good Morning America on. Just as I plopped down on the couch it went to commercial.
Not that I really cared that much... I was still half asleep and who likes the news anyway? But then the commercial caught my attention:
"The average person smiles 100 hundred times a day. Keep your smile clean with our new mouth wash!"
100 times, huh? I thought. 100 separate smiles... Well, I seem like an overly happy person sometimes. I wonder how many times I smile in day.
So I decided to count.
~~~
[Here's a word of advice. If you're trying to count how many times you smile naturally, don't think about smiling. It makes you want to smile.]
So I got up at eight o'clock this morning. (stop laughing! that's early for me!) We started school around nine with history, physics, literature, grammar, and vocabulary. I was up to about 55 smiles by this point.
Then I went upstairs to watch a video about personal finance by Dave Ramsey.
Needless to say, I'm now up to 79 smiles :) whoops, make that 80.
Dum de da de dum, now lunch time is done. Hot dogs and hamburger buns... that was fun to figure out! 93 smiles so far.
Continuing with school: Some art talk and I read a chapter from Chad Eastham book "The Truth about Dating..." et cetera. Gosh that book has a long name... it makes me smile just thinking about it! Speaking of smiling, I'm up to 107 smiles!
~~~
Wait a second... 107? I've already smiled 100 times today!! And it's only... 2:50 in the afternoon!
Well, I'd have to say I'm not the average person then... and really, who is? You can't generalize people that way. We're all unique. Some people may smile 300 times a day, some only 50 times, maybe some don't smile at all.
And there are different kinds of smiles: Big smiles, small smiles, shy smiles, happy smiles, rude smirks, and the polite I'm-smiling-but-I-don't-really-mean-it smile. It depends on who the person is and what they are feeling.
Then again, you can choose to smile... you can choose to be happy, right?
I really hope you're agreeing with me right now...
Say YES!!! Because you CAN choose to be happy! I don't understand how people can be grumpy or mad about nothing and say "Well it's not my fault that I'm mad!"
Sorry, but yes. It is your fault. Because you chose to feel that way.
Ok, example time... Say someone cuts in line ahead of you to check out at the store. You have three options:
1) Tap them on the shoulder, explain that you were already in line and that they cut in front of you, and ask them to move behind you in line. You'll probably be slightly annoyed all day.
2) Stare at them for a moment, sigh heavily, slouch against your cart and face-palm, and keep sighing heavily as they take forever checking out, trying to make it obvious how annoyed you are. Now for the rest of the day you'll notice every little thing that could every possibly annoy you.
3) Either you wait patiently for your turn to check out or you shrug and move over to the empty line next door where you have a nice chat with the friendly cashier about nothing in particular, and it leaves you in a happy mood.
Everyone should fit into one of those categories. Personal, I consider myself an option 3 kind of person and I know plenty of people that would be right there with me. I have known some that would be option 1 and just a couple that would definitely be option 2... but that doesn't matter right now.
What matters is, you have the power to decide what you feel about anything that happens to you.
Even if you have to be this guy, the only happy person in a room of rude, depressed, and angry people, be the one that starts the happy party!!
Now I'd like to challenge you. How many times do you smile?
Seriously, count. It's just one day. Make dashes on a paper if you have to.
When you're done, it'll makes you think about how many times you've been happy and how my times you could have been happy but you chose to feel differently.
Good luck :)
Not that I really cared that much... I was still half asleep and who likes the news anyway? But then the commercial caught my attention:
"The average person smiles 100 hundred times a day. Keep your smile clean with our new mouth wash!"
100 times, huh? I thought. 100 separate smiles... Well, I seem like an overly happy person sometimes. I wonder how many times I smile in day.
So I decided to count.
~~~
[Here's a word of advice. If you're trying to count how many times you smile naturally, don't think about smiling. It makes you want to smile.]
So I got up at eight o'clock this morning. (stop laughing! that's early for me!) We started school around nine with history, physics, literature, grammar, and vocabulary. I was up to about 55 smiles by this point.
Then I went upstairs to watch a video about personal finance by Dave Ramsey.
Needless to say, I'm now up to 79 smiles :) whoops, make that 80.
Dum de da de dum, now lunch time is done. Hot dogs and hamburger buns... that was fun to figure out! 93 smiles so far.
Continuing with school: Some art talk and I read a chapter from Chad Eastham book "The Truth about Dating..." et cetera. Gosh that book has a long name... it makes me smile just thinking about it! Speaking of smiling, I'm up to 107 smiles!
~~~
Wait a second... 107? I've already smiled 100 times today!! And it's only... 2:50 in the afternoon!
Well, I'd have to say I'm not the average person then... and really, who is? You can't generalize people that way. We're all unique. Some people may smile 300 times a day, some only 50 times, maybe some don't smile at all.
And there are different kinds of smiles: Big smiles, small smiles, shy smiles, happy smiles, rude smirks, and the polite I'm-smiling-but-I-don't-really-mean-it smile. It depends on who the person is and what they are feeling.
Then again, you can choose to smile... you can choose to be happy, right?
I really hope you're agreeing with me right now...
Say YES!!! Because you CAN choose to be happy! I don't understand how people can be grumpy or mad about nothing and say "Well it's not my fault that I'm mad!"
Sorry, but yes. It is your fault. Because you chose to feel that way.
Ok, example time... Say someone cuts in line ahead of you to check out at the store. You have three options:
1) Tap them on the shoulder, explain that you were already in line and that they cut in front of you, and ask them to move behind you in line. You'll probably be slightly annoyed all day.
2) Stare at them for a moment, sigh heavily, slouch against your cart and face-palm, and keep sighing heavily as they take forever checking out, trying to make it obvious how annoyed you are. Now for the rest of the day you'll notice every little thing that could every possibly annoy you.
3) Either you wait patiently for your turn to check out or you shrug and move over to the empty line next door where you have a nice chat with the friendly cashier about nothing in particular, and it leaves you in a happy mood.
Everyone should fit into one of those categories. Personal, I consider myself an option 3 kind of person and I know plenty of people that would be right there with me. I have known some that would be option 1 and just a couple that would definitely be option 2... but that doesn't matter right now.
What matters is, you have the power to decide what you feel about anything that happens to you.
Even if you have to be this guy, the only happy person in a room of rude, depressed, and angry people, be the one that starts the happy party!!
Now I'd like to challenge you. How many times do you smile?
Seriously, count. It's just one day. Make dashes on a paper if you have to.
When you're done, it'll makes you think about how many times you've been happy and how my times you could have been happy but you chose to feel differently.
Good luck :)
SMILE!!!
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