Tongue-Tied at District Auditions!

It is that time of year again: High School auditions for the Region and State choirs!

The first round for most of my schools is the District audition.  It essentially serves as a way to reduce numbers for the Region auditions because there are SO many talented young singers in this area.  Just as an example, I believe there were 120 Soprano IIs in the DISTRICT auditions alone last year.

However, I have to say that the guys this year really have it rough.  For District, the men have two learn two FAST pieces in GERMAN.  Normally, there is only one foreign language at District auditions, and it tends to be slow. All my guys find their tongues tied trying to learn these pieces, so here are my handy tips to learn the German selections.

1) Listen to the CD pronunciation.  Trying saying each phrase, listen to the CD, and correct any mistakes.  Repeat until absolutely confident in your pronunciation.

2) Speak the German in rhythm at gradually faster tempos.  This MUST be done at a slow tempo first to ensure no bad habits are created.  Gradually increase the tempo until you can speak the piece in the correct tempo without any troubles.

3) THEN, put in the melody.  Pitches are ALWAYS the easiest part of the process, so this should go much quicker.

There you are!

DWS