12 year old Shaheen auditions for the judges on Britains Got Talent 2009 singing Whose Loving You by Michael Jackson.

There’s a great lesson in this video clip. There’s a tendency to think of artists as having a certain talent level – like someone has great talent or mediocre. It all depends on the application; artists that excel in one area may be weak in another.

So the secret lesson for artists is this: Identify your strengths and weaknesses and try to place yourself in the area you shine most. Of course, you can also choose to be in the one that is most satisfying rather than the one where the bulk of your talent lies.

Being a musician my entire life I’ve had the unfortunate experience of doing performances that were not to my optimum level. I imagine every trade has that same experience. But with artists the mindset is so important to garner the vision and drive needed to push each project to success.

Proper selection is paramount. Go to where you are drawn to, where life is sweet. It will give you unimaginable strength to reach for the next plateau. And there is always another plateau available if you desire it.  

Embedding for most of the videos has been disabled, probably because of the high traffic, but you can watch a video clip of her on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luRmM1J1sfg

It’s moments like this that make a life in the arts so rich…

Hi Conrad,

I stumbled across your website when researching Cirque composers. I  am a student at Musicians Institute LA, and i have been invited to audition with cirque here in LA next tuesday. I am a keyboardist and guitarist (acc/elect) and was wondering whether you had any tips regarding how to make the best impression at the audition. I have picked 2 pieces on keys and one of guitar, as well as a piece of my choice.

I love the cirques music, feeling and message and i dearly hope to give the best performance that i can possibly give at the audition.

thanks
(name edited)

************************************

Reply:

Hi,

Well first things first, let’s get the disclaimers out of the way.  As of this post I am not part of the audition team at Cirque and I certainly am in no position to speak on Cirque’s behalf. However, I am a musician with Cirque and all of us now working for Cirque had to audition at one point. So here’s my two cents worth.

I think it’s important you wholly be “who you are” at your audition. Don’t try to “be something”. Cirque likes authenticity in intention, motivation and performance. They will be looking for very specific things and you don’t know exactly what that is. They want the real essence of who you are so they can get a sense of what you can be. Which is part of the reason they audition worldwide to get that rare combination of colors.

I have heard of people preparing specific pieces for auditions and maybe they are sometimes used. But my experience for my audition was it was all improvisation and playing back parts by ear. There’s no way to prepare for something like that, you just need to relax and bring your best game. They may also ask you to play something of your choosing, so good to be prepared as you are.

I will give you a couple scenarios of musicians now working with Cirque:

1. Player auditioned and was told on the spot they were the best player for that instrument that had auditioned in that town (a MAJOR music hub). Cirque said they would hire them on the next available spot. The player literally stood by the phone for months, eventually gave up, and two years later Cirque called with a job offer.
2. Player saw a job opening on the Cirque website and submitted a video of improvisations on various instruments. Three months later Cirque called with a job offer.
3. Player was contacted off their MySpace page and requested to submit a video. They were offered a job within a few months.
4. Player was asked to submit a video. Cirque didn’t care for the performance and asked them to submit a new video with certain changes. New video was submitted and player was offered a job.
5. Player submitted audition recording and was sent three more rounds of audition screenings via mail. Not hired, but Cirque said they would keep them on file. 3 months later player invited to do live auditions. Offered job on spot but player didn’t like job. Two years later player receives email to update artist information or be taken out of waiting list. Player updates files. 6 months later is given audition materials for show. Not hired. Four months later player is called and offered contract for a different show.

I think there’s only one thing to take from that information: There’s no “one road” or “one way” to Cirque. You would be amazed at the different stories of how people got to Cirque. But all the people I work with have one thing in common (the ones that last anyway): They all LOVE Cirque and it was there #1 choice for a job. Many said no to other big companies just for the chance to work with Cirque (they refused other big contracts just waiting that Cirque might hire them.)

And if you’re not placed right away just keep doing your career. Cirque has a good feel for when an artist is ripe and ready. And also, there are many elements that come into play aside from musical chops. For instance, in my current Cirque show one of the things they looked for was people they thought would be cool under pressure when going to a foreign country.

What to wear? To my audition I wore a full suit and tie (custom suit from Nordstrom no less). I’ve gotten a lot of ribbing for that: “What, are you crazy? You wore a SUIT to a Cirque audition? I would never hire you just for the fact that you wore a SUIT.” A close friend of mine wore a bright colored psychadelic monstrosity. But we were ourselves. I’m more comfortable playing in a suit. Other players wore the ethnic clothing they play when they perform their genres. Others in jeans and t-shirt.

I’ve met artists who knew they nailed their audition with Cirque but were never offered a position. And I know artists who thought they totally blew their audition and were offered contracts. So you never know.

In fact, that would be my one description of Cirque: “You never know!”

Break a leg and let me know how it goes.

For others reading and maybe thinking they’d like to audition for Cirque; you can visit http://www.CirqueDuSoleil.com for information on job openings, worldwide audition locations and dates, as well as instructions how to submit your materials to Cirque.

Cirque Du Soleil auditions in Hong Kong October 20-21, 2008. Visit http://www.CirqueDuSoleil.com for details on future audition locations and job openings.

I have many people contact me for the “inside scoop” on auditioning. I don’t really have that for you because Cirque always looks for different things. But I can tell you it’s an incredible company to work for – and if you want to work hard then it’s a good place to be. Audition!

Some people get into Cirque within months and others have to wait many years. It all depends on the right match and the right time for you and Cirque.