If I had not lost my phone, I would have been able to "Tweet" throughout the process. I would have been able to respond to text messages that said, "Any news?" I would have been able to spend the time playing "Words with Friends" and such. I could have spent my time playing on Facebook. But no. I had no phone.
Having no phone "forced" me to do other things with my mind. I was in the first "holding area" during the 3:00 EST hour --- the Hour of Divine Mercy. I had my rosary with me, so I sang (softly) the Chaplet of Divine Mercy during that time. After encouragement from folks here at home, I had decided to sing "Ave Maria" for my audition piece. "Ave Maria" is more than just a song. It's a prayer. Throughout my waiting, I was singing it in my head and remembering it as a prayer. "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women and blessed it the fruit of thy womb, Jesus!" (Of course, that is as much of the prayer that I was going to be able to sing.) So the thought of this being a prayer was on my mind the whole afternoon.
I am one of those people who tends to obsess over things. (shocking to many of you, I'm sure) So in preparation of my audition, I'd been tweaking my diet. I took some fruit with me to snack on during the waiting time. The website about the process recommended taking snacks. When I brought the apple out of my bag, others in line said things like, "Wow. That was a good idea. I should have brought a snack!" Umm...it was recommended on the site. I took an apple because a musician friend of mine said that she ate apples throughout the day of a big audition a while back. I nearly think that the apple just made me more hungry!!!
Also, since I didn't have my phone, I "had" to talk to the folks around me. I learned that one fellow in line with me was from Florida and had been encouraged by his daughter to try out for "The Voice." I would guess that he was in his 50s. The girl I sat next to lived just 20 minutes away -- she's in community college. Another girl in line near me was a minor (sophomore in high school, I think). She said that she was a recording artist. I wasn't able to talk to her more in depth about it. We ended up being separated in the herding process. One fellow in my group said that this was one of the things on his "bucket list", so why not!?! :-) I saw people from teenagers to folks in their 60s. One of the guys I ended up chatting with is part of a band. The college student I sat next to hadn't decided what song she was going to sing until it was her turn!
Once we were in our group of ten (see previous post about how we ended up in a group of ten), we were led into a room. We turned in our Artist's Passes and sat along a wall. There was one girl sitting behind a computer at a table facing us. That's it. One girl to determine our fate! One by one we were called forward. There was a big green X on the ground. We were instructed to stand on the X, tell what we were going to sing, then sing a verse + chorus of our song.
I don't remember what each of the 10 people sang. A few stood out. A few did not. One girl sang "On My Own" from "Les Mis." Back in high school, I was AWESOME at that song...still am. ;-) I had briefly considered it for this event. Glad I didn't choose it. I would have embarrassed the other girl. She was not awesome at it. She was ok, but not great. The guy who was there because it was on his "bucket list" wasn't great. The girl who sat next to me decided (at the last minute) to sing something from The Judds. It was EXCELLENT! In my opinion, flawless. The guy I had been talking to who was in a band sang as if he was in a band. I know what I mean...even if you don't. I don't really know any other way to explain it.
The fellow who was there because his daughter wanted him to be stood up and started to sing. Then he stopped. He asked our "judge" if he could use the words. He had just learned the song that week (his daughter picked it). The judge said that it was fine with her. He used the words. Sorry to say that it took me a minute to realize that I did know the song he was singing. :-(
There was a girl wearing a short skirt who had long hair and sang something by Celine Dion. She was good, but didn't really make an impact on me. There was a guy with blonde hair who sang something country...not on pitch. There was another guy who sang who didn't make an impression on me at all. I can't tell you what he sang. That's 8. Hmm. I guess there was another person in the group, but they (apparently) made no impression on me at all because I don't even remember anything about this person!!!
And then there was me...using a pitch pipe, singing "Ave Maria." I'm not exactly sure what I might have sounded like to the other 9 (and judge). Personally, I think I nailed it. People who have heard me sing it know that I can sing it quite well. Since there really isn't a verse/chorus format, they got to hear me sing the whole first verse. :-) I closed my eyes early in the song, so I couldn't even gauge reaction from the judge. Although she didn't seem to really react to anyone.
After we were all finished, the girl said, "Sonya and Timothy, stay behind. The rest of you can go." And we were ushered out, our wristbands were clipped, they kept our Artist's Passes and we no longer existed...never had. Sonya was the girl in the short skirt who sang Celine Dion. Timothy was the guy who didn't make an impact on me...so he certainly wasn't bad.
You may hear me saying that they didn't pick me because my skirt was too long. The other girl who I recognized from waiting in line who was holding a "red card" was wearing heels and a tight, short animal print dress. She was quite pretty and it looked good on her. She had long blonde hair. Her cell phone matched her dress. So I do have some shaky ground to stand on when I say I should have worn a shorter skirt.
IF I had gone back on Sunday, I would have worn jeans, a fleece top, and heeled boots. No short skirt there either.
Well --- as the group before us exited the audition room (those who no longer existed), I saw tears in their eyes immediately. I thought to myself, "No big deal if they don't pick me. I'm not going to cry."
I did not cry as I was leaving the room. My first thought was to find the girl who I sat next to who did an awesome job on her song by "The Judds." I wanted to tell her how great she was. Well, she totally vanished as soon as we walked out of that doorway. Gone. I was kinda bummed. But searching for her kept my mind off of myself for the moment.
More to come...
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