Philip Hernandez: Music and the Actor’s Book
In musical theater, your book is a three-ring binder that has all of the songs that you sing for auditions. In this book, you should have everything that you’ve worked and honed and now sing really well.
Your Book Can Reveal Your Vocal Range
You should have one song, for instance, that you present as three different cuts. You can have an eight-bar cut, a 16-bar cut and a 32-bar cut. You can also have a full song. Having these cuts already available makes certain that you’re prepared no matter what they want to hear.
A lot of times, you go to an audition and you’re told, “Well, we’re running behind schedule. We’re only going to have you sing eight bars,” or they only want to see you perform 16 bars. You need to construct those 16 bars so that they show you not only you as a person, but they also show your acting chops and vocal range. Each cut has to be tailored to the needs of the audition, which means that you should have three or four versions of every song in your book.
You should also have a representation of all of the styles that you do well in your book. For example, you might have a Golden Age song from “Oklahoma” or something from “Jesus Christ Superstar” like “Heaven on Their Minds.” You should have a wide spectrum of songs that you do really well.
Two Books Make Life Easier
Your book, you must realize, is also your accompanist, which is why I actually have two books. I have a book of stuff that I’m working on that’s just for me. It it has my audition material in it too. I also have a book marked up for the accompanist that has only audition material in it.
Anything I might want them to do, such as crescendo or slow down at certain places, is marked in musical notation in the audition version of my book so the accompanist can see it and play it the way I want them to play it.
I make certain that each page of the book is inside of non-glare sheet protectors as well because I don’t want the accompanist to struggle when they sit down in an audition room under harsh fluorescent lighting. I want to make their life as easy as possible because then I can make the most of my only opportunity for that particular audition to perform at my best.
Your Performing Arts Education
This is only an introduction to the actor’s book. You can learn more tips for creating, using and maintaining this critical tool in your online performing arts education courses. Your performing arts studies can provide all of the details you need to make certain that your career takes off quickly once your formal academic education is complete.
