Hitting Your College Audition “Home runs”

Well, it’s baseball season – the Broadway show league has kicked off, and our Downtowners have officially kicked the Butts of the no-name you see above in this photo. I say “Good night and good luck” to whoever wants to try and take us on, as we fight for our three-peat championship! 

And maybe that summer weather and the swinging bats around me has inspired me to finally write down this blog post that has been kicking around my head for awhile. It sparked for me when one of our recent Mapping The College Audition podcast guests said the slightly malapropistic phrase [is saying “malopropistic” a maloprop in and of itself?] “you need to hit your home runs”. But I think most listeners know what he meant by it. He was talking about material selection and the choices you make within in your pieces, and he was really saying a version of the advice “Show me your Strengths” that we’ve heard echoed many times on the podcast.

“You need to hit YOUR home runs”

I just want to explore and explode this metaphor a bit, in almost certainly too much detail, because I think so much of it really holds, in relating Baseball to College Auditions in this specific way. To slightly correct the phrase, I might make it something more like “You need to swing at the right pitches”. Especially when were talking about something like the Prescreen Process, or looking at Audition Requirements in general, there tends to be so much open-ended choice involved on the student end, that a huge part of your ultimate success can come down to figuring out what is the equivalent of your “meatball-down-the-middle” kind of pitch. To torture the metaphor, the first crack at the audition really is more like Tee-ball, or Coach Pitch, where you really get to say exactly where you want the pitch and how fast you want it coming in before gearing up for a swing.

And importantly, not everyone’s perfect pitch is going to be the same pitch! Nor is every hitter going to try to do the same thing with the same pitch when they get it. For me, and I probably shouldn’t reveal this vulnerability to my future opponents, but I love a straight, waist-high fastball on the inside half of the plate. I’m zero-ing in on that pitch in a 0-0 count, and my plan is to hit just slightly below the mid-point of the ball, to hit a rising line-drive home run over right center fielders head (for those who are accurately following along with the baseball of it all, I’m left-handed). It’s possible for me to hit home runs over the right fielders head, but I’d say of the hundreds of home runs I’ve hit in my baseball/softball career, about 90% of them will end up within about a 30 degree radius of the field, and the vast majority of them to right-center field. I know what my ideal result is going to be, and it’s going to look relatively similar when you look at all of the different home runs, despite no two swings being identical.

Now, that’s what I’m aiming for, and that’s my plan going in on a first plate appearance. That doesn’t mean I’m successful in doing that every time– if I miss by just a bit and get under the ball, I could fly out, or if I miss a bit on top, it could be a ground ball to 2nd base. But the important thing is that I’m not closing my eyes and just swinging for the fences, hoping something random and extraordinary happens. I used to love when my old voice teacher at Carnegie Mellon would tell me “Charlie, you did that on purpose”. He would say it dryly, but he meant it as the ultimate compliment. Rather than going right for humility after something sounded good, he wanted me to own the process I used which produced that sound so it would be replicable – I was using the tools he had given me, and getting the desired result I was going for. Now, there’s a whole other baseball-blog about process and product, and focusing on the result versus focusing on the process/intention, but let’s not get blogged down in that!

I was using the tools he had given me, and getting the desired result I was going for

Let’s bring it back to this pitch-selection part of the process. What I’ve just described is my 0-0 count approach (or “how you would approach the first pitch of an at bat, before any balls and strikes”, for a lay person). That’s my #1 favorite thing to do, and so let’s say that’s like my lead piece. If they are only asking for one piece, be it one monologue or one song, then that’s what I would try to do! If someone were only going to see me swing a bat once in their lives, I’d be waiting for that specific pitch and taking that swing.

But we know in an audition, they are often asking for two pieces! At MTCA, the phrase we like to use is to try and bring in “Two Contrasting Strengths”. That means trying to show as much range as humanly possible, while sticking with things that are really and truly within your wheelhouse. Sometimes people take that first bit of advice of showing range or contrast, and they end up accidentally showing off one strength and one weakness. That doesn’t mean both pieces have to be equally impressive, but they should both be true strengths that show you off in a positive light.

To go back to our baseball analogy, if on my first at-bat I get that amazing waist-high fastball on the inside half of the plate and I hit that rising line-drive a mile over the right center fielders head, usually the outfielders will end up playing crazy deep on the next at-bat. Now, it would still be pretty objectively impressive if I hit the exact same long fly ball, but it would probably result in an out this time. The other team might still go “he’s a heck of a hitter, he did it twice!” but it’s not as impressive as me being able to show some flexibility, and that I have other tools in my tool-bag. So in this case, if the outfield is really deep, I’m going to try to hit an easy line-drive over 1st base, which hopefully will be a double if the right-fielder is playing deep enough. That adjustment is really impressive to good ball-players, since it shows I know myself and that I can do more than one thing. It also makes you think “oh man, what else can he do?” or sometimes even “what CAN’T he do?” even though I’ve only shown them these two things. That’s a notable contrast to me trying to hit another deep home run – which might seem impressive, but is also relatively easy to defend. When defenders know you’re only swinging for the fences, it actually makes their jobs pretty easy. This might be the equivalent of a singer who belts at the top of their lungs in both of their songs. It is absolutely an impressive tool, but if we see it twice in two songs, it sort of indicates that this is all you can do.

But for the true baseball fans out there, did you notice what wasn’t present in the above? It wasn’t necessarily the most contrasting thing I could have possibly done from my first swing for the fences to my second swing. Both of these hits are on the right side of the field, where I “pull” the ball. The most contrasting thing might be trying to hit a bloop over 3rd base, which if the fielders have shifted might be a triple or another home run. And if that thing happens to be something I do excellently, then that should absolutely be my next choice! However, if it’s something I’m still working on and not necessarily great at yet, I might end up popping out to the shortstop with a kind of awkward looking swing. That would be that example of showing them one strength and one weakness. Now, to be the most well-rounded ball player, I want to be able to pull the ball as well as hit to the opposite field, to hit singles and to hit for power. You want to be able to do it all! But until I’m able to execute the opposite field bloop on a regular basis, it wouldn’t be something I try out in a game. For me personally, hitting to the opposite field consistently was a tool I worked on for many years before I added it into my competitive game regularly – I would practice it in games with lower stakes, I would spend a lot of my warm-up swings working on it, and for years I would never try to do it in high stakes situation, since it still wasn’t a comfortable strength of mine on a consistent basis. And then a few seasons ago I was able to bring it out in a championship game, when a team that “knew” me very well shifted all of their fielders to the right side of the field, and I hit a base-clearing, game-sealing triple to left field. My weakness had become a strength and I was ready to show it off.

And the important part of this analogy is in thinking about your “pitch count” as you walk in the audition room, is that you are always starting 0-0 when you’re talking about the college audition process and walking into a new room. Meaning, you always get to pick your best pitch to swing at – your best piece of material that you love the most and will show you off best. To torture the analogy a bit further, this could be slight shift if the material requirements make things a bit more challenging for you – if you’re asked to bring in a classical piece and that’s not fully in your comfort zone, you might feel like your count is a bit more 0-1. But still you should be finding a way to make that piece as much of a strength as possible when it’s something you bring in the room initially. That’s what all of the time and preparation is for – you might have to work hard to develop your secondary easy-line drive over 1st base, but you want to make sure you find what that is.

However, and it’s important to make this adjustment, you want to contrast this entirely from a “pitch count” perspective, when you’re thrown a “curveball” in the room from behind the table. If they ask you about specific additional material (For example: “do you have anything more legit sounding in your book?” or “do you have a comedic monologue?”), now you might feel like it’s an 0-2 count, and you’ve gotta protect the plate! This is when they might be specifically probing for weaknesses and/or trying to get that fuller picture of your skillset. So even before I was comfortable hitting consistently to the opposite field in a game, if a pitcher was pitching me on the outside corner and got two strikes on me, you better believe I’m going to swing at the outside pitch and try to hit it the opposite way! It just wouldn’t be my initial choice in a 0-0 count. Same idea applies if they ask for additional specific material that is contrasting what you’ve already brought in – you want to have those options in your book and do your best to hit them out of the park if asked to do so. But there’s a big difference between taking a bit of a shaky opposite-field swing when asked to do so, which makes you look like you are game and like you understand the assignment, versus choosing to take that swing in a 0-0 count. To go back to the audition room, that’s the difference between one of your lead pieces and a piece in your back pocket. If you’re someone who is still working on your Soprano voice but feeling a bit shaky, you absolutely want to keep doing that work and get comfortable with being vulnerable and sharing wherever you are in that process if you’re asked to do so. But, in that case, if you have a great belt song and then a good contrasting song where you’re mixing – those might end up being your lead pieces. Nobody expects you to have every skillset mastered at 18 years old – that’s why you’re going to school! You look like a smart auditioner who knows yourself if you are able to bring in those contrasting strengths, and ideally keep showing off additional different strengths with each new time you step to the plate (do I eventually lay down a Bunt? Break out the Baltimore Chop?). You don’t have to unload the whole clip of all of what you can do in two audition pieces – pick two contrasting things that you do excellently, and be prepared if asked for more to show off more strengths, while also making sure you are covering the range of kinds of material you might be asked about in your book. You want to leave them feeling like “What can’t this person do? They’ve show me this, and this, and this!”. If you show them something you struggle with in that second piece, they’ll basically assume they’ve reached the end of things you don’t struggle with.

“What can’t this person do?”

[Please note, I’m focusing here on the metaphor of pitch count and audition pieces you bring in, meaning specifically the material you bring in being the types of swings you might take and what you might try to do with the ball. And even the curveball part of the metaphor being specifically additional prepared material that they might ask for. When you get into adjustments or redirects in terms of HOW you might do material, that’s a whole different ballgame, and a whole other blog post, though I’ll say in general, all bets are off from a “showing off weaknesses” perspective. There, quite often your strength is in your weakness, your ability to be a game and flexible and switch up the sport. Throw away your baseball bat and swing a pool noodle instead if the adjustment calls for it! But that’s a whole other box of Cracker Jacks and other baseball metaphors.]

The last part of this metaphor I wanted to torture a bit, because I can’t help squeezing every ounce of a good metaphor until there is nothing left, is just to think a bit about the DIFFICULTY of the pitch you want to try to hit. Because in the audition room, you are not just picking the pitches you’re hitting, you’re really controlling the whole pitching machine. I think a lot of young students think they will get “credit” for trying to do a really difficult piece — but to stick with the metaphor, you don’t get points for swinging and missing just because it was a really fast fastball you picked to swing at. Or even if you’re going to foul it off. Swing at a pitch you can actually hit! But on the flipside, you want to swing at a pitch that’s going as fast as you can consistently hit it. Any hitter knows it’s a lot easier to hit a home run off of a normal fastball than to try to hit one off a stationary tee. Certain pieces could be really hard to hit out of the park if they just don’t contain enough oomph to get over the fence. And in a lot of cases, one student’s perfect speed fastball right down the middle is too quick for another student to handle. That’s totally okay – pick the speed that is right for you! Ideally we like to think slightly aspirational – it should be challenging enough that it excites you and there’s enough to keep delving for the months you’ll be working on this material, but not so challenging that you struggle to reach it most times you try to swing at it.

Alright, is that enough baseball metaphors for one blog post? Sure feels like it to me. For the tiny slice of the Venn diagram out there that are super into baseball and theater (like the no-name picture above?), you probably loved this blog. And for the rest of you would-be auditioners, throw away the baseball part of it and just remember the parts about bringing in your contrasting strengths. We want to see you, at your best, and a huge part of setting yourself up for success in both baseball and the audition room is picking which pitches you are going to swing at.