Title: Mastering the Audition: How to perform under pressure
Author: Donna Soto-Morettini
Publisher: Methuen Drama (2012)
I had picked this book up at the library when I was searching for a score. I had thought it would be about music audition, and it turns out to be for people who would like to prepare for auditions for drama productions. Nevertheless, since the concepts of coping with high-stress situations and preparing for an auditions are rather similar to preparing for a music auditions are rather similar, I pleasantly surprised myself when I have found myself completing the read of this entire book!
This book can be divided into two main sections.
The first section focused on concepts and theories related to the mind when it is being subjected to the context of auditioning. The author shared the observations that most people agree that they experience fear in the auditions. This section discusses how fear works. In this section, the author also discussed the motivation to audition and to perform. I like the example involving Daniel H. Pink's "Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us" whereby Pink concluded the problems associated with the work-for-reward syndrome.
In the second section, the book discusses the toolkit to facilitate readers to have a clearer goal of where they are going, to develop their skill set and to develop their mental game. I have found several of the exercises to be useful in getting me to take time to look at the various issues at hand. This section also discusses four new ways to think about risk. The definition of risk is "refusing to accept the most likely interpretations". I very much like the discussions on how one can develop one's mental game. The exercises provided has gotten me to slow down to think through issues I may have otherwise taken for granted.
In this book, the author suggested that it helps to link our motivation to a higher purpose as this often makes a difference in the quality of the outcome.
I appreciate having to read this book. It gave me a glimpse of how to respond in an high-stress audition situation, and how we can know ourselves better to master the audition experience. This book is especially relevant for people who are interested in drama.
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Here are links to book reviews on this book:
http://amdram.co.uk/bookshop/book-review-mastering-the-audition-how-to-perform-under-pressure/
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Audition-perform-under-pressure/dp/1408160617
