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Song Selection 101:
How to Choose the Right Cover Song for a Talent Competition or Audition
By Randi Reed
Editor's Note: We ran
the original version of this article at our previous URL in 1999. Thanks to
On-Air with Ryan Seacrest for the idea of revising it.
Aside from off-key singing, the biggest blunder aspiring singers make in a
talent competition or audition is choosing the wrong song. The right song
can help make your audition the most memorable of the day, and the wrong one
can kill your chances. Here's a step-by-step guide to the art of song
casting.
Know
Yourself and the Judges
1. Know yourself as an artist, and learn how to step back and
take an objective look at your vocal strengths and weaknesses. This is what
the judges and potential talent buyers will do. Which do you have more of:
range, or power? Which comes more easily to you? Which is stronger: the
upper or lower end of your range?
2. Know what your voice does when you're nervous. Do you tend
to sing sharp, or do you have trouble with low notes when you're nervous?
Nerves can highlight your trouble area, so choose the range and key of your
song accordingly.
3. Know the details of the audition or competition you're going
for. Is there a list of songs you must choose from? How many minutes or
bars do you get for your audition time? (If the audition is only a partial
song, choose something without a slow build up.) Is the audition with music
or without? A capella auditions call for a different strategy; when there's
no accompaniment, songs with prominent melody lines work best. When it comes
to singing a capella, up-tempo songs are iffy, and complicated, rhythm-heavy
songs don't usually work. A strong melody line will guide you.
4. If the audition is accompanied, with what kind of instruments?
If it's a talent competition, will there be a band, or will you bring your
own backing track? If a band, what instruments? Will there be backup
vocalists? Who's the musical director? Look up his/her credits to see what
kind of music the M.D. is most comfortable with.
5. Know who the judges are and read their bios and lists of
credits. Avoid songs the judges performed or worked on, as well as songs
by artists the judges worked with. You want to create memories of your own
performance of the song, not make someone else remember their own experience
with the song.
General Guidelines for Choosing Songs for a Singing Competition or
Audition:
1. Unless they're professional musicians, your mom and grandma,
bless them, are usually not the best judges of what songs are good for you.
Mom's and Grandma's love is not only blind, it's often deaf as well, and
while they always have a favorite song they like to hear, it's rarely right
for the singer at hand. Let your vocal coach or other unbiased person aid
you in song selection--preferably someone connected to the music industry,
since that's who you're trying to impress at the audition or competition.
2. Chose a song that fits your image, because the
judges will see you before they hear you. As we've seen many times on
American Idol, a guy in a business suit singing rock and roll doesn't
work in an audition...unless you're an actor auditioning to play a nerdy
accountant who thinks he's cool.
3. Avoid imitations of your favorite artists or artists you sound
like...even if your friends and family love it. Just because you sound
like Stevie Wonder doesn't mean you should sing a Stevie Wonder song; we
already have a Stevie Wonder in the music industry, and he does Stevie
better than anyone. Brad Pitt looks like Robert Redford, but he didn't
succeed in Hollywood by playing Redford's character "Hubbell Gardner" in
The Way We Were remakes.
4. If you have a favorite artist whose songs fit your style (but
your voice is not an imitation of that artist), it's often better to choose
a really good album cut instead of the hit single. There will be fewer
memories attached to the song in the judges' minds. For example, let's say
you love Bon Jovi ballads, and they fit your voice and style. "It's Hard
Letting You Go" may be more effective than the better-known "Bed of Roses,"
because the judges won't be waiting to see if you live up to the way Jon
hits the notes on "...tonight I sleep on a bed of nails."
5. Look for songs outside your musical genre that can be reworked to suit
your style and image. Remember Ruben Studdard's unexpected,
wonderfully-executed version of "Sweet Home Alabama" on American Idol?
More recently, Carrie Underwood's country interpretation of Tiffany's
"Could've Been" was another great example of how to handle a cover tune in a
competition.
6. Potential sources for song ideas: Keep your ears open while
watching TV. Listen to musical genres you don't usually listen to to get
ideas for songs that could be rearranged in your style. Check out classic,
jazz, and country music channels and radio stations, and raid the music
collections of family and friends...especially those of a different
generation or who listen to a different type of music than you.
7. Plan to be creative with your song. Use a new arrangement
or do variations on the chorus to make the song your own. Note-for-note
karaoke renditions of the original artist's version are boring, so give
yourself an edge. (Note: This does not mean Mariah and Christina-style runs.
Runs have been so overdone by others, they're no longer creative.)
8. Choose a song that you really love...or in the case of an
audition or competition where you choose a song from a list, at least
strongly like. If that's still a stretch, think of the song as a good friend
who can help you win.
Some musical and technical considerations:
1. The song should not be too broad in range, but not too
safe. To compensate for your nerves, the song shouldn't be too rangey--the
broader the range, the more chance of error. But don't go too safe.
If you're a power belter you can sometimes get away with a little safer
song, provided there are some big notes to belt out.
2. Consider what might happen if venue acoustics or sound quality
are poor and you can't hear yourself for a second. Your song choice
should hold up. (For example, Jessica Simpson's "I Wanna Love You Forever"
leaves no room for vocal error. You're either on the note, or you're not.)
3. If there will be a live band accompanying everyone in a
competition, anticipate the worst and consider how the song will hold up if
it gets a bad arrangement. With all due respect, some talent show band
song arrangements rival the world's worst lounge acts. (Arrangements for
rock songs tend to suffer the worst.)
Getting closer to choosing your song? Now consider the lyrics:
1. Choose a song that has lyrics you relate to and feel. Your
job as a singer is to make the audience feel it, too. To paraphrase our
webmaster, if you can't sing a breakup song like your heart is breaking,
don't bother. It's not just about the notes.
2. Choose a song with lyrics that are age appropriate. The 14
year-old girl singing "Call Me" on a kids' talent show made us very
uncomfortable.
3. If the original artist is a different gender than you and
you're straight, will the lyrics work with a simple change of he/she
pronouns? Or is major surgery necessary? (To either you or the
lyrics--neither option is good.)
4. Keep in mind that changing gender of the lyrics usually
strengthens the meaning of the song. This can be good or bad. One of the
most poignant live performances I've ever seen was at an awards show when
Sting sang "Someone to Watch Over Me"--a song typically performed by a
female singer. But because of still-lingering sexual stereotypes, women
should proceed with caution: a lyric that sounds sexy on a guy will have an
even sexier connotation when done by a female voice...and may offend a
conservative audience. Think it over carefully and be sure of the image you
want to portray.
Songs to Avoid in singing competitions:
1. Singing a Celine Dion song is the kiss of death in a
singing competition, as eliminated American Idol contestant
Melinda Lira found out. Unless the singer is ten times better than Celine
Dion--nearly impossible, since Celine's notes are so technically
perfect--the judges will constantly be thinking how much better Celine hits
each note. If you have a vocal coach who encourages you to sing Celine Dion
in any public setting, fire him or her immediately; that coach knows nothing
about the music business and is not helping you.
2. While not as technically demanding, Elton John songs are
notoriously difficult to sing, because Elton writes music for his own
unique phrasing and pronunciation. When attempting an Elton John cover song,
there are two options for approaching it: either you can sing a copycat
karaoke vocal--which lacks originality and sometimes sounds odd if the
singer isn't British--or you can try to vocalize it differently, which
rarely works due to the unique phrasing that's already so deeply ingrained
in Elton John melodies. We adore Elton, but you're best off choosing
something else.
3. Also difficult: Billy Joel songs are particularly tricky
for women, because they were written for his voice, which has a very broad
range. (Try singing "Honesty" in the privacy of your own home and you'll see
what I mean.)
4. Avoid classic signature songs such as "Jailhouse Rock,"
"Hound Dog," "Twist and Shout," "I Saw Her Standing There," "Can't Get No
Satisfaction," and "Stairway to Heaven." There's no way you can make them
your own, and major artists don't even try. (When playing "Twist and Shout,"
for fun during encores, Jon Bon Jovi publicly acknowledges this fact by
doing the Paul McCartney head shake. Jon's famous and can get away with
being cute. You're not there yet.)
Have Fun!
Within all these parameters is the perfect song for your voice, that will
bring you joy. Now that you know what to do, have fun discovering it!
For further reading on how to choose a song for your demo, check out
this
Q&A.
"How to"
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