“I hope I get it…..I hope I get it.”

 Most singers hate auditions. I love them!

Maybe it’s because I overcame my failed audition in sixth grade! The teacher walked around the room while we sang a song, listening for people to join her chorus. I wasn’t one.

My dad, who sang in the San Francisco Opera chorus, was furious. He met with the teacher and got me in.

I didn’t take up choral singing seriously until I was in my 60s, inspired by my daughter’s high school chorus. During voice lessons, I was amazed at the sound the teacher uncovered. I thought I was a bass. He insisted I was a tenor, just like my dad.

So I went auditioning. At one prestigious chorus, I was given a copy of “My country ‘Tis of Thee” to sing. Really? I can handle that one.

Later, I really impressed the director of one of the top choruses in a very big city with a solo while he played. But when he gave me a sight-singing test, I was terrible. “You are a follower,” he said. I got in on a conditional bassis. I have heard that “tenors get a pass.” I thought better of it and bowed out.

I failed an audition for a musical, but I joined the diector’s church chorus for the summer. He got to like me. Next year, he gave me a prized role in a great musical.

The oddest audition came at another big chorus.  The director stopped playing a couple of times while I sang. “This isn’t quite right,” he said. Really? I thought I was singing the right notes on a sheet handed me earlier by his assistant.

“Let me look at your music,” I said. “We aren’t working on the same song!” The director was embarrassed.  I got in.

Not all was smooth sailing. I had driven 200 miles to return home for the second re-audition of another chorus. I got a speeding ticket on the way. Traffic was backed up near the audition site. I got frantic.

I bombed the audition. They kicked me out! Well, I did blame the police stop and the fact that I was not planning to stay in that chorus anyway. But I was devastated.

So I found another prestigious chorus holding auditions that same week. I wasn’t sure I wanted this one, but I thought it would make me feel better if I tried it out.

It was a stormy night. The director gave me a song that I had just sung in church the previous week. I nailed it. After a stroke of lightning, the lights went out. When they came back on, the director looked confused. “You seem to know what you are doing,” he said. God wanted me there! I joined.