Excited? Nervous? Intimidated? Raring to go?
We inshallah are waiting in anticipation to witness your talent!
Before you come along to the auditions we would like to provide you with some tips, so that when you come, you are prepared, at ease and confident inshallah.
1) Rehearse Rehearse Rehearse. Practice your audition in front of your friends, family, islamic teacher or anyone that is close to you. Through practising in front of others you will gain confidence and learn how to improve your performance inshallah.
2) Drink plenty of water, don't eat any junk/greasy/spicy food the night before or on the morning of your audition, make sure you eat healthy foods to ensure your throat/voice does not become 'gunky'. Drinking plenty of water helps keep your voice clear. In addition wrapping a warm towel around your neck also helps.
3) Warm your vocal chords up. The reason why you may see on the tv, people doing scales with their voices like ah ah ah ah ah, is because it helps warm up the voice so you don't hurt it. It is important to take care of your voice and to prevent it from becoming damaged. Warm your voice up regularly before you practice.
4) Drink warm water to help keep the throat at ease and massaged. You can even massage your throat to ensure it is relaxed and ready to be used. If you find your voice is particularly dry then gargle warm water with salt inside it to get rid of the dryness in your threat.
5) Do not practice too many hard hitting high notes or big notes when you are rehersing otherwise you will rip your voice and cause damage to your throat.
6) Chew on malatti, malatti is a soft sweet wooden stick which is available from asian grocers. Malatti helps soften the throat and keeps your mouth feeling good and your voice is kept very fresh.
7) Try not to copy an islamic vocalist that is already out there. Don't be second best to someone who is already established. Be yourself and be original in the way you perform
8) Come with a selection of audition pieces that you are able to perform, so that we can see the diversity in your talent and your voice.
9) If you are a Quran reciter entrant, polish up on the pronounciation of your letters, this will keep you in good stead for the semi-finals and finale. The first round auditions will be more relaxed in terms of judging tajweed and pronounciation as we realise people will be nervous and some people don't have the resources or live nearby an islamic centre to learn tajweed. However we do passionately advice people to practice their correct recitation of the quran.
10) We are not looking for people to be perfect as soon as they walk through the door. If you are then great, but if your not a perfect vocalist then don't be put off as through the competition you can develop your voice and your singing/recitation and improve on what you already have. We want to see our contestants grow and improve inshallah.
11) If you are relatively young, and you are entering the competition, don't worry and don't be intimidated, we are just looking for your enthusiasm and for you to be yourself.
