MIXIE PICKS OF 2013 (YOU get a blog and YOU get a blog and YOU get a blog!)

Happy Cyber Monday! I know I am not sponsored by Harpo and many of my favorite things are no-brainers. But "Picks" rhymes with "Mix" and "Chicks"… so I just felt it was my moral obligation to write a list of the stuff I liked from 2013…  stuff that made me a better performer, teacher and/or person.  Favorite new performances or old performances I just happened to discover this year and some other fun stuff!
   Fun Home is a new musical with a score written by Jeanine Tesori and it was one of my favorites this year.  If you haven't had a chance to see it yet, it is playing for another couple of weeks at the Public.  The writing and the acting is fantastic, but one of my favorite things about it is that each of the three actresses who play the protagonist (age 8, age 18 and age 43) sing just like they speak.  They do a really nice job at making seamless transitions from scene to song while still singing some very difficult music.  See immediately for some "mixing" mastery.This is what musical theatre should be about, folks.  This show got totally overshadowed by some of the bigger stuff playing this season, but this is a must see.  I hadn't laughed like that in a longgggg time and, again, the acting is phenomenal.  It reminded me why I like Musical Theatre and I'm not kidding.  

This is written by the woman whose TED Talk went crazy viral.  Oprah started working with her and having her as a guest on Super Soul Sunday and doing online courses with her.  She writes about some difficult topics like Perfectionism, Shame, Vulnerability, etc., and her writing is totally accessible.  Her stuff really changed my thinking this year and I think any performer could really benefit from hearing what she has to say.  I also appreciate her because she admits she's having NBD's just like the rest of us.  If you haven't heard of her yet, take a look at Brené Brown's Ted Talk  

This is a cool new band that I am now obsessed with.  They're called MANICANPARTY and they're based in NYC.   After a really hard day I like coming home, turning the lights off, lighting some candles, closing my eyes and feeling like I'm having some kind of earthy, meditative experience with this in the background.  I'm a little biased because the lead singer has come into the studio a couple of times, but I just really like her voice and their sound.  You can actually download their FREE EP here.   And I love this video:

This is an iPhone photo of an oracle card reading that was given to me as a gift by my very talented friend, David.  Basically what happens is he hears you speak (I chose to speak about things that were bothering me this summer) and he finds a common thread between them (my common thread was "relationships").  Then he draws cards from a deck and teaches you about the ascended masters on each of the cards (Buddha, Jesus, etc), what they taught in their lifetimes and how those lessons would apply to what was bothering me.  The process was ultimately (again) life changing and he is like a messenger from the universe.  His blog is here.  Life changing.  LIFE CHANGING! 

This microphone is called The Snowflake and I recently purchased it from Amazon.com.  This microphone is GREAT for anybody who wants to record submission videos/recordings and/or voice lessons.  And it's only 40 bucks!  It's pretty small… doesn't clip onto your clothing but it sits on the music stand or on the computer screen… and it is a USB so it goes directly into the computer as the external microphone.  Highly recommended for those of us who hate the way the iPhone makes our voices sound.  Look at it here.

I am a new Netflix customer this year and these are my top 3 choices.  Breaking Bad (R.I.P.), Orange is the New Black and Scandal are like acting masterclasses.  Superb stuff going on in the non-reality TV underworld.  The only bad thing about these shows is now I'm able to guess all the endings to every other show and movie.  I'm like a certified television crime detective now.

These saved my life this summer and I know this is a singing blog but whatever.  I went on this ludicrous diet (no sugar, no fruit, no carbs, no alcohol, no caffeine) and ThinkThin bars saved mi vida.  They're very low sugar (3g) and high protein (19g) compared to other bars and they're also GLUTEN FREE... AND they taste good.  Hello!  Then when I really needed a treat I went to Chloe's (maybe 3 times… I didn't cheat too often).  And I get the banana soft serve with strawberries and peanut butter drizzle.  I know.  I cheated and I didn't even get the chocolate.  I'm strange but I lost 20lbs with those things.  

Louise Dearman played Galinda on the West End from 2010 to 2011 (she later returned to the show as Elphaba and when you listen to this you'll understand why).  My friend, Lindsay, brought this clip to my attention and she and I had some fun figuring out what this Galinda was doing and recreating it.  Listen to the words "The wicked die alone."  I think of the 5,000 views this video has and the 11,000 the full version has, my friends and I are responsible for at least 2,000 of the collective 16.  Ridiculous.

Saw Violet at Encores! and it was an unbelievable, unbelievable staged reading.  I can't even imagine that seeing it with the sets and full costumes next year could be any better because this was pretty spectacular.  I was sitting in a far back row with a friend and my foggy contact lenses, and Sutton Foster's absolutely heartbreaking subtleties in this role were just as impactful as the full gospel choir.  She totally mastered the ability to make Violet the ingenue without playing "an ingenue."  It's one of my favorite roles in musical theater (has been ever since I saw my friends in a production where I went to school) and I LOVED what she did with it.  They even lowered "Lay Down Your Head" a step or two and I was like, "You GO, Sutton Foster, you're a BOSS."  I am really psyched for the upcoming revival.    (Another Jeanine Tesori… I guess she wins the award for 2013.)

It wouldn't be a Mixie Chicks blog post without a little Sherie.  I saw Piece of Meat, Sherie Rene Scott's cabaret, very late LAST year, but I liked this one so much I'm letting it sneak into 2013.  Plus she did bring it back to 54 Below this June so it can still count.
I enjoyed this show so much, not even really because of the singing but because this is story-telling at its finest.  She says some of these stories aren't even true but you don't really care if they're true or not.  I think one story was even about being under water and making strong eye contact with a fish, if I remember correctly?  She says, "All the stuff that isn't made up is true." in her usual sort of ironic, dry way in an interview for Broadwayworld.com, but regardless of what is autobiographical and what isn't autobiographical, this is just great close-to-life material that isn't gratuitous or masturbatory.  Anybody who is thinking of putting together a cabaret (or just wants to see a very non-cheesy cabaret) should see this next time it comes around!


Aright, peeps! Those are my Mixie Picks!  Did you have any favorite performances this year?  Post in the comments section!

Happy Holidays!

THIS IS NOT THE MASSAGE YOU GET AT THE NAILS PLACE

Hey Guys!  So I never plug anything… and I am a very frugal person as many will tell you.  I probably single-handedly put Colony out of business… I have regrets… I'm going to Hell…. I know.  I'm sorry.  But this is something I just tried for the first time and am going to recommend to you.

I tried a massage at Lifelight Massage yesterday and it was incredible.  I feel 100% better overall and I can even see a difference vocally.  I've been having an anxious couple of months and not only did she get rid of the knots that I thought were going to be permanent facets of my body because of how awful they felt and how persistent they were, but I kid you not, I stopped having stress-related sugar cravings and I slept better than I had in weeks last night.  And then when I went to sing, it felt like someone sprayed some WD-40 in my jaw, my neck feels great, my vibrato was faster, and riffing was smoother than ever! This is crazy!

Also, Christine showed me that an injury I had due to an accident I had as a kid (18 yrs ago!) that I hadn't really considered relevant anymore is actually something I still need to rehabilitate a little.  She found it without my even mentioning it… and I really can't believe how much tension I'd been holding in that spot that I was unaware of until she released it for me.

AND…the detail that really matters most…. more than 24 hours later I still feel awesome.

Again, I don't plug things… it's very rare… but I'm telling you if you're in NYC  this is worth the money and it's something that will improve your quality of life.  I plan to make this a part of my life now because I saw how beneficial it can be to my system.  And then after you go in person, take advantage of the fact that Lifelight is putting out a self-care series on YouTube very soon.  You can see what it's supposed to feel like when she does it for you and then you can do at-home maintenance, too.  Treat yourself.  Ask for a massage for Christmas.  Do what you gotta do.  Just try it.

Read about massages specifically for vocalists here.

CHICKS WHO MIX: HOW TO ROCK LIKE THE HARDCORE GIRL GIRLS

If you liked this video, don't forget to subscribe to my blog in the top right corner!

80'S BWAY, I LOVE YOU

Listen to these girls!!!! They're pioneers of the Mixie Chick Movement!

THE SQUEAKY WHEEL GETS THE GREASE

If you've ever taken a lesson with me (or been my therapist) you know that I talk in metaphors... a lot.  For everything I try to explain, for some reason I feel the need to come up with a correlating analogy. Maybe it's because I like working with kids but I assume that for every idea I have, I need to have a corresponding children's book to drive my point home.  So I would like to present to you the simplest way of thinking about why being squeaky on your top notes is the way to go.

Think of your Vocal Tract as a Garden Hose:

Think of Sound as the Water:

Think of your Audience as the Flowers:      

Today you have to water the flowers but the hose doesn't reach and there is no spray nozzle:

If you're not allowed to touch this....:

What Can You Do? 

Mission Accomplished.  Your flowers have been watered and your audience has sufficiently been deafened. 

Now, you increased your efficiency because you were able to reach a further target, but you did not increase power.  How is that? 

You decreased space.  By putting your thumb over the hose, you decreased the amount of space the water had to get out, therefore increasing speed and intensity (frequency) of the water.  If we need to water our flowers (let our audience hear us) on a daily basis but we don't want to muscle it, how can WE decrease space?  Luckily for us, we have many "thumbs" that comprise our vocal tract and determine how much space we allow our sound to move through!  We can raise our tongues, we can spread our lips, we can lower our soft palates, and we have the ability to raise our larynges (so fancy!) as we please!  As long as we're not doing this, right? 
















As long as we're maintaining retracted false vocal folds (not squeezing or pushing), with the right combo of thumbs we can easily reach our audiences without dialing up the power through a performance.  We are increasing our own efficiency by increasing the frequency at which our sound is moving out of our bodies, and the "service you are providing" to your audience is comparable but much easier on you.Why kill ourselves trying to make the hose reach when we can put our thumbs over it?   The flowers will never know :)

TAKE A LESSON FROM THE EXPERT OF SNEAKY SQUEAKAGE, 12 YR OLD LUKE!

This week we talked about "headvoice" and "chestvoice" and the doors that mixing opens up when singing songs that cover a wide range of notes... This is a follow-up post, so if you haven't seen it already, check this post out:  BEING SNEAKY ABOUT THE SQUEAKY: DO WE REALLY NEED LABELS?

Introducing... Luke! This is the student whose lessons inspired the phrase, "Be Sneaky About the Squeaky" over a year ago! The first time he ever came to me, he was just a little boy (He grew like... 10 feet this year.) and used to have to be sneaky about the squeaky just to extend his range in general for his old favorite songs like "I Won't Grow Up," "There is a Santa Claus," and "Electricity." Now he's almost a teenager so we can't work on his little boy songs anymore... BUT he's also got a couple more years before he starts going for leading man roles! So now the squeaky that we have to be sneaky about is just accessing his old little kid voice (even though it doesn't come naturally to him anymore) so that he can reach some higher notes in his adult songs just like the rest of us! I mean, could there be a better of example of somebody who could be worrying about whether he's in headvoice or chestvoice? He's got it down to a science.

Listen and see if YOU can find all the different voices he's purposely choosing at any given moment. There are 4 of them! If you weren't listening for them, would you guess he's switching in and out of his little kid voice and his newer grownup voice?   It sounds pretty seamless to me! This song could potentially have been a Peter- Brady-does-Bruno-Mars but Luke was open to weaving in and out of a couple of different voices and does it like a BOSS!  So take a lesson from 12 yr old Luke.
Also, he gets major extra credit for the vibrato placement a la pop music and not musical theater... AND for all of the glottal onsets! Evidence that this guy only PRETENDS not to pay attention to what I'm saying :)

BEING SNEAKY ABOUT THE SQUEAKY: DO WE REALLY NEED LABELS?

Lately I've been working with a lot of angst-filled Mixie Chicks.

Now, the girls (and some guys!) who I've been seeing are stressed the ^$*# out about sides they're getting for auditions (namely Norwegian Cruise Line Legally Blonde and Bring it On National Tour).  Some songs sit on high F's and G's... pretty insane assignments to learn in less than a week.  Over the course of the lesson we'll get it to a point where it sounds goddamn amazing. I'm screaming "Yes, yes, yes!" behind the piano and if you were a bystander outside the studio you'd be wondering what's going on in there...  We're weaving in and out of whatever voices are necessary to make it sound like one cohesive voice (aka successfully Mixing)...  but then... out of nowhere...they literally stop the brilliance mid-phrase and say, "I'm in headvoice now," with this satanic looks on their faces.  

First of all, would I ever let you sing (let alone go to your audition singing) "So Much Better" in "headvoice?" I think not.  Secondly, this mixing thing may feel headvoicey to you because it's not as heavy or effortful as the full "chest" belt you're accustomed to...and this is why you're having an NBD.  You're afraid you're not doing enough.  But let me ask you a question:  If it's easier and it sounds pretty much exactly the same if not better from the outside ...  what is the problem?  We are capable of making more than two sounds, so why are we so adamant about classifying with one of these two labels? 

Hey nonny, nonny no!

A Bit of Blasphemy:

Let me give you a little bit of the history behind the dreaded "headvoice" and "chestvoice."  Believe it or not, these are not some crazy terms a teacher came up with in the 80's for her students auditioning for the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals.  These terms were coined in the 1200's in France.  So they were invented at a time when nobody in their right mind had to make a high G# sound like it was being belted.  The terms were then popularized by singers using the Bel Canto vocal style.  In relation to musical theatre, to me, these terms are almost obsolete now.   Since the 13th century, we've had the capacity to do X-rays, Cat Scans, what have you... to see what's ACTUALLY going on in there.   This vocabulary is literally medieval and we're being asked to sing some very advanced stuff, especially within the last decade, never mind the last 8 centuries!  So worrying whether you are in headvoice or chestvoice while attempting your Bring It On sides is like saying you left your Beeper at home.  It doesn't really matter that much.


Mix-Hating Epidemic:

A friend who saw The Last 5 Years at Second Stage this summer was eavesdropping during intermission and heard a girl bitching about how "Betsy Wolfe was mixing all of the high notes."  Now, I'm sorry but BW is a pretty proficient singer... but also, do they not recall that Sherie Rene Scott almost exclusively (and successfully) mixed the whole show ten years ago, as well? (If you've read any of my other blog entries you know she's my favorite so I'm allowed to say it.  I also don't mean it as an insult.  It's actually one of the best compliments I can think of besides the fact that I think she's the queen.  There.  I said it.)

For all those who hate on mixing... I think we have to get clear about how many kinds of mixes there are and how many options you have besides headvoice and chestvoice!  In fact, many of our favorite "belters" are mixing more than you'd think! 

Even though the words "Head" and "Chest" are like curse words to me, this is how I'm categorizing the mixes for the purpose of our discussion today:

Head Mix without Twang-  Not operatic but still sweet/legit with main characteristic being an airy, Marilyn Monroe component. Can have straight tone to add a contemporary feel but otherwise sounds borderline legit.  Think Amanda Seyfried in Les Mis.  High soft palate.

Head mix with Twang- Not airy, but still very bright, sweet, high larynx, and can be used in contemporary legit settings (i.e. Miss Dorothy in Millie). Think Laura Osnes.  Can also have a mid soft palate.

Chest Mix- Has twang and mid larynx but still utilizes a variety of different ingredients (i.e. nasalizes [sings with mid soft palate], raises tongue, or whines [tilts thyroid], et. al. to thin it out so that it still isn't as heavy as a classic belt.  Think Sherie Rene Scott and sometimes Sutton Foster.  To me, it's like the difference between whining "I don't wanna!" and... 

Chest Voice- Patti Lupone yelling, "Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop taking pictures right now! Who do you think you are?!!"

Mixing is Not the Curse-Word!

This guy doesn't care if it's his 
head or his chest.  
Why should you?

From the recordings I'm hearing on YouTube, BW used all three of these mixes interchangeably throughout the show: Chest Mix for the majority, Head mix with Twang for the higher notes, and PERHAPS a few Head Mix without Twang for the highest stuff in the score.  I'm also going to take a wild guess and say the girl was saying she didn't like the mixing that she heard specifically on the high notes, but ironically, BW was probably mixing the entire time (not just on the high notes) and was making it sound like belting because she's good at it. She may have just lost the twang for a hot second (which could have been a choice!) and that's what the audience member heard as inconsistent or un-Sherie-like. 

SRS is a human mixing board.

Sherie Rene Scott mixes almost exclusively in all of her performances but she skillfully and ingeniously equalizes twang throughout her entire range, meaning she can gauge how much or how little is needed on any given note to make her entire range sound like one voice even though she is actually using a variety of different voices.  In other words, she was being sneaky about the squeaky and making us think it was one big voice.   
So if people are really comparing these two performances... it's not the fact that one is mixing and one isn't... because they both are.  It's actually the type of mixing and use of twang or lack thereof.  Again, many of our favorite belters are mixing more than we think... BW was following suit but may have just picked the wrong mix at the wrong time for ONE SECOND and didn't please that ONE audience member (You can't win them all).  In all actuality, if that person in the audience was looking for belting, then Betsy Wolfe was their woman because she was serving something way closer to Patti Lupone on the lower stuff than Sherie ever does! The problem was more likely that BW was actually thickening up too often on the low stuff, so much so that it possibly made for harder transitions.

   
Honestly, though, in my opinion nobody should be singing that show (or any show) in a full belt 100% of the time when you can use a chest mix or a head mix with twang and get the same results, especially when the score goes up that high and you have the advantage of being on a microphone.  It's a 2-person show.  If she were in chestvoice the whole time, she would be dead within one week.... as would you!  And this, my friends, is why I am such a lover of mixing... I am not trying to sabotage your auditions; I just want it to be easy as hell for you, too!  There's a reason why I can teach all day and not lose my voice. 

In terms of our own singing, if we're constantly singing at a full belt (a 10 on the mixie scale), of course when I ask you to thin it out it will feel like a headvoice to you because it's thinner than your regular balls-to-the-walls chest voice.  In the same respect, if you're living at a 2, when I ask you to bump it up to a 6, that's going to feel relatively cray cray and you're going to accuse me of trying to give you nodules because it's too belty.  When I prescribe some squeak in these high sections, I'm not making you sing in chestvoice.  You're actually mixing! It's not headvoice or chestvoice, really.  And it doesn't sound weird. I promise. Think of it like a magic trick; the audience will see it as the rabbit disappearing and the magician knows it's just a trick and the rabbit is under the table.  The magician can't be sad because he knows what the trick is. The audience will still be fooled.

This week alone I've had to have 4 people play their lesson back in front of me so they can hear for themselves that I'm not making them do some squeaky headvoicey thing in their belty songs for my own amusement; it actually works and sounds like an extension of the voice you're using that feels chestier on the bottom notes.  All have agreed.

As your mixing therapist, I say: 

As long as you're happy with how you sound and feel, why do you need to put labels on things? In fact, you may need to swing both ways in all of your songs... I do!  Say "nonny-nonny-no" to labeling. It gets better. 

BELT LIKE OPRAH! ANDY COHEN SHOW

Recently, Andy Cohen asked Oprah during an interview to yell his name! And she did it!  I guess we're not the only ones who noticed!

PRACTICE LIKE A 6 YEAR OLD: AMELIA TELLS YOU HOW

PRACTICE RUN OF PRINCESS WORKSHOP

Thank you to the girls who came out on Sunday to help me try my Princess workshop out!

HOW TO BELT SUSTAINED NOTES: BELT LIKE OPRAH!

THE TWANG FARM ANIMALS PROUDLY PRESENT ….

Lesson on Vocal Ease & Versatility for High Schoolers:

This was my 4th summer teaching at a summer Musical Theatre intensive program for high school students (mostly juniors so 16 and 17yrs old) in NYC.  I like to keep it pretty light since it's summer and the students tend to get really nervous about the mock auditions they have to do all week, so I like to do the Twang Farm with them to keep it silly (and because it's awesome, of course).  This is something we did as an intro!

We talked about the importance/value of vocal versatility in this business and the ability to differentiate voice parts based on characterization. So for instance, we looked at why and how Javert should be vocally different from Marius or why Cosette should sound different from Eponine, and then we discussed how using the Twang Farm could help to make those vocal choices more evident and effortless.  This lesson was also presented to the kids in response to their unanimous concern about vocal breaks between "chest-voice" and "head-voice."

Because there were very few men in the class (4), I asked them to double on parts.  Keep in mind they were only introduced to the Twang Farm 30 minutes ago, they were basically sight-reading this song and they are jumping back and forth between voice parts... I am pretty pleased with this.  :b


Marius & Cosette: Squirrels
Eponine: Cat
Javert: Black Sheep
Enjolras: Squirrel
Thenardiers: Sheep
Jean Val Jean: Black Sheep/Owl

HOW TO SCOPE YOUR VOCAL CORDS WITH THE IPHONE!

Hey Guys!  Since it's been so hot in NYC this month I've been trying to stay cool in my apartment while occupying myself with some (sometimes weird, I guess) activities! ... one of which has been trying to figure out how to see my own vocal cords with my iPhone!  And I finally got it!  Here I am with my pearly whites!

Yes, I know this looks gross but it's educational.  ;)

Here's how I did it:

And the pièce de résistance:

Let me know if you tried it and post some response videos!!!

Who Run the World - Post 2.5 and 3/3!

This post is third in a 3 post series.  If you have not already, please see posts 1 and 2.

POST 2.5

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Look at this guy:

From Wikipedia:

Hunt has been coaching gymnastics in Utah since 1974.[8] While demonstrating a back flip for a female student, he realized the comic value of a man performing women's gymnastics. He performs his routines during gymnastics competitions for comic relief, wearing a skirted leotard and often calling himself Paulina Huntesque,Pauletta Huntenova or some similar variation.

He was performing for a student and made her laugh.  He realized this ridiculous thing was valuable and, essentially this guy thrived in children’s theater and brought it to Broadway. 

Listen to the commentators:

Woman: “It’s a comedy routine but his gymnastics is really pretty good!”

Man: "It’s tremendous! Just think of how hard he has to work to look bad!”

Who knows if Paul Hunt has an NBD (nervous breakdown) every time he has to go out and do a gymnastics routine as himself... but he brought a low stakes feeling into a high stakes situation and most likely he's having a hell of a lot more fun as Paula. And when he uses his alter ego, he's still doing impressive, competitive gymnastics.  

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

If you've been to TBVS and don't know about the Twang Farm, we might have an issue.

The Twang Farm was invented by Sir Thomas F. Burke III and it consists of phonemic prompts in the form of farm animal noises.  Essentially, each farm animal has its own syllable (i.e. The cat says Meow, The sheep says Bah, Francesca says "Haripu".... you know, standard farm animal noises), and, just by virtue of their consonants and vowels, the sounds throw you in the right placement for whatever songs you’re looking to sing.  Of course, not every animal works for every song, but that’s why you have to do some “Twang Farm Analysis” to pick which animals are actually appropriate.  For instance, the mouse would be optimal for anything Kristin Chenoweth would sing and the Black Sheep would be for anything Carolee Carmello would sing.  And then there are songs that use multiple animals. 

You might agree with me if you’ve ever had the Twang Farm experience that it helps immensely.  And not exclusively because the sounds are phonemic prompts but because they help you get out of your head and help you achieve the result you’re looking without the pressure you usually put on yourself to sound awesome.  You just have to imitate a barnyard animal.  And if a biotch ever uttered, "That sucked," you can blame it on the animal.  "Oh, that wasn't really me... it was the sheep."  The sheep would be your scapegoat... Bad-um-ch! (Yes, I just did that.  You can stop reading now. I give you permission.)  

Eventually, we stop singing on "Meows" and "Bahs" and our bodies remember how to make those sounds using English.  We can drop the characters we take comfort in hiding behind (i.e. the Cat or the Sheep) and be ourselves again. We can go to the vocal Olympics without the spotter and we can do the backflip on our own.  

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POST 3/3
"Sasha Fierce is done. I killed her…I don't need Sasha Fierce anymore, because I've grown and now I'm able to merge the two." - Beyoncé Knowles

With all this talk of alter egos and reading my long-winded posts that Tom wishes were 70% shorter, it's time to go experiment and see if you have achieved mastery of the Sasha Fierce method.  

You’ve seen these casting notices before:

“Come with a song that shows your range.”

You would think bringing in a song of your choice and not having to meet specific criteria would be a dream come true, but this can be one of the most difficult tasks for some actors. Essentially the casting call is asking you to “Just Be Yourself,” but most of us take comfort in playing characters, having scripts and being directed.  That's what we're trained to do. With this assignment, we stress about picking something that will accurately represent everything we do, all the training we've had, and something that shows we understand what we're auditioning for.  We stress about showing our real voices, showing our taste in music... showing OURSELVES. 

I DARE YOU to go to one of these auditions.  ON PURPOSE.  FOR FUN.  Try putting yourself in a circumstance where you're showing "yourself" but you're really showing an alter ego.  Bring in a Twang Farm animal... wear an outfit you wouldn't normally wear.  Sing a song you love.
Then go AGAIN to a different audition with the same requirement and try WITHOUT the alter ego.  See if it's any more comfortable slating your name for a casting director and owning what you're about to put out there now that you've practiced what you're going to do under the protection of your Sasha Fierce.  It's going to feel so much better and you'll be able to concentrate on selling your product rather than concentrating on guarding your soul.

When Beyoncé was Sasha Fierce, she named her album "I am Sasha Fierce."  But have you noticed that Beyonce’s latest album has BEYONCÉ in huge, capital letters across the top of the cover?  She doesn’t need Sasha Fierce to protect her from the repercussions of imperfection.  Her soul can take any blow that comes along because she sent her product out there without it, saw positive results and can now trust that her product is good enough and merge the two again.   Now she is truly, truly fierce.