Joybell Adventures 2014

So many of you have asked about my talent show experience that I thought I’d start this blog.  It’s just too much to put in a Facebook post, or even to send in an email.  If any of you out there are thinking of doing something similar, I hope you’ll read and learn!  But even if you’re not going to audition for a reality show, I hope you’ll find this an interesting read.  It was quite a ride!

Chapter 1

The journey began by reading an email I got from Handbell Musicians of America, the handbell organization to which I belong.  The email said they (HMA) had received a notice from America’s Got Talent asking for handbell acts to audition for the show.  This was a big deal, because I’d never heard of handbells being on that show before, and I had always thought the show had no place for them.  But after I read that email, I started thinking of all the people who had told me I should go on that show. I’ve never been one much for reality television shows, and I had always hesitated.  But I felt it had been endorsed, in a way, by Handbell Musicians of America.  The same notice was in Overtones Magazine.  I took it as a sign that it was time for me to audition for the show.  So I started looking into it.

The show’s website was full of information on how and where to audition, and it had lots of information on what to bring, registration forms to fill out, and rules about who could be with you when you audition, and rules about accompanying minors, and things of that sort.  I read everything!  It also had a little window that you could click on for each of the audition cities.  There were dozens of them.  The closest one to Michigan was in Indianapolis, but the dates for Indy were during the time that I would be on tour in Florida. So I kept looking, and found that there would be auditions in Greensboro, North Carolina during the time I would be in the south.  We did have to move one scheduled show to a different weekend, but we managed to get the Greensboro audition dates free.  In November 2013, I registered online to audition on January 29^th,  2014.

It was hard to decide what to play for the audition.  The site said that the auditions were only 90 seconds long.  Of course, all my songs are three times that long.  I ruled out playing a hymn—the show just seemed too secular for that.  I never watched the show much, but I never remember hearing any hymns.  I went to my soft pop stuff and thought about one of those.  I finally decided on my arrangement of “The Rose”.  Verse 3 of my arrangement was 95 seconds long.  I started polishing it up!

Meanwhile, my busiest season for “Joybell” was fast approaching.  December was coming up, and I had about 15 shows booked, and then we would leave for our Florida tour on January 10^th, and I had to have that show ready to play by the time we arrived.  So I kept really busy for the next couple of months, but always the coming audition was in the back of my mind. 

December and New Year’s came and went and it was suddenly time to head south.  We had rented a small one bedroom trailer on Reedy Lake in mid-Florida, where we would be spending the next two months.  I had several shows when we first arrived, and we actually left for Greensboro on January 27^th, spent one night on the road, and got to the Marriot in Greensboro just ahead of a bad snow storm on Tuesday, the 28^th. We knew the auditions started at 8:00 in the morning on Wednesday, so we decided to spend the night before so we could try to be one of the first in line.  Kirt and I drove together, and mom came down from Michigan to see the audition.

When we arrived at the hotel, we decided to take all our handbell equipment into our room with us, so it would be ready to go in the morning.  I have a cart that we can fit everything on:  four handbell cases, two six foot tables, four pads, digital keyboard, x-stand, and cloth cover for the bell tables.  It’s about five feet tall when you get it loaded.  So I’m pulling suitcases, and Kirt is wheeling the equipment in, and we got up to the 13^th floor with everything, but could not get the cart through our door!  We had to unpack it in the hallway, bring it into the room piece by piece, stack it in the corner, and then repack it out in the hallway the next morning.  It’s just something that handbell players are used to!

No matter how much you read online, you really don’t know what to expect until you get there.  I had visions of thousands of people showing up for the auditions, having to wait in long lines in the snow and rain, and there was even something I read that some people may not get the chance to audition if they ran out of time.  What actually happened was somewhat different.  Kirt volunteered to get up early and get in line to hold our place, and he went down to the lobby around 6:00 in the morning.  But there were only about a dozen other people down there, and he really didn’t need to be there.  Mom and I got up later and I got ready and down to breakfast in the hotel by 7:30.  There was still no sign of the producers and AGT staff.  We figured the weather had delayed them.  But there was no long line forming, either.  The weather evidently kept a lot of people away, which was a boon for us.  I was not able to eat much breakfast—the anxiety of the approaching audition was really starting to get to me by then!  And the wait staff took for-EV-er!  But while I was eating, the staff busses arrived and they set up the security area for all the contestants to go through.  They made all the people waiting in the hotel lobby go outside and stand in line in the snow while they did this.  I was still eating breakfast, but I made Kirt go upstairs and get our sweaters and coats, but we didn’t actually need them.  By the time I finished eating and got out there with my cart, there was no one in line at security!  We got up to the tables and went right through, as fast as you can with all that equipment, anyway.  The security guards had to go through everything, of course.  It made sense that they were there, but I must admit I hadn’t thought about security when I got up that morning.  Neither did Kirt.  He hadn’t thought to leave his pocket knife upstairs, so it was confiscated.  We had already been through inspection, and decided to let them keep the pocket knife, rather than go through again.

After the metal detectors we were taken back to a holding area where I was given a number sticker to wear and a form to fill out.  I was number 53, which told me that 52 contestants were ahead of me.  The form was the same one I filled out online, but I had to do it again, anyway!  We arrived in the holding room about 9:00, and only had to wait an hour or so before they called us to go up and set up.  They called groups of 20 at a time, and we were in the third group.  90 second auditions probably go pretty fast, and I don’t know how many audition rooms they had, but they got us through pretty good.  We were done and out of there by 10:30. 

Since I had so much to set up, they put me in an empty conference room and mom and Kirt and I set everything up in record time.  It was like a handbell pit stop!  The keyboard and X-stand were on top on the cart, so they came down first.  I set that up while mom and Kirt took down the pads and set them aside, and then the tables and set them up.  By that time I was done with the keyboard and mom and I put the pads and cloth on the tables.  While we were doing that Kirt laid out the four bell cases and had them opened for me.  I set the bells out and told the attendant that we were ready.  It was only a few moments and the producer came in.  Her name was Meg.  We talked a couple of minutes; she was very interested in the bells, and my career as a performer.  Then I played verse 3 of “The Rose” for her.  She was thrilled!  She actually went out and got two other producers and came back in and asked me to play it again!  They taped it with their smart phones.  I was very encouraged!  How many people get to play their audition piece twice?  Not many, I figured!  Meg explained to me that the show’s demographics were mostly people aged 18-35, and asked if I had any top 40 pieces in my repertoire.  I had to admit that I did not, but I did tell her I could play anything she wanted.  She gave me the name of “Imagine Dragons”, and told me to look at some of their stuff, and would I be interested in writing something and sending in a 90 second demo video to her?  She actually gave me her business card with her phone number and email address on it!  I was sure she didn’t do that for everyone!  We left the audition room with our equipment about 15 minutes later feeling quite exhilarated and very relieved that it had gone so well.  Whew!  I then was led across the hall to another room where I filled out another form and got my picture taken.

So that was the audition for the producers.  Everyone does that first.  We knew what the next step in the process was: to audition for the celebrity judges, but we did not know if I had made it to that next step or not.  Meg told me we would find out in six weeks.  Six weeks!! And we were also told that if we hadn’t heard anything in six weeks, we were out of the running.

Thanks for reading!  Chapter 2 to follow soon!