<p>Mezzo’s Mama – my words of caution came from my daughter’s experience auditioning at Northwestern. She had a stomach flu en route to the audition the day before. I tried talking to whoever would listen to me at Northwestern about arranging for another audition date and they wouldn’t hear of it because the date she was supposed to audition was the last audition date. No cajoling, begging, badgering, negotiating, etc. moved anyone. My daughter went ahead and auditioned the next day with a slight temperature. Of course she didn’t do her best and was not accepted at Northwestern – the only place from which she was rejected – also the toughest. I guess the good thing is that my daughter can attribute that rejection to having been sick the day she auditioned. She also had laryngitis a few days before her University of Miami audition (a “vocal rescue” from an otolaryngologist saved that situation) and a very bad cold and cough while auditioning at the University of North Texas. Somehow, she got through those situations with flying colors.</p>
<p>Prior to and during the audition cycle, I did everything is my power to try to encourage healthy living (i.e. plenty of sleep, hand washing, vitimins, etc.) and ironically she got sick from colds and flu’s that I, her loving mother, actually brought into the house.</p>