Literature on Rejection

Rejection​the act or process of rejecting someone or something:

•  fear of rejection
• I applied for ten jobs and got ten rejections.

Rejection is a fundamental part of a performers life, so I was keen to undertake some further research in to what may have already been written in regards to the auditioning process and resulting rejection.


The first article I found, via Summon 'Jazz artist thanks Simon Cowell for Idol rejection that spurred her on' (Edmonds, Lizzie. Evening Standard 14 June 2016) focuses on a singer who had been rejected by Simon Cowell at an audition for American Idol. However, the article claims this as her spurring moment, as the rejection for the popular TV show led her to audition instead for the Montreal Jazz Festival, which she won.
Through my inquiry, I want to find out how performers deal with the process of a Musical Theatre Audition. even though this is a relatively short article and the genre of music is pop and Jazz in this instance, the fundamental ideas of rejection on audition are the same and therefore this article highlights a very important point that I hope to explore further in my inquiry. Do all performers use rejection as a force to fight harder with? Do they take it to heart and let it effect their confidence at the next audition they go to?

I then read 'Rejection is just a hill an artist has to climb: Critics can be harsh but we should never let them dull our passion to create and perform' (Naughton, Eddie. Sunday Independent 13 Jan 2013).
This article focuses on rejection (of a writer) and dealing with the success of others, which has prompted me to consider that as auditionee's, we do not just deal with our personal rejection, but we also have to learn to cope (and be happy for) our peers success. As performers, a NO to us is a YES to someone else, and quite often that can be someone we are friends with, trained with or go to class with.

'WHENEVER a friend succeeds, something inside me dies." Thus wrote Gore Vidal, capturing perfectly the feeling of envy you experience when news that someone you know has had some success with a play, film or book they've written. This is usually followed by an email or letter informing you of yet another rejection of your script. Oh the agony!' (Eddie Naughton 2013)

When drafting an Inquiry question and turning my focus in particular towards how performers prepare for the process, deal with the process of an audition itself and then deal with success or failure, I had not actually considered that we do not just deal with our own success or failure but the success of others also effects us as well. This is a topic that my SIG had also failed to contemplate, and I wonder whether the connected emotions of someone else's success, jealousy being the main one, means that people are less willing to talk openly about the subject. 

I have nothing but admiration for the actors who lose out on academy award night. They sit there smiling, giving the performance of their lives when beneath the studied grin they are arm wrestling with the twin demons of jealousy and rejection. (Eddie Naughton 2013)

this article has been exceedingly thought provoking for me and its I intend to use its influence when shaping my questions for participants of my enquiry.


References

Mdxacuk, L.E. 2016. Jazz artist thanks Simon Cowell for Idol rejection that spurred her on. june 2016. Mdxacuk. [Online]. [11 December 2016]. Available from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/docview/1796336181?pq-origsite=summon



Eddie naughton, E.D. 2013. Rejection is just a hill an artist has to climb: Critics can be harsh but we should never let them dull our passion to create and perform. 13TH JAN . Sunday Independant . [Online]. [11 December 2016]. Available from: http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.mdx.ac.uk/docview/1268866615/abstract/E8B292332F7945BDPQ/1?accountid=12441