Yahoo.com published the first hand accounts af a talented singer who went to one of this season’s American Idol tryouts. Here’s an excerpt from that article:

An “Idol” staffer ushered me over to a booth along with three others in line. I had noticed earlier that a woman dressed as a homecoming queen (a nod to the chorus of “Daydream Believer”) got the coveted golden ticket allowing her to move to the next round. Could she sing? Who knows. Few others followed in her footsteps.

At the judging table in front of us sat two 20-something producers. One was a young woman with sunglasses so large, she could have been napping behind them. The other was a young man with his head propped up in his hands. He said nothing and looked bored.

Suddenly Simon seemed not so rude after all.

Each of us would be given roughly 15 seconds of our chosen song to perform. No questions, no names.

Two of the singers next to me were great, even passionate. Another one, not so much.

Then I stepped forward and sang, belting out the tune with all I had. It’s Aretha, after all.

I was louder than the rest, working my vibrato, stretching my arms out. The bored guy perked up a little, but still said nothing. This was the moment I had waited six hours for.

After less than 20 seconds, it was over.

Interesting. I’ve heard about how the auditions work, but I never knew it was like that. Read the full article here.