Singers: What To Put in an Audition Binder

The Young Person's Guide to the Opera Audition has an informative guide on what to put in your audition binder. Included are sections on head shots, resumes, rep sheets, audition instructions, directions, as well as the all-important sheet music:

Audition Music - The preparation of the audition music is a whole other post, but it’s good to remember to make sure it turns well in a three-hole punch binder. The easier it is for the pianist to turn the more a pianist can play and not have to worry about page turns. It’s also a good idea to put the piece you want to sing first as the first selection in the binder. You would think this is assumed, but sometimes, in the rush of getting everything ready, little things are forgotten. 

To which I would add the following:

• Arias for the current audition need to be at the front of the binder.
• Each aria needs to have its own flag for easy discovery by the pianist
• Mark in start points for each aria if it's not at the beginning.
• Mark in all cuts as obviously as possible. Use tape, blank paper, and highlighter and assume that pianists won't get it unless you're as obvious as possible.
• Mark in ritardando and accelerando points with arrows, squiggly lines, large letters, or whatever will get a pianist's attention. Rehearsal time is a luxury and you might not even get time to talk about the aria with the pianist.
• Use double-sided pages and make sure that all pages are securely in the binder.
• Don't put photocopy paper in laminated sleeve pages - they tend to reflect light in the most unfortunate way possible when the pianist is backlit. You want them to see the music, don't you?

There's an unwritten code among pianists that if a singer shows up to an audition with a completely organized binder (including marked start points, cuts, and tempo indications), it's automatically assumed that the singer will be in contention. In other words, if I see a well-organized binder, I damn well better play at my absolute best for this person.

Pianists: what are your suggestions on what to put in an audition binder? How do you like music presented? Leave a comment with your ideas.

[Update] Thanks for the great comments, everyone. It's also worth checking out the discussion on the CPB Facebook Page.