Audition Prep Thoughts
From time to time, players come to me for help with an audition list, and I find myself saying a lot of the same things to everyone who comes by. I’m no guru here - just someone who has sat on audition panels and tries to pay attention to details. If you're a music student hoping for a career in the future, I believe that “time off” during Fall, Winter, and Spring Break is a great time to pause and consider how you are honing your craft. The following tips are brass specific, but perhaps you can find your own parallels? Always down for a deeper, more detailed chat about any of these things.
1. Know EVERY term attached to every measure of each piece you are preparing. Don't guess or use context clues! It's never been easier to look stuff up. Use technology to help make your life easier. Do it now, don't wait. It is always harder to unlearn and relearn, so do it early and do it thoroughly. Find a cozy spot in a coffee shop and invest the hour.
2. Even though the world continues to erode our attention spans, take time to listen to large passages from the compositions you are preparing. Context is everything! I don't think you need to listen to the 2nd movement if the excerpt you are preparing is from the fourth, but you ABSOLUTELY should make time for listening. Everything relates to everything in this line of work, and you will never regret additional insight.
3. Your sound is your thumbprint. My sound has saved the day for me more times than I can count. Do I have the best sound around? Wrong question - too subjective. Is my sound resonant? Does it fill the room without hurting everyone's ears? It is colorful? Make your sound remarkable. Think about what remarkable means - have a sound that makes someone stop and say, "what a sound!" If something you are doing in your playing negatively affects your tone, it MUST be addressed. If your sound thins out when you double tongue, then you need to figure out why. Strip away elements until you find the desired outcome, then add elements back one by one until you can do the technique without robbing the listener of your best sound.
4. Write in your part. A lot. A short pencil is better than a long memory. To borrow from Dave Ramsey, the controversial financial coach, your breaths and musicial decisions should be "on paper, on purpose" like a Ramsey budget. We use pencil so we can erase and change ideas, but you must start by making the best educated decision, and living with it for a while. Remember that listening from #2 above? The more you listen, the more you will realize if your musical choices make sense, or if they are mainstream for something as narrowing as an audition.
5. Give yourself a process word for every excerpt in your packet. Whether it is "seductive" for Bolero or "prankster" for Til Eulenspiegel, it will help you switch from piece to piece in more rapid succession. Combined with score study and listening, you can create context out of thin air. Try it. It's pretty cool when you can get it going. Added benefit? Much less room for nerves in your brain when it's occupied with these other things.
6. Record yourself and listen back. You don't need to record every minute of every session - no one has the time to listen to all of that. Record the first run, listen back to create your practice task list, and then record again at the end after you have woodshedded the excerpt. Now, you can compare the takes and see how productive your session has been. Phones will work for this, but if you are an app user for met and tuner, you may want to invest in a digital recorder and nice headphones. I love my Zoom H5 and DT 770 Pros by Beyerdynamic. Use what you have! Don't let what you DON'T have keep you from doing what you CAN do with what you DO have.
7. Know how your mutes affect your pitch! As a general rule, straight mutes = sharp, cup mutes = flat. I'm sure there are exceptions, but I don't care how the Tom Crown copper bottom works with a Holton. On most horns for most players, this is the case. If you've had a mute for a long time, corks wear down and compress, so if your favorite mute has lost it's bite, get some contact cement and some replacement corks.
8. Play for people who DON'T play your instrument. Make a second hard copy or be able to share a PDF packet to someone's tablet. Let them make markings and notes. Do you know who WON'T be on your bass trombone audition panel? A BASS TROMBONIST. The principal oboe doesn't care how hard it is to get your low B to speak, they just hear a note that sounds unstable. This is invaluable in your preparation, but there is also a sweet spot where outside advice from many can be detrimental. Accept their feedback fully and keep ego out of it. You can always abandon large swaths of their opinion after the fact, but arguing in the moment will make you seem petty and immature.
9. Normally, I wouldn't tell someone to change equipment to solve a problem, but if your mouthpiece is so large that your high register is always flat, or so small that everything you play is splashy, it might be time to dial in your mouthpiece choice. The caveat here is that I assume you are doing your daily work to improve these skills, but are up against a seemingly unmovable roadblock. There are some amazing ears in the business who usually enjoy the opportunity to help!!!
10. Take care of yourself. Hydrate well. Eat well. Sleep well. Don’t compromise on or overlook these things! I am convinced that without good hydration, nutrition, and rest, that most musicans cannot achieve their best. You will never get a medal for running on empty, which really means running on adrenaline. Save the adrenaline for when you need to lift a car off of someone in an accident, not your Ride or Rhenish.
I don’t make these posts to make anyone feel bad about what they are (or aren’t) doing. I make them so you can make room for new mistakes, new challenges, new struggles. We’re all out here trying our best - or at least what we THINK is our best. There is always room for something to be a little better if you let it. Be well, and give ‘em hell! - BF