Following on the heels of massively useful thread on prescreens started by @StringPop , I think we can start one talking about audition experiences and how they can best be prepared for and delivered.
To this end, wanted to share the following link for an article compiling some good advice from music school profs. Its mainly a group of double bass teachers but I think the advice is quite universal for most instruments and in some cases even for voice.
Parents of past conservatory applicants and musicians, would you please share your thoughts on what worked well and what you would do differently if you were doing it all over again? Thank you ever so much!!!
Thanks for posting this! It certainly is applicable for cello! I’ve forwarded the article to my son.
Anecdote: We’ve heard one of those bass professors, Catalin Rotaru, play in a concert. It was free and we took the whole family. Our girls play violin and cello and our son had probably been playing cello just a couple of years at that point. He played one of the Bach cello suites on bass. We were mesmerized.
Will give a little plug to Jason Heath here. His podcasts and blog posts are numerous, informational and well organized. Although his focus is double bass, much of the material translates to most instruments (probably including voice). He interviews professors and working musicians from classic to jazz to film. They are the best in their field and the guys slugging out a living. He has many podcasts on topic of auditioning at the college and professional level. Just search Jason Heath…Double Bass Blog…etc. Refreshingly few ad’s also…which is nice!
@Parentof2014grad you are so lucky! I have not had the chance to attend a live Catalin Rotaru concert but I know he is an amazing performer. Hope to see him live one day.
@Bassisnotafish, indeed Jason Heath is an amazing contributor to the bass world. His podcasts have provided so much insight to me and my young bassist along the way. He has many older blog entries which are also very informative to any young and upcoming musician. So glad music world has many generous people like Jason who give so much of their time for the benefit of all.
Catalin Rotaru played the Haydn Cello Concerto with an orchestra here in AZ and it was absolutely amazing!
Most of the advice in that article is on preparedness. I couldn’t agree more! We decided my daughter’s audition pieces a year in advance. During high school she would always choose her rep for the new “season” (fall-spring) in January of the fall year. So, while finishing up any performances/competitions in the spring she was in the beginning stages of learning new pieces that then would take center stage in her practice regimen in the summer, she would be ready to take them to teachers at summer institutes and begin performances/competitions in the fall. So she chose her repertoire for college auditions (taking place in February of 2018) in the beginning of 2017. One of her teachers is a former conservatory faculty so he advised her to take the Mendelssohn violin concerto (she had somehow not played it yet) saying that a well-played Mendelssohn would stand out among all the Sibelius (which she had done already) and Tchaikovsky that everyone else would be bringing. Her college teacher told her just the other day “I don’t remember everyone’s audition, but I remember your Mendelssohn”.
But in choosing the rep so early, she had over a year to prepare, perform and have lessons on the music. It was invaluable and just the best thing she could have done.
The more you perform the better you get at performing. Play everywhere you can and for anyone who will listen. This is the best way to tease out the problem spots - up to speed and with some nerves. Then, even though the audition is high stakes and makes you crazy nervous your body already knows how to respond.
Also, stay hydrated! Any time big performances are coming up, my daughter tries to be extra vigilant about hydration. Tendons are happier with more hydration and it really helped with all the extra practice hours that are inevitable.
These are the things that worked for our daughter! Wishing all our kiddos the best!
Ugh. My son is so stubborn about his appearance for recording videos. He didn’t dress up. He’s rerecording some pieces. I’ll share this article with him and hope that he dresses nicer for the rerecords.
Audition logistics : We live in California, and my S (class of 2022) is now at a great school on the west coast for violin performance with a very sought after professor).
Last year, around this time, we were prepping for auditions - he got called into all the schools he applied to (about 12) for live auditions. And a whole bunch of them were in cold places that we had to fly to. What we learned from the flying (some are specific to violins / strings) :
Make sure you’re able to stow the violin in an overhead bin on your plane - if this means paying more for early boarding, do it.
Figure out how to humidify your case. We tried somethings that didn’t work so well.
Know that the dry air + the flying, will cause your instrument to have issues - strings will slacken because the pegs will come loose. The bridge may (will) tilt because of this. So, be prepared to setup your instrument properly when you land. When you get to your hotel, run hot water in the bath tub and get your room humid - we got to about 50-60% for the night.
If you cannot fix your instrument yourself, make sure you know luthiers in the area to help you do so, and maybe even call them ahead to make sure they are available on the off chance that you do need him. We ran into this in Boston (NEC), and quite fortuitously were able to find a luthier in the last minute to fix the instrument. Typically takes them 30 min to an hour, no more, but its needless stress and hassle.
This is real basic - make sure that you do not drop your violin. This could happen (happened with us) esp when you’re running through to catch flights. It’s easy to think it wouldn’t happen to you, as I thought, but boy, was I wrong. Luckily we were flying back from an audition and the luthier at home was able to quickly re-set everything.
Make sure that colleges have you scheduled correctly. We did not hear until the very last minute from Bienen, because of a mix up with email addresses, and had to schedule a trip to Chicago within two days - expensive.
When you have a whole bunch of auditions, and have to travel across the country, it’s convenient to have them all clustered around a few days. Know that this gets real stressful and in our sons case, after about 3 in a row the same week, he called the remaining schools (3 more) and withdrew his applications. Worked out well in the end though because he was accepted into 7 of the other 9.
Thanks @gram22 for your amazing feedback! Very important and valid observations. It always pays off big time knowing who to call for instrument troubles!!!
Nice article @HereWeGoAgain2018. For percussionists it’s a whole different ball game. The only instrument S can bring is his snare drum - so for him practicing on lots of different timpani, marimbas and xylophones is also a key part of prep. He just has to remember ALL his mallets and music. One of his private teachers has done a great job of coaching him through all of the ins/outs of auditions so he’s about as prepared as he can be.
As for ‘presentation’ - I ended up sending him shopping with a friend of mine who is very put together fashion-wise and had S pick out two outfits that he felt really good about himself in (and the shirts have enough ‘give’ that he can move his arms). I admit to a bit of ‘sticker shock’ when he came home, but it’s all part of the process.
Our first set of auditions are early January in the midwest, so finding him some snow boots might be next on the list.
@Lendlees amazing! It must be stressful not knowing what instrument quality / state he will find from venue to venue. Glad you got the ‘presentation’ sorted out. All the best with the upcoming auditions early Jan.
He’s rerecording some pieces. I’ll share this article with him and hope that he dresses nicer for the rerecords.