Music Audition Advice

<p>I'm auditioning for a band next week and i need some audition advice! this is my 3rd year going and the past two years i've made it into the next round, but i really want to get in this year! the problem is that i get really nervous, especially because i get intimidated by the other auditioners, even though i know that i am better than many of them. the other problem is that the audition piece, out of all the other flute pieces out there, happens to contain a movement which basically exploits my weaknesses. the last 2 years it has been the fast parts that i always mess up, and i am pretty sure i'll mess up on them again. i only have a few days left, so i was wondering what i should try and work on and really polish in the piece, and what i should do to relax during the audition. for those who are flutists, the piece is sonata V (e minor) by bach, first 2 mvts.</p>

<p>I'm just a mom here...but both of my kiddos have auditioned a LOT. They have always been advised to do two things for auditions...1. Be as well prepared as possible, meaning that the piece really should be memorized even though you can use the music. 2. If you are going to "sacrifice" one thing in the audition it cannot be the notes, it cannot be the technique, it cannot be the interpretation of the piece...but it CAN be the tempo. Slowing down will cost you some points in the audition, but if the tempo reduction will improve your technique, notes and interpretation, you may get better points on those. Simply put....if the tempo is too fast for you, you will likely lose points on all the areas...So my advice...slow down a little. AND try to memorize that piece.</p>

<p>It is rough, trying to show your best! A couple of suggestions: practice the piece starting with the hard parts (if they are toward the end, perhaps you are tiring when you get there, even in rehearsal, so you only know how to do it tired); get people to listen to you ahead of time who REALLY make you nervous, other flautists, respected musicians you know, the toughest teacher you have (tell him/her how much you respect him/her and how you are working on trying to measure up to the most challenging situations; it does not matter if it is a chemistry or English teacher, respect is respect!) Another approach is to find something else you would really like to do when this band will be rehearsing, performing, and build it up in your mind so much that you will be a little bit disappointed if you do get accepted.....it will take the pressure off. </p>

<p>Good luck.</p>

<p>you know the old saying, right....practce, practice, practice?</p>

<p>That's it! Know that passage absolutley...break it down: very, very slow and gradually increase to tempo. Take breaks, go back to it. But, Just NAIL it! Be so sure that you have done all that you can do to perfect your technique that your confidence is there. Then, you can relax and know that you have done all that you can do. My father the wise psychologist used to counsel me before big auditions to consider "what's the worst that could happen...."; he'd tell me to imagine that and then get beyond it and deal with it. And I guess you've already been there/done that in past auditions when you did not make it. So relax and give it the best you have.</p>

<p>Best to you!</p>

<p>I echo all the above suggestions, and here's a couple more:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Eat a banana. Really. There's supposed to be some natural calming chemical in them. May be placebo, but who knows? Sure doesn't hurt!</p></li>
<li><p>Play for yourself. My S performs beautifully, but sometimes when he auditions, he finds himself distracted by focusing on what he thinks "they" want to hear, and doesn't play his best. He realized that, as a performer, he isn't working for anybody but himself -- can play a passage the way he wants to, etc. He has made a conscious decision to try to "perform" instead of "audition." He decided, "You can't please anybody else if you don't please yourself first."</p></li>
<li><p>Remember, you don't have to be perfect, so don't despair over mistakes. Miss a note? Your beautiful tone might carry you through. Miss a bunch? You still might be better than enough of the others to nab a spot. Most auditioners hear enough people to recognize an "off day" vs. a bad player.</p></li>
<li><p>Breathe deeply before you start. Let your air out slow through pursed lips -- it will relax some of your tight muscles.</p></li>
<li><p>Carry a metronome with you and listen to it just before you go into the room. Musicians often have a "body beat" that you match with your tempo, and when your heart races, your tempo speeds up, too. By listening to the right beat before you play, it will help you fix it in your mind. When you are playing, consciously play just a bit slower than you "think" it should go -- chances are your tendency will be to rush it.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have to do any sight-reading, you usually are given a minute or so to look over the piece. Use the whole minute. They'll tell you if you take too long. Look for key signature, meter and tempo changes, tricky timings, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Get a drink of water a bit before you audition. Nerves can make your mouth dry.</p></li>
<li><p>End well. A good ending can overcome a variety of mistakes made early on.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Break a lip!</p>

<p>"1. Eat a banana. Really. There's supposed to be some natural calming chemical in them. "</p>

<p>My son's music teacher told him that, too. Don't know if it helped him any, but at least he didn't go in with an empty stomach! :-) And yes, definitely the water. One way I realize my son, the trumpet player, is gone to college is that the dishwasher is no longer jam-packed with cups. He used to always be drinking water...</p>

<p>One of my son's better teachers once gave him this technique to practice difficult passages: Start with the last measure, adding one by one backwards through that tough passage, not adding another until the last are perfected. (last measure, then do the last two measures, then the last three, etc.) It just gives a fresh approach sometimes.</p>

<p>p.s. It won't be as bad as my son's 8th grade audition for the community brass group: He was hungry while he waited for his turn, and grabbed a bag of potato chips!!!! Mouth was so dry from the salt... you can imagine. We'll forgive him, because of his youth. But, he never made that mistake again!</p>

<p>Practice doesn't make perfect.
Practicing perfect makes perfect.
Never let a mistake go unfixed.
Envision your self successfully completing the task, before you start.
Breath in, Breath out.</p>

<p>Read a tip online yesterday that I thought was worth repeating. The situation was that the person had gone to a professional audition, and thought he'd played well, and was disappointed to not get a callback. He had taken his minidisc along, and when he listened to the recording, heard problems he hadn't been aware of - mainly rhythm in his case. Since then, he makes it a point to record himself regularly. He gives himself only one shot -- no restarts, no reworking a messy passage, etc. Playing for the recorder like this forces him to recover from mistakes, intonation problems, etc. And listening to the recording helps him spot problems he wasn't aware of while playing. </p>

<p>When you're performing, you should be concentrating on what you are currently doing and what is coming, not what you just did. If you are looking ahead, then it is easy to not be completely aware of mistakes you just did.</p>

<p>I wish I could convince my violinist D to record herself like this. When she practices, she concentrates very hard on getting everything perfect, and we hear her hammering the same short passage over and over while she perfects it. But she doesn't spend a whole lot of time pushing all the way through to the end no matter what, and I think it affects her final performance, because she doesn't learn to recover from mistakes and keep going.</p>

<p>D is interested in recording some of her practices (as binx described in post# 10) to look for ways to improve. She is looking for something simple. This would be just for her own personal use. What do people use for recording? Thanks.</p>

<p>Mini disc with good microphone gives most accurate quality of sound.</p>

<p>DS also has a mini disk player. I have to say...I think he has some way also to record on his Apple Power Book....not sure about that. But the mini disk and mike really have worked well for him...he records very very frequently, and has found that this really helps him. Sometimes he "thinks" he did a fine job playing...but when he listens he finds things that are not so "fine". The opposite also happens...good playing when he is not sure that has happened. His teachers recommended recording in high school....he has been doing this for 5 years.</p>

<p>Minidisc is fine for most things and much better than cassette, but it does use a lossy compression scheme (ATRAC) that makes the sound not quite as good as what you can get from a DAT or CD recorder that does not use compression. Unless you also get a pretty good microphone and preamp, the difference between Minidisc and either CD or DAT will probably be negligible.</p>

<p>A new generation of stereo digital audio recorders is now available from companies like Marantz, Edirol and M-Audio that have a mode in which audio is stored without compression. Some of them claim better specifications than CD or DAT, but they are still on the expensive side.</p>

<p>The analog-to-digital converters that come standard with most computers do not have a low enough electrical noise floor for critical recordings. They may be OK for making a practice recording, but I would not recommend using them for things like an audition CD. There are some add-on products available that can turn a PC into a decent recording device.</p>

<p>OK...found out that DS has an Apple microphone (?I mike) that plugs right into his Power Book. The recordings he gets with that are terrific for practice purposes. For his audition CD, he schedule recording time with the Royal College of Music recording studio...well worth the time and money. They did a terrific job!!</p>

<p>My son used an Edirol for his audition recording, which he did at home, and it seemed to work out well.</p>

<p>One serious problem with the Sony minidisk recorders are the software restrictions. In order to cut a CD it is necessary to play the recorder through the PC sound card using software such as cool edit. I understand this is a US restriction but I have not been able to find software to convert ATRAC to wav format. Otherwise, I think the minidisk does a great job provided you use a high quality microphone.</p>

<p>edad,</p>

<p>depending on the model of minidisc recorder you have, SonicStage from Sony may do the conversion you want. Per the Wikipedia article on SonicStage:</p>

<p>"SonicStage 3.4 allows tracks recorded via digital/analogue inputs on Hi-MD devices to be transferred back in WAV format. Also, files in Sony's proprietary ATRAC format can now be converted to WAV."</p>

<p><a href="http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/sonicstage/sstage_dl.asp?r=http://www.sonydigital-link.com/dna/downloads/SonicStage/SStage20_download.asp?l=en&l=en%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://support.sony-europe.com/DNA/sonicstage/sstage_dl.asp?r=http://www.sonydigital-link.com/dna/downloads/SonicStage/SStage20_download.asp?l=en&l=en&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>thanks much.</p>

<p>Thanks for the advice. Since this is for practice only, the mini disk will work great for now. Our local chain stores do not carry them and were not helpful, so resorted to internet. Thanks to CC for starting the music major thread. My daughter has one more audition to go and an All State weekend coming up. Hope to return to a somewhat normal life by March.</p>