<p>I am applying to conservatories as an undergraduate and I have a coupe of questions about pre-screening tapes.</p>
<p>I am actually working on two pieces that fulfill the repertoire requirements : one I guess I could say I master but which is not very difficult and one I do not totally master now but which is pretty difficult. Which one would it be better to record ?</p>
<p>Is it bad if record my pieces by myself ? I'll have a professional sound engineer to listen to it and give me some advices, but I will do it with my own devices.</p>
<p>The common wisdom is to do the highest level piece that you can perform without struggling. Hopefully one that showcases your talent, technique and musicality. It’s a "safer"bet than struggling through a selection you haven’t yet nailed.</p>
<p>Specific advice on the “best” way to record are here and the additional links within. </p>
<p>It should be okay to record the music yourself for a prescreen; i.e. you do not need to go into a studio. The audio must be of sufficient quality for those listening to determine the calibre of your playing. Good home recording equipment is sufficient. See the threads on recording here to get ideas for the type of equipment many people are using: it varies widely. </p>
<p>If a person were using a recording as their audition, then they need to be careful to have a recording of the highest technical quality. The prescreen is just to determine whether you deserve a live audition. Obviously a person would want to do their best playing possible for both a prescreening recording and a recording that substitutes for an audition.</p>
<p>For choosing between two pieces, consult your teacher. They know the bass repertoire, they know how well you play both pieces, and they hopefully know what your schools are looking for.</p>
<p>It is difficult for someone who has not heard you play and does not know which two pieces you are choosing from, to give an opinion on which of the two pieces to submit given that there is a wide range of difficulty and wide range of mastery. What some musicians consider to be “not mastered yet” is for another musician “thoroughly mastered.” What is a “difficult piece” for one musician is an “easy piece” for another. Generally, the conventional wisdom is that most students are much better off playing something which they have mastered even if it is somewhat easier than a piece which they have not mastered. You can always play the more difficult piece at the actual audition. </p>
<p>Having said that, if the easier piece is vastly easier than the usual audition repertoire for a particular school, then you might not make the cut merely because you are playing elementary repertoire even if you play it quite well.</p>
<p>Most students applying to conservatories that require pre-screening recordings have several selections mastered from which they choose pieces to record. I know that bass is somewhat different because bassists usually start their journey with their instrument much later than pianists or violinists, so they often have only about a third or a quarter of the advanced repertoire to draw from that a violinist or pianist would normally have. </p>
<p>You may want to try PMing one of the bassists or bass parents on the board with specific rep questions if your teacher is unable to help you.</p>
<p>I have been quite busy this past week and have not had time for CC. I just sent you a PM in regard to our prior conversations.</p>
<p>In general, I would give the same advice as violadad and violindad above. A lot depends on what you consider not very difficult vs. pretty difficult and your definition of mastered and not totally mastered. A lot also depends on the particular schools that you are applying to. </p>
<p>If we are talking about the Koussevitzky concerto played well vs. sawing your way through the Bottesini, then stick with the Kouss. It has gotten more than a few students into places like Curtis and Juillliard and will be more than enough to demonstrate your potential. (I don’t think the OP is considering Curtis unless they have very recently started to pre-screen bassists. Anyone thinking about playing the Bottesini there should go listen to Edgar Meyer’s recording of the piece and realize that he will be one of the two audition judges, and just maybe the easier of the two to please with that piece.)</p>
<p>If we are talking about a decent but uninspired playing of a typical Baroque sonata vs. a hack job on something like the Capuzzi concerto, then you will be at a competitive disadvantage at many schools. I suspect that we may be somewhere between those two extremes, so respond to the PM and we’ll talk later.</p>