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EXCEPTIONAL EXCERPTS

Too often, audition takers find themselves focusing on their solo pieces for auditions in a way that is out of proportion to the total task at hand. When auditioning for an orchestral position, remember that the committee is most interested in a poised, polished, team player. This is not to say that you should play your music as an android. However, during your audition preparation you should keep in the forefront of your mind that excerpts are the measuring stick that the committee uses to look for very specific musical skills and presentation characteristics.

One of the most helpful preparation tools is recording your excerpts! You should record yourself every three days or so. Remember, even a cheap little cassette recorder can help you immensely. There is really no need to go to a recording studio. After recording your excerpts, with your instrument in the case, be your own best audition committee. Be armed with a pad and paper and use the grid below as a guide. Listen to your recording of each selection 4 times. Each listening should be as if you are monitoring an Olympic event. You can even use a system of 9.9, 9.8 and treat this armchair assessment as a game, in a way. If you listen with a sense of humor, you will make a more accurate assessment of your level of preparation. Be cautious not to berate yourself to the point of being unfair to the overall picture of your preparation. No one but you needs to see your self assessment. By doing repeated recording sessions, you can track and direct your practice time and find that, too often, people play what they can already play well and most of the time, the “difficult spots” have some type of disclaimer built into their preparation. Needless to say, this is not good! So try to keep you sense of humor and be fair!

When playing your recordings of excerpts, you can do many things in order to try to “mentally create” an audition situation. Some people have been known to hang up a trash bag from the ceiling, using this as a pretend screen. Others go into the bathroom, not for just an echo-effect of pretend-concert hall, acoustical simulation, but to face the shower curtain as if it actually is an audition screen. You can even walk into the room as if you are walking out on stage. You can go through the routine of wearing the clothes you plan on wearing at the real audition.

Your imagination can be your best training tool!

After listening to your excerpts four times, with your most honest, fair and critical ears on, you will most certainly have learned much about what will come across to the real committee. It often is hard to translate music into a math score, and there is often much room for personal preference amongst the committee as a whole. You should step back from the practice time on your instrument and come up with a plan to improve the above numbers for the next self-assessment recording.

Remembering that you are human is incredibly important as you move forward with your practice sessions. Each practice session should have a defined set of goals and purpose. It is best to feel as though you are going back to the product-improvement department and not back to the drawing board. Remember to make note of what is working, as well as of what needs improvement. Be aware that you do not want to “practice in,” insecurity, but rather, that you are doing isolated training to improve your success.

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