We have all been through the agonizing, embarrassing and in some rare instances, exhilarating experience of auditions. The days and weeks of preparation for those few moments auditioning seem insufficient once you have played your heart out in front of a judge, band director or conductor. Thoughts run through your mind such as, I wonder if they caught that missed note in the second measure or, I hope they noticed the subtle dynamic change I made at the end of the second number. The hours upon hours of practice in preparation for an audition are much like going through a wedding ceremony. The weeks of preparation as well as thousands of dollars of expense flash by in a matter of seconds as both experiences seem like just a fleeting moment.
Playing for an audition is not difficult when you first separate the easy from the difficult. Too often students,when preparing for chair auditions spend way too much time on the easy and far too little time on the difficult. In addition to this common error, students fail to understand the whole process of an audition and for that reason I have put this post together in hopes that they will be able to perform at a higher level than they have in the past. I have broken these ideas into just a few rules you need to understand before you even start to work on your audition material.
Rule #1. Understand why auditions are held.
Auditions are held to separate the strong players from the weak players. Realizing this can give you an edge on your competition. Do you want to be described as a weak player or a strong player? If you would like to be considered a strong player, then you will have to demonstrate your ability at your audition. This might sound obvious but seldom do students gear up for the competition and auditions pit the weak against the stronger. The strong win out and the weak go home.
In order for you to advance in chairs, you will need to prove that you are worthy of the honor. Auditions are musical battles which you either win or lose depending on your preparation beforehand. If you put in the time, understand what it takes to become victorious and outperform your competition, you will advance. If you prepare in the same way you have in the past, you might as well go home.
Rule #2. Be totally honest with yourself.
Too many times when in a competition, we make excuses for our short comings and never reach our full potential. Preparing for an audition is not something you should do with a carefree attitude. You must want to win in order to win. Forget what you have done in the past and completely change your thinking to begin your practicing. You need to approach your preparation as one would who is going into battle. No soldier would advance on an opponent without considering several important facts.
1. Can you be good enough to beat out your competition for a higher chair? Notice that I said “can you be good enough”. At this point you may not be at that level of success, but with intelligent and regular practicing, could you be good enough at the time of the audition? If your evaluation of your own playing ability tells you that you can never achieve your goal, please stop reading for you don’t have the correct mind set to do what you are trying to achieve. If, on the other hand your confidence is strong and you have the will to work regularly to attain your goal, please continue to read this post.
2. Are you willing to begin practicing today and every day until audition time? If you are, chances are very strong that you will easily reach your goal.
3. Will you be willing to accept failure if you do not reach your goal? Too many times we blame someone else for our failure. Many times I have heard comments such as, “I played much better than he/she did but the director is showing favoritism to that student”. Another common copout is this, “I could have played much better but I didn’t feel good”. Comments like these tend to make me sick! If you overpower your opponent with a spectacular performance, few band directors will take the chance that you would get frustrated and quit band. If you are as good as you could be, no one can overlook true talent. The problem is that you have to do the work in order to convince everyone that you deserve the recognition.
4. If you think you can prepare the same way you have in the past, don’t waste your time reading this post for you have to begin to understand what it takes to succeed and your past history is not the way to go.
Rule #3. Stop practicing your audition material and start learning it!
• To most students, practicing means running through it once a day. Wrong!
• Most students watch the clock to make sure they have put in enough time. Wrong!
• Most students begin with the first exercise and work to the end. Wrong!
• Most students practice exactly what is on the page. Wrong!
• Most students are afraid to play their material in front of family and/or friends. True!
• Most students wait until the last week to polish the finer points of their material. Wrong!
• Most students practice all of the material every day. Wrong!
• Most students never think about the eventual audition until they are walking into the room to perform. Wrong!
• Most students are content if they are able to play their audition material without a mistake. Wrong!
I could go on but as I list more reasons for failure when auditioning, my blood pressure keeps going up. I am very passionate about this subject for I have witnessed all of these mindless, nonproductive habits year after year and it is very frustrating when success is well within reach of every student if they rethink their preparation for an audition.
“It’s not hard folks; you just have to rethink your practice routine”!
I have run out of space as well as energy to complete this post at this time and for that reason I will continue in our next post with alternative suggestions to all the issues listed in Rule #3. I will discuss each of these points and give you my suggestions on how to improve your audition performance.
