Thursday, September 20, 2007
question for anyone who cares to answer
So I have an audition coming up with a ginormous list, including several excerpts that are exceedingly long as well as some pieces where the whole part might be fair game. I need to come up with a better plan to practice these excerpts, and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions for practice strategies. How do you prepare for auditions with these intimidating lists?
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4 comments:
Holy cow, I know what you mean! I just got the John Ferrillo book which has every excerpt they ask for in auditions - as well as his insights about tempo etc. Very good. Also I have aquired all 7 volumes of the Orchestral Musicians CD Library - found them for $15 each at compumusic.com - great deal (usually $20).
I know that wasn't really what you were asking; as far as a plan, I would choose Tombeau and Scala first, because they are on every audition. How long do you have? Practice them slowly and memorize the "main" excerpts, use a metronome up ONE click at a until you are at tempo. Do only those 2 for a week or so (work on them like etudes), then add two more, but play through T and S every day as well. It it a huge undertaking to be really prepared!
I make a playlist with all the pertenant mvts on it from my favorite recordings - it really helps to be totally familiar with what else is going on in the orchestra during your solo. Anyway, best of luck with your auditions - is this for grad school?
When I'm working on a lot of rep I'll use a kitchen timer. If I know I only have 10 minutes to work on a particular section or excerpt, I work a lot more efficiently. If I obey the timer I don't get stuck on one excerpt at the expense of all the others...
play along with recordings so you know what the orchestra is doing and you can hear and learn the phrasing. They'll believe that you've played them before if you know the score/what's going on during that particular section of the excerpt. Mark down the ticks where the excerpts are for each recording and just start practicing them from there repeatedly. Doesn't hurt to play along various recordings of the same excerpt.
thanks for all your suggestions! i'm sure they'll help.
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