 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Robert Moody
Date: 2004-12-09 23:55
Wow. I am totally flabbergasted at what just happened to me at Fort Meade. I was so ready to play the audition for the Field Band! Even in the practice room warming up, I was nailing every note and nuance of the Martino "Set for Clarinet" first movement. Mozart was smooth, even and controlled. Weber was articulate, sharp and ready to perform on stage. Everything was ready to send me to the second round. And for that...I had the repertoire nearly memorized. The reed felt good as well.
I get to the "Ready Room" and am waiting my turn and notice my embouchure starting to leak a little air and sense that it is getting tired. So I stop and spend the last 5 minutes just waiting in silence....going over the first round stuff mentioned above.
I get to the audition room (in front of the screen), sit down and begin the Martino. What the HE!!? Everything just went to highschool level playing. And my sight-reading was more than just pathetic. It is like my brain turned off and refused to help out! Mozart was uneven and uncontrolled. Weber was raw and unrefined. The reed was resistant. I missed notes in the Martino.
Needless to say that I was not invited to the second round, and for very clear reasons. Wow. Four hours of Richmond to D.C. to Baltimore traffic up and then after the demise,...BACK! Sigh.
Please tell me some of you have had something like this happen and you've figured out ways to help prevent it since.
Robert
P.S. The crew at the Field Band were absolutely great. Very cordial and supportive and there for you. They appeared appreciative of the work you did to prepare for the audition. Great cast up there.
Robert Moody
http://www.musix4me.com
Free Clarinet Lessons and Digital Library!
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Author: msloss
Date: 2004-12-10 12:14
Everyone is a practice room virtuoso. People are going to recommend everything from Buddhist meditation to beta blockers. Frankly, the only thing that is going to get you past this type of problem is taking more auditions and giving more performances. Just like your comrades-at-arms who field train endlessly, you don't find out what you are made of until you go out there and do it -- live fire. There is no substitute for the experience of playing for real people who are really critically judging you and determining your future.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2004-12-10 13:05
msloss wrote:
> There is no substitute for
> the experience of playing for real people who are really
> critically judging you and determining your future.
That is so true and includes most career events: interviewing, public speaking, presentations, etc.
The more you do, the better you get.
The better you get, the more you do.
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Author: joeclarinet
Date: 2004-12-10 13:43
There are theraists who specialize in performance anxiety. One way to "simulate" the fear/anxiety of an audition is to run in place a bit right before you practice your piece. Get slightly out of breath and you will feel the same as you feel right before you play and through basically the first minute or 2 of an audition.
Get used to the feeling. Have you tried to videotape yourself while practicing? Not the whole practice session but tape a "performance" of the pieces. That adds pressure too. Also when you get nervous you litterally "can't see" as well. That's because the pupils constrict - so you really can't see as well.
http://www.uic.edu/com/eye/LearningAboutVision/EyeFacts/FYIAboutEyes.shtml
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Author: Robert Moody
Date: 2004-12-10 14:30
All great responses. Thank you! Keep'em coming!
Robert Moody
http://www.musix4me.com
Free Clarinet Lessons and Digital Library!
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2004-12-10 20:17
It's called terror.
It happens to seasoned Veterans (I study with one) and Hacks alike.
(I would be the latter.)
John Manassee said he doesn't really see the audience until after the performance... his focus is on the other ensemble players.
I find that regular exercise leads to good sleep, and that restoration is essential for jitter (or panic)-free playing.
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2004-12-10 21:07
I've been a victim of terror myself --- in the last year or so, in EVERY concert I've played I've made stupid clams for no apparent reason --- mistakes I never made in rehearsals or practicing at home. It has got me totally vexed --- I've even considered quitting playing altogether. And I've been playing for 30+ years. So I'm following this thread carefully!
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Author: Jimmy Zhong
Date: 2004-12-11 00:50
Age old advice - Imagine everyone in their underwear :P
It never works for me...
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Author: Robert Moody
Date: 2004-12-11 02:41
I appreciate and agree with the responses for what they are meant to address. Great stuff. I have something else to offer that sometimes gets overlooked in a world designed to downplay this real issue: ADD.
I'm not necessarily speaking of ADHD which is Attention
Deficit Disorder that is associated with hyper-active kids. Not exactly the same thing.
While in my Masters study at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, Jane Carl (fine teacher and person) suggested (I'm sure out of frustration) that I go see the counselors about possibly have signs of ADD. What she noticed is that even after what appeared to be adequate preparation, I would have simple mind slips on the most routine of passages. They would often be arbitrary and not related one to the next.
I went through a counselor to a psychologist to being just about to test with a psychiatrist for medication when I moved and stop pursuing the issue. They were pretty sure that I was an adult with undiagnosed ADD (from what I understand, only a psychiatrist can "diagnose" ADD).
In any case, how does this really relate to my original post? Well, everyone is suggesting cures and helps for nerves and while nerves certainly can manifest themselves exactly as described so well above, how might these same external influences affect someone with ADD?!
I am 35 years old. I have played many, many solo recitals, chamber music performances, concerts and some 7 appearances with bands and orchestras as soloist. I sincerely do not feel the rushing heartbeat and typical nerves that most are describing here. I rather enjoy the "show" of it all and feel like a "ham" or sometimes like an actor playing a part...not even thinking about the strangers (or not) sitting in the audience. I rather enjoy the opportunity. Though, auditioning IS slightly different. Nevertheless, I really did not have the physical nervousness that most have referred to here.
Anyone else have ADD (diagnosed or not) that have noticed that stressful situations often bring about a larger incidence of absentmindedness realted to these kind of "performance issues"?
What is your take?
Robert Moody
http://www.musix4me.com
Free Clarinet Lessons and Digital Library!
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Author: Mrs. Redfern
Date: 2004-12-11 04:51
they do say 'your toughest judge is yourself' maybe you were just so nervous about how they would judge you and everything that could possibly go wrong and your brain farted out on you. :-P
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2004-12-11 04:59
My former teacher and his wife are both with the navy band (speaking of military bands) and they talk about some of the auditions. His wife is assistant principal and sits in on many of the clarinet auditions and she said that this happens with a lot of people. She said that one audition she had some people playing rediculously easy music compared with others. The guy that eventually got the job played the heck out of the Francaix concerto. She said that it was probably the most amazing audition she ever heard. I agree with you that it may not necessarily be nerves. I am a big fan of Occam's Razor so I really think that you probably just had a bad day. There's nothing that you can do if you have an ADD spell during an audition. Hopefully it won't happen the next time (obviously you've had successful auditions!).
Good luck to your next auditioning experience!
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Author: clarnibass
Date: 2004-12-11 05:45
Jimmy Zhong wrote: "Age old advice - Imagine everyone in their underwear"
That might actually work for me, but if you play classical music I'm not so sure considering who is usually in the audience in classical concerts. Not only the advice is age old.  J/K
Seriously, I've tried so many things. Some pills (herbal, nothing that needs perscription), some liquids (also herbal), I received as a gift this thing with glasses that shows you colours and is suppose to help (haven't tried it yet, not even sure I'm going to).
I can say some of it feels like it's working sometimes, but sometimes it feels the same as without taking them. I suggest trying some of those harmless herbal pills and see if those help you.
I'm one of the worst cases of stage fright I know and I second the opinion that performing more will help. In my concert with our group I didn't want to take any solos. Now (after about 10 concerts, of at least 2 hours each) I can't wait for my solo! I still start shaking about a minute before my solo and play worse than at home, but there is a progress.
At auditions I still start shaking bad right from the first note and after 5 minutes my mouth gets tired and I can barely make a sound.
If I find that magial thing that helps I will post.
Good luck.
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Author: LeWhite
Date: 2004-12-11 09:24
This age-old problem of "I screwed up things I've never screwed up before" goes back to some of the first few times you ever looked over the piece in the practice room. Chances are, you 'managed' after the first few times, and then never looked over a particular passage again. This will lead to you stuffing it up in a performance because you never *really* prepared it.
__________________
Don't hate me because I play Leblanc! ![[down]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smiley23.gif) Buffet
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Author: johng ★2017
Date: 2004-12-11 16:11
This discussion has resonance for me. I play in an orchestra that has auditions. Ever since the first time I auditioned, the conductor has said I would be on for a one year contract and then have to audition again the next year. I have auditioned for this group 4 times now and always with the same result. Last summer I worked VERY hard and had the excerpts and the prepared piece in excellent shape, but still got the audition-vibrato-otherwise-unknown-in-nature. I even practiced beforehand about how to overcome that, but I still wound up sounding like a 1st year student (I have played for 45 years).
I'm not sure if I want to put myself through the turmoil again since I play in other groups I am satisfied with, but if I do I thought about this: Maybe I put way too much importance on HOW I play. Since they use the same old exerpts every year and I know them, what if I didn't wear myself out practising and just went in not really caring about the result. The point is, maybe the way auditions are set up create too much self reference in us and we concentrate on taking our personal psychological temperature rather than just playing some good music.
What do you folks think. Has anyone tried this approach?
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2004-12-11 17:17
I used to have problems with nerves. I read a few books by Don Greene and don't have problems any more. I learnt the tools to prepare for auditions, and a technique for calming my nerves and staying centred. It really works. Check out his website: http://www.dongreene.com/
I am in no way connected to Don Greene. I just found the answers I needed in his books and recommend them to any performing artist.
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Author: clarinetist04
Date: 2004-12-11 19:22
Yeah, I have had that same mentality on several auditions, johng. One experience sticks out in my mind, that is when I auditioned for All-State band my junior year of high school. I had played in the All-State band the year before and was getting ready to go on an awesome tour of France in two months or so and didn't care a whim about getting in. I got in. I think it was because I was more relaxed as a result of the melancholy attitude.
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Author: joeclarinet
Date: 2004-12-11 21:29
It probably wasn't ADD, it most likely was just plain and simple nervousness. That happened to me in a Navy Band Audition back in the late 80's. 1st Audition I took was on really short notice - I was invited to the finals by John Coulehan (1st Clarinet and Soloist back then) and nailed the Audition to the point that John said to me that I was the best Clarinet he had ever heard audition for the Navy Band. Unfortunately right after I played I was told that they had screwed up their numbers and didn't really have an opening for that audition.
So no job from that one, just a big pat on the back.
Then 5 months later they really did have an opening and I was called again. I was the "front runner" for it or at least I felt like it going into the audition. The audition started out with them asking me for my scales
"Play your Scales Major and Minor" they asked me. Now mind you the first time that they asked me for it a few months earlier I played for them the 2 pages of the Klose Scales which are through all of the keys - no problemo then at all as I knew those 100% (I had spent my freshman year for 14 weeks playing those 2 pages, JUST those 2 pages for Reuben to perfect even playing).
But for some reason that morning I hadn't remembered to bring my brain to the audition and the question didn't register what they were actually asking for.
So I played C Major, C minor
G Major, g minor
F Major, f minor
D Major, d minor
Bb Major, Bb minor (yeah, that's the relative minor of Db Major
O doom on me! It got really hard, and really quickly. And I just couldn't figure out what the hell was making these scales so hard but the brain just wasn't registering with the scales. AND I GOT NERVOUS ABOUT IT.
For anyone who isn't currently registering just how badly in trouble I was - Major Scale, ***RELATIVE MINOR*** is what you need to play (and what I had practiced for years and years to perfection).
So the rest of the audition I played ok, but it wasn't stellar at all and I got beaten by a player who is now one of the upper 1st (if not principal) players. A relaxed player will play a lot better than an uptight one.
I didn't end up going again for a future audition with them as other things came up, but it was an experience I'll never forget. I ended up doing a lot better musicially and $$$ than if I had made the gig.
And by the way - I didn't even realize what I had done with the scales until about 45 minutes after I left the Audition. It was one heck of an epiphany
and I had a good laugh when it hit me like a ton of bricks what I did and needed to do.
Strange things happen in auditions.
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Author: EEBaum
Date: 2004-12-11 23:16
In the past few months I've finally come to somewhat of a peace with my playing. In my playing, and in watching other people play, I've realized that the audience almost always wants the performer to play well. More than that, though, I as an audience member want to see the performer play happy and unworried. In listening, a missed note doesn't bother me nearly as much as the performer's upset reaction to said missed note.
I just played my first truly low-stress jury the other day. Sure, I missed some notes, but I didn't care about missing them. Granted, it was a jury that didn't matter (if I failed, I'd just not have my lessons not paid for, but I've already passed the department screening exam to graduate since I'm a comp major), but I'm finding that whether it "matters" is more and more irrelevant throughout the years. If I'm spending this much time playing music, I better darn well be doing it for the music itself, not the "career" or "acceptance" aspect of it. After all that, it was by far the best jury I've ever played.
Music is largely a means of communication... if it becomes a hissy fit between you and your instrument, the audience can feel largely like they're watching someone have a family argument on stage. Rather, if the focus is on the music, whether it is sent directly toward the audience or toward some vision of the piece's further posterity in the musical world, it actually becomes music rather than a smattering of hastily-produced notes.
As the composer (a pianist) of a piece I premiered at a student composers' guild concert this semester told me the week of the concert, now (audition/performance week) is the time to think about the music and what you want to say with it. Forget about the notes.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
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Author: Eric T
Date: 2004-12-12 03:22
Interesting discussion.
I've been playing clarinet for 40 years or so, and have performed a lot of times, in lots of situations. What works for me when performing is to focus on the music rather than the audience. When I am able to be in the emotion of the music, things go fine; as soon as I start to wonder how the audience is feeling about the music, I start to get tentative and start to make mistakes.
Of course, performing is about communicating to the audience through the music, and having some awareness of how the audience is responding. What can get me off track is allowing myself to think directly about the audience, instead of going through the music. As long as I keep my focus primarily on the music, I seem to do fine.
Eric
et
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Author: Lon Roach
Date: 2004-12-12 20:56
Robert ...Sorry to hear it didn't go well. No real thoughts on why, however. Those things just happen. Perhaps there are better things awaiting you than the Field Band.
I was solo chair at CONARC in 1969-70. Left a thought or two on your pre audition post. Contact me by e-mail and we'll share war stories"from the good old days" of Cico, Agusto and the Snake at Fortress Mundane.
Post Edited (2004-12-14 02:58)
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Author: beejay
Date: 2004-12-13 11:18
The only thing I can add to this discussion is something about my own experience as a professional journalist and a very amateur clarinetist. When I write a dumb article, I risk making a fool of myself in front of tens of thousands of readers. When I play a bum note in a concert, it is probably not going to reach the ears of more than a couple hundred people if we have an exceptional turnout, and most of them are probably not going to notice. For some reason, however, I get much more nervous about the clarinet than I do about the newsprint. An editor gives me an hour to write 800 words for the front page, and I put nerves to one side -- in fact, the less time I have and the more pressure, the fewer mistakes I make. But with music, I practice a passage over and over, get it right and then still make a dumb mistake in performance because of nerves. To me, its obvious that we do best when we eliminate all subjective feeling and just get down to what we have to do. Not so easy to put into practice, I agree.
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Author: VermontJM
Date: 2004-12-14 02:37
Been there, done that. TONIGHT. Blew it. Waiting on the results.
Not gonna be pretty. Buh-bye, principal clarinet seat... I'll miss you. See you again next year if I can hold myself together and make better choices.
Then again... maybe the clarinet gods will look down on me and smile. After all, my altissimo notes were in tune.
"Always look on the bright side of life... doot doot... doot doot doot doot doot doot."
yup... officially lost my mind. Time for bed!
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