 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: jacqui
Date: 2006-04-27 18:42
I'm a beginner clarinetist. I've been taking private lessons for one year and was thinking maybe it's time to explore area community bands. I don't ever have the opportunity to play with other instruments and when i starting playing, my goal was to eventually join a community bank in my area. Anyway, i found a band - called the number on the website and left a message. The first chair flute called me back and said the director will probably like to hear me play something and i should come in this monday night at 6:30. My question is, besides not throwing up from being so nervous, what do i play for the director? Should i just bring something i'm working on with my private instructor? My next lesson is not until next Wednesday so i won't have an opportunity to ask my instructor. I'm counting on you guys!! I'm thinking i should just bring my lesson book and play something from that. What do you think? Oh yeah, i asked if this was an advanced band and not a good place for a "beginner" to start and the director said they were a "medium" band. Thanks for your help.
Jacqui
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Author: chipper
Date: 2006-04-27 19:08
Jacqui:
I waited two years before applying to our community band. Perhaps you could search this board for my posts related to the experience. I'm playing regularly with them and consider my position the "assistant" third clarinet. My mentor has been with the band for over 42 years and has taken me under his wing. I could not hope for a better situation. Quite frankly, though, I usually feel inadequate and incompetent compared to my fellow musicians but have not yet been asked to leave and consider that a good sign.
As for your audition, I'd play something that I have mastered, even if it is a simple exercise. It's probably better to do a good job with a simple piece than to completly blow a more advanced piece. You must give the band director an idea of your actual ability, then if the band is at all accomodating, (most are as you are their future) the director will place you in the appropriate position. At your stage of development I doubt they'll ask you to carry the section. The expectation will be that you do no harm. Many of the pieces we play contain a scale run followed by a longer note. If I miss the run then I'll just play the longer note, maybe catch the run next time around. Don't play on rests, that's where there are no notes, play quitely if in doubt, and play in the right key. If you get lost or cannot play the piece, be quiet. Listen to the band, this is as much a part of your education as actually playing.
Above all, get in and enjoy. If you don't make it at first, practice like crazy. Perhaps the band would loan you some sheet music to practice. Don't stop. I started taking lessons at age 48 and this is one of the best things I've ever done. My mother actually heard me play last Monday at a Tiffany designed stained glass chappel. What a rush.
Carl
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2006-04-27 19:29
Just get in and do all you can, I've been in several comm bands for some 25 years, was the only bass cl, until I gave a mediocre Bass cl to the band, whereby the ass't conductor took it up from a ?surplus? of tenor saxes. I still help with fingering problems and now am the only alto cl'ist, and part time bass. Many of our band are [or have been] school band teachers, who are GLAD to help along new players, sim. to my finding a replacement, I'm in my 80's, still looking forward to tonight's rehearsal. The Light Cavalry Over. plus unusual marches and some contemporary pieces still make me work. Great Fun, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2006-04-27 19:50
Phone your teacher for advice. As a teacher, I'd recommend that. Your teacher knows your strengths and weaknesses and can probably give you advice over the phone.
As far as nerves, I have some additional advice:
Eat a banana about an hour before you go for the audition.
Breathe during the audition.
Realize that the listener does not want to hear you fail. S/He is just there to determine the best place for you in the band!
If you do make a mistake, keep playing.
And there's probably more I can't remember right now...
Good luck and play happy!
Katrina
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Author: BobD
Date: 2006-04-27 20:07
"Eat a banana about an hour before you go for the audition."
Well, that's a new one on me. Sounds like something one would do for the "Peel Sessions".
As you are a relative beginner my suggestion is to just bring along something you're comfortable playing and be yourself. If you're asked to play something from memory that you can't just admit it....like some scales for example. Certainly there should be room for you and if not maybe later.
Bob Draznik
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Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2006-04-27 20:24
Play something that you CAN PLAY. Don't over reach.
Good advice above. Please relax as much as you can, and let us all know how fate treated you at the audition.
Bob Phillips
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Author: jacqui
Date: 2006-04-27 20:27
Thanks for all of your advice!! I will do everything suggested and will post Tues. a.m. and let you all know how it went!! Thanks again!!
Jacqui
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2006-04-27 20:29
Play something simple enough that you are in tune, in time and with a respectable tone at piano and at forte. Don't try to show off the outer limits of your technique.
Playing in a band, it doesn't matter if you can't manage all the complicated twiddly bits. It does matter if you have no sense of rhythm or pitch. That's what they'll be listening for, I think. They know you're a near-beginner, they won't be expecting virtuosity.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: jacqui
Date: 2006-04-27 21:19
Update: I just called my instructor and he told me to come in this Sat. and he'll help me get ready for the audition on Mon. What a nice guy!!!
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2006-04-27 21:39
And above all, (although it's probably the hardest thing to do), relax as much as possible. Don't be tense during the audition. Just relax and make music.
Enjoy the audition!
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Katrina
Date: 2006-04-27 23:20
There is a "rumor" that bananas contain a substance similar to and much less harmful than beta blockers. This substance (heck, I'm a clarinetist, not a scientist!) reportedly calms the nerves.
And if it doesn't, then well, they're at least healthy!
Katrina
p.s. Good on your teacher! We frequently can make last-minute schedule changes like this, so it NEVER hurts to ask!
Post Edited (2006-04-27 23:23)
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2006-04-28 00:37
Our community band requires that you have completed high school band before you can join. So, I guess you would need to work with a teacher who would bring you up to that level of play before you could try out. We've never had anyone who hadn't finished high school and usually our players have a few years or more of college playing. All community bands differ in their rules, but that's ours. It works pretty well because we only rehearse once a week and most people are experienced enough to be able to play the pieces well in concert. I suppose you've already spoken to the director about the requirements. The flute player might not be knowledgeable of all the rules.
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Author: pmgoff78
Date: 2006-04-28 00:48
The community band I'm in doesn't audition people. I find the concept to be quite pointless actually. We don't audition folks in my group and we played the Midwest Clinic in our 5th year.
Is there a group that doesn't audition and just lets you play?
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2006-04-28 01:20
<Is there a group that doesn't audition and just lets you play?>
Certainly, many community bands welcome all comers, relying on self-assessment to determine who will be included in, or out.
I would imagine that, if you couldn't cut it at all, it wouldn't be much fun. On the other hand, it can be a great tool for personal growth, as chipper (and my re-beginner husband) can attest.
As far as Jacqui's "audition" goes, it may well be that it will turn out to be less than meets the eye. That is, the flute player who was the primary contact didn't say, "Come on Monday night prepared to play the first movement from K. 622 and all your major and minor scales." She merely said something to the effect that the director would *probably* like to hear her play.
I agree with those who are counselling Jacqui not to stress about this. It is likely to be close to a non-event, and even if some demonstration of skill level is asked of her, it will be more for section placement than for elimination purposes.
You go, girl!
Susan
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Author: pmgoff78
Date: 2006-04-28 01:47
Yes, but I don't believe that's "welcoming".
I was, essentially, dared to audition for a community band when I was a senior in HS. The dare came from a snooty Clarinetist I met at my repairman's shop. The encounter went something like this "Oh, I bet it would be fun to play in that group." his reply was "Well, we audition all of our members because we have a high standard of excellence." I figured I'd give it a shot since I had stood in for my teacher before in a different group. Plus, I don't believe in musical intimidation. Especially just because I'm a young guy. That honked me off.
When the conductor told me I was "a little over his head" on Bass(I played a piece a friend wrote for me with multiphonics, singing, multiple articulation, and tons of altissimo)....I knew it was time to walk. People use auditions as cutesy formalities. I am in no way saying "stress", because you shouldn't stress at all. It probably will be a non-event. But to what degree will groups use these auditions to make themselves seem more important or accomplished than they really are? That's the thing I hate. Band snootiness.
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Author: melearly
Date: 2006-04-28 04:07
Good luck and don't be too nervous most community bands are just like the name suggests - for the community! and are very welcoming especially if they can see you've got the right attitude (in your case taking lessons etc. etc., you're on an upward curve!)
I've found the banana before nerve racking situations useful, I think the theory behind it is that they contain a lot of potassium which will elevate your plasma potassium, depolarizing your cardiac muscle cells and so lessening the excitability of the heart. So stops your heart racing (to an extent) one of the actions of beta blockers but via a different mechanism...... I could also be totally wrong!
let us know how it goes!
Post Edited (2006-04-28 04:08)
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Author: Tavis the Repertoire Guy
Date: 2006-04-28 09:27
Play what you know and have fun and you will get in.
Email me if you want to be in the mailing list for my clarinet repertoire collection.
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Author: Bennett ★2017
Date: 2006-04-28 15:41
I'm in three community bands in the San Francisco Bay Area that require no auditions. I, and I think lots of other members, just keep quiet when a passage is too hard or, as often happens, we lose our place.
I joined one band after only taking lessons for about a year, (I was 58 at the time, and finally making more notes than squeaks). It took a while to catch on; usually after 30 seconds of playing I couldn't tell whether we were at the top of the page or the bottom. After a while it started to make sense.
As for advice to the OP, I'd play something I can play well, with careful attention to timing and articulation.
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Author: Don Poulsen
Date: 2006-04-28 16:38
pmgoff78, I can't speak about all community bands, but the ones I have played with haven't been snooty. One I currently play with doesn't require auditions, but I would expect that someone who just couldn't cut the music being played would be frustrated and leave on their own or, if they stayed on and were a real detriment to the group, would have it politely suggested to them that they and our group may not be a great match. I don't think this has happened but once or twice in the last ten years and I'm just guessing about that. (An older gentleman who played the saxophone for a couple of rehearsals and seemed to be able to find the notes; he just didn't seem to know any dynamic except forte. He disappeared and I only speculate on why he no longer came back.)
Another group I play with does usually require auditions. It's not being snooty so much as trying to create a group that plays at a somewhat higher level and able to competently play more challenging pieces; i.e., maintaining at least a certain level of quality. I haven't met anyone in there who is snooty. (I'm certainly not. I felt lucky to get in.)
If you didn't get in the community band because you auditioned with something so esoteric as to include multiphonics, singing, tons of altissimo, etc. for a bass clarinet position, I would consider that to be a bit of a lack of good judgement on your part, as a community band rarely plays anything that calls for those types of thing and your piece probably didn't show how well you would play more traditional types of music. It might have also been considered as a bit of showboating and egoism by the conductor when he was looking for someone who would be willing to blend in with the group. He may have also thought that you wouldn't have been happy playing traditional band music. Rejection doesn't always mean that you're considered bad, just that you might not be a good fit.
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Author: pmgoff78
Date: 2006-04-29 13:40
True, the group I'm in now is great. I must have been scarred by this early experience because I remember it vividly. ;o)
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Author: Dee
Date: 2006-04-30 11:10
I've played in several different community bands. Some required "auditions" and some did not. The "auditions" were not to determine whether you could be in the band. They all accepted all comers. It was simply to give the director an idea of what level you were at and what part part you should play. In those that did not require auditions, you were given a part on the basis of how well you said you could play and whether there was an open spot in that part of the clarinet section.
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