 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: missclarinetist
Date: 2005-07-20 13:07
I'm currently an undergrad student and last semester I signed up for the concerto contest this fall. I have never been in one and an I'm inexperience concerto sololist. The piece needs to be memorized also. What is the art of winning a concerto contest?
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-07-20 13:14
Playing your piece really, really well. The intonation with your pianist must be immaculate, your technique stunning, and the piece you pick should be a fine representation of your abilities.
Ya never know how you will stack up to the other players so just give it your best shot. My College Roomate (now soloist with the US Marine Band) took the Philadelphia Orchestra Soloist Competition and got done playing and went to a bar and got smashed. He though he played "just fair" - comes back to hear the results and he won it.
So ya just never know...........
The big thing at the actual audition is not to worry about anyone else - anyone else. Because hearing a great flutist audition and then playing after it with the other player in your mind will only distract you and keep you from playing at your best.
So stay focused.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2005-07-20 15:45
A concerto is of course about your solo, but at least half is you and the orchestra tossing things back and forth, and alternately joining and separating. You can't learn a concerto just by practicing the solo part. The orchestra alternates between being your partner and your antagonist, and you have to know the complete score to do it right or even to do it at all.
99% of concerto contest players fall down by not knowing or listening to the accompaniment. For example, several years ago the ClarinetFest contest piece was the first movement of Spohr #1. About 5 minutes in, the orchestra (i.e., pianist) plays the main theme in the left hand, while the soloist has arpeggio noodling. The winner was the only one who played this as accompaniment. Everyone else belted it out as a solo.
A good way to learn where you're solo and where you're accompaniment, and how you and the orchestra switch off, is to listen to a recorded performance several times, each time following along a different line of the score. In particular, watch for melodies in the bass line, the violins and the winds.
Ken Shaw
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Drenkier_1
Date: 2005-07-20 15:47
I'm actually planning on trying out for my youth orchestras competition. I'm actually doing this more so for the money because I don't know if I could place 1st when there are violins that made the all state symphony orchestra trying out!
Kevin Collins
Post Edited (2005-07-20 15:48)
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: DavidBlumberg
Date: 2005-07-20 15:55
At the Student Concerto Competition at Curtis one year a pianist auditioned with the Brahms Piano Concerto
it was Leon Fleisher accompanied by Gary Graffman
Graffman was awarded the prize........
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: diz
Date: 2005-07-21 00:53
the Brahms Piano Concerto??
which one?
Without music, the world would be grey, very grey.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Morrigan
Date: 2005-07-21 02:11
I recently won a concerto competition, and there were many great string players in it too.
Knowing the orchestral part is paramount - I could probably play most of it from memory!
Don't think of anyone else, just play YOUR concerto.
You're going to have to work your ass of if you wanna win it. I was working extremely hard, and then a week before the comp I found out who else was going for it. So for the last week I worked even harder than I thought that I could!
In the past, there have always been passages in pieces sometimes where you think "That's not perfect but it will be one day." Wrong! You've gotta work on it NOW, and every single note in the entire concerto must be perfect, even, sound good, and be confident. Are you uncomfortable about a few notes, or a whole passage? Sort it out, NOW.
Manage your time well in the week or two leading up to the comp. I always set out a strict timetable of what to do and when to do it. Make lists, and add to that list, even if you NEVER check anything off, always do what's on your list. If you can't find exactly what needs to be worked on, get your teacher to write this to-do list for you.
There's one more factor that I call my 'secret audition weapon'. Chances are, the conductor will be auditioning you. Please note: The conductor actually wants to do as little work as possible! I did Weber's Eb concerto, and my aim was to play it basically metronomic, so that as the conductor was listening, he'd be thinking to himself "All I'd have to do in this concerto is beat time for the orchestra!". The conductor and listener want to do as little as possible, so it's up to you to do the hard work like making your concerto 'in time', and making it musically accessible and pleasing for anyone who hears it. Don't rely on anyone else for any factor in your audition: the panel have to know that you've done ALL the work and if need be you're willing to do even more.
Most of all, make it a performance, not an audition. My conductor told me I was the only entrant who walked into the auditorium and did a performance instead on an audition. If you think of any audition as a performance, you will do much better in general (it's worked for me, at least).
Good luck! Because luck plays a huge part in success as well!
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
