 The Clarinet BBoard
|
Author: A2Clarinetist
Date: 2005-10-04 12:10
I play in a couple of community bands and most of the time we don't audition...but this year there are so many clarinets in one band that they decided to audition us.
I had the selection down cold. I could play it without looking at the music, but when it came time for my audition I bombed.
Does anyone have any advice on how to handle auditions? I mistakenly thought that practicing the music until I could play it correctly at tempo would be enough.
Thanks,
An
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: Markael
Date: 2005-10-04 13:31
It's a high-wire act.
This is more about psychology than about music. In essence, your self consciousness gets in the way of concentrating on the music. It can also cause your body to be stiff, giving you less control over your muscles.
Knowing the music cold can build confidence. But paradoxically, it can also put more pressure on you because you have so much invested in it.
Your expectations of yourself are higher, and you cut yourself less slack for each mistake.
Perhaps the hardest thing about this is that it is not totally predictable. It can happen when you think you are beyond such problems.
And it happens to all of us. Well--I can't speak for everybody. It happens to me.
You have to make sure that you don't invest too much of your sense of self into this one performance. "If I blow this I'm dog meat." That's a recipe for
failure.
Breathe deeply.
Find performance situations that make you anxious, but not as anxious as the big audition. For instance, give a "recital' for family and friends. Work up to it.
And if it happens again, get back on the horse that threw you.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: A2Clarinetist
Date: 2005-10-04 17:55
You're right about being harder on myself. I used to be good at auditioning but I must admit I am out of practice!
I spoke with the section leader and he said NO ONE played that section perfectly....so some of the pressure is off now.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: A2Clarinetist
Date: 2005-10-05 17:41
We had to play a section of Festive Overture. The director chose the selection and from what I have heard (after talking with many other members of my section), no one nailed it. (Section 22 - 23 if anyone has the piece handy).
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: EEBaum
Date: 2005-10-06 03:22
Go into the audition aiming to have a good time and to convey something musically about the piece.
Every audition I went into thinking "I'm going to get this!" I bombed, and every one where I thought "this is a cool piece I'm playing" I nailed.
At my last audition, I was pissed when they cut me off. It was quite possibly the best I'd ever played Gnarly Buttons, and they said "OK, we get the idea" right before the cool part. I was upset, not because "I didn't get to show them my fast fingers," but because it was going so well that I felt robbed of a great musical experience. I was very close to shouting "NO!" and continuing with the piece, screw the audition.
-Alex
www.mostlydifferent.com
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
Author: archer1960
Date: 2005-10-06 17:07
EEBaum wrote:
...
> fingers," but because it was going so well that I felt robbed
> of a great musical experience. I was very close to shouting
> "NO!" and continuing with the piece, screw the audition.
That's one of the greatest feelings around, when you're "in the zone" and doing something beautifully at the absolute limit of your ability, or even beyond your "normal" abilities, whether it's a musical performance, an athletic performance, or working on a computer program. I've been in that situation for each of those areas, and just hated it when it was over and I had to stop.
|
|
Reply To Message
|
|
The Clarinet Pages
|
 |
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
.jpg){kind=small}
