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please help - district band auditions

Author: kc261
Date: 2008-12-06 18:51

Some of you may remember my posts during the summer - basically asking about how to help my 6th grade daughter get started on clarinet on a very limited budget. Well, thanks in part to the advice I received here, she is doing great and will be auditioning for the middle school district band!

Unfortunately, I don't fully understand the requirements, and I hope you all can help me figure them out. Here is what we received:

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A) - Major scales: C, F, B flat, E flat, A flat (scales will be asked in concert pitch). All scales to be memorized. All scales to be played beginning with a quarter note tonic at MM = 100, followed by eighth notes with a half note on the final tonic. All scales to be played as many octaves as possible within the chromatic range. Students playing outside the chromatic range will be penalized if not played cleanly. All scales to be legato tongued up and down. Do not repeat the top note.

B) - Chromatic scale: slur ascending, tongue descending. Repeat the top note.

Chromatic range: E-C two octaves plus m6.
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She also has a prepared piece and sight reading.

Any hints or advice will be appreciated, but I have a few specific questions.

1) - What does the "plus m6" mean in the chromatic range? My guess is that it refers to the extra notes after the 2 octaves. In other words, low E to E at the bottom of the staff is one octave, to E just below the top of the staff for a second octave, and up to C two ledger lines above the staff is the "plus m6". Is this correct?

2) - If I am correct about the meaning of the chromatic range that is specified, then she needs to play the C, F, B flat, and A flat scales in 2 octaves, but the E flat scale in only one octave?

3) - For the chromatic scale, it does not specify a tempo. Should she play it at the same tempo as the major scales? Or is this an opportunity to show off a little and play it as fast as she can play it cleanly?

4) - It also says nothing about the range of the chromatic scale? We are assuming she should do the entire chromatic range that is specified? Two octaves plus the extra notes up to C?

5) - It lists C, F, B flat, E flat, A flat scales, then says they will ask for the scales in concert pitch. I believe that means she should learn the specified scales on clarinet (ie - 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 flats), but in the audition they will ask for B flat, E flat, A flat, D flat, and G flat, since those are the concert pitches? OR does it mean she should learn the scales specified in the concert pitches, which would be D, G, C, F, and B flat (0, 1, and 2 sharps, and 1 and 2 flats) on clarinet?

I'm sorry if the wording of some of these questions is awkward, but I suspect if I understood enough to ask the questions in a more proper manner, then I wouldn't need to be asking them in the first place!