The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kat
Date: 2001-05-25 20:40
I'm audition for the Greater Buffalo Youth orchesta and any information on it would be helpful. Thanks!
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2001-05-25 21:38
Practice the really hard scales. Just because nothing's written in f sharp major (I don't think anything is. Has any composer ever been that mean?) doesn't mean they won't ask you to play it. I auditioned for the SSYO (Syracuse) orchestra Tuesday and they asked me Bb melodic minor :(. I did it, though!
Good luck!
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Author: Kat
Date: 2001-05-25 23:33
Did they tell you that you were going to have to play scales?
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Author: Danielle
Date: 2001-05-26 01:33
I recently auditioned for the Greater Westchester Youth Orchestra (although i didn't get in )-:) and i didn't have to play any scales, just a solo. my friend who auditioned for the junior strings (and got in), had to play scales, though, i think.
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2001-05-30 00:21
Kat -
Most auditions include a request for scales - probably one in a familiar key (say, F) and another in a less familiar key (say, E). You may be asked to play a scale in thirds (up a third, down a second, up a third, and so on). There's a very good exercise in the Klose method that teaches you to do this. You should also prepare melodic and possibly harmonic minor scales and arpeggios.
You will almost certainly be given a passage to sight-read. Take a few seconds to look it over, and play it slightly slower than what you think will be a performance tempo. This lets you make everything exact, and if they ask you to play it faster, you will have already played it once.
In every part of the audition, you must keep the strictest possible rhythm, even more on the rests than on the notes. More auditioners are downgraded for bad rhythm than for any other reason.
The second most common reason for downgrading is trying to play too fast and having to stop. You'll do much better getting through everything too slow than you will playing almost everything fast but breaking down and stopping.
The third most common reason for downgrading is bad intonation, particularly in the throat register, the upper clarion and the altissimo. It helps to work with a tuner to find out where you get out and to get the feel of bringing particular notes into tune.
Your band/orchestra director and your teacher wouldn't have recommended you for this audition if they didn't think you were ready for it. You can go in with confidence.
Let us know how you do. Everyone is pulling for you.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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