Re: Re: Re: Re: Audition Question....


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Posted by Sean Chisham on December 24, 2003 at 13:48:44:

In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Audition Question.... posted by bloke on December 24, 2003 at 12:53:31:

I would agree with everything you said and would summarize it the same way I always have. Auditions are about who sounds best. It really is that simple. It does not come down to who held a particular note the longest in one breath, or who was able to play the highest or lowest note. It all comes down to who sounded the best.

People, including myself, many times get too caught up in the micro and ignore the macro. I know of no time in anyone's career when they have a technically perfect performance. We are human and that is not possible. There is always something which could have gone just a little bit better. Taking that into consideration, give the most enjoyable and most acceptable performance possible at an audition and you should do well.

I recently had a short conversation with a certain successful tubists who restated what we should all know to be true. The audition committee wants to hear someone play well. They are not out to find reasons to eliminate you due to minute details. They are looking for someone who sounds good and will cheer you on if you give them something excellent to listen to. I have sat in on a few auditions and can confirm that it is a breathe of fresh air to hear someone come in and play well.

Here is a final analogy. For the past few years I have been a judge for Maryland All-State Band. This year they included the euphoniums in the same room as the tubas for the senior high auditions. The euphonium etudes were fast with lots of black notes. I have no idea who hit the most correct notes or the most correct intervals or who may have dropped a note or two. I do know who sounded the best, who seemed to have the best control of the instrument, who seemed to be blowing music through the horn and who seemed to be simply blowing at the notes on the page. The guy who got first chair walked in and played the tunes with great fundementals of intonation, time, and rhythm. He also showed mastery of the horn by sight reading with relative ease. All of this was wrapped up in reasonably good musicianship. He had ideas to convey to us and proceeded to do so.

Anyone can read the lines of Shakespeare, but a true artist is able to communicate the ideas of Shakespeare.


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