Posted by Tony on June 22, 2003 at 14:55:53:
In Reply to: Audition Preparation posted by Tim on June 21, 2003 at 23:36:32:
When I was getting ready for the recent Navy Band audition as well as the Fort Worth Symphony audition I employed a technique that both Tony Kniffen and Tim Adams (Pittsburgh timpanist) use. I started working on all the excerpts at half tempo with a metronome and I wouldn't kick up the tempo until I played it a set amount of times, consecutively, with no mistakes. During this process, I would also ask myself, "Would that be acceptable for the Navy Band, or Chicago Symphony, or whomever?" If not, I do it again. If so, I, to quote Emeril, 'kick it up a notch'. By the time you get to the audition, you have played every excerpt well numerous times. For instance, I probably played Stars and Stripes well almost one thousand times in the span of 3 weeks before the audition training myself all the while to be able to nail it the first time.
I hope this helps.