Posted by Sean Chisham on March 31, 2003 at 20:26:38:
In Reply to: First Tuba Audition posted by Allison on March 31, 2003 at 18:40:34:
The day before go ahead and pack everything up you will need for the next day such as clothing, instruments, valve oil, music, mouthpiece, etc. Not having to deal with that the morning of the audition will help keep your nerves in check.
Go to sleep early the night before to ensure you are well rested. This is the most important part. The next morning eat a good breakfast and do what you usually do every morning. If that is watching a TV show or reading the paper or whatever, do the usual routine.
Get to the audition location with plenty of time for registering and doing any kind of "warm up" routine you always do before a concert or any other performance. Once registered find a safe spot for your stuff and then it is up to you. If you want, get the horn out and make sure all the valves and slides work, ok. Maybe a little valve oil. Blow a few scales and if you want, read through some of the audition material to get the brain activated.
If it is going to be a couple of hours before you play, then stop playing and do something else. Read a book, listen to a cd player, find a quiet place, whatever. When your number is getting closer then get the horn out again and play for 10 minutes or so if you like and go into the audition.
Play the audition just like you practiced it at home. The judges just want to hear what you have. They are not bad guys, they will just listen and take some notes. Most likely they will not say much to you apart from which scales to play and when to start and stop playing.
Be certain that you have ALL your required scales perfectly memorized and tell a story with the prepared music. What really impresses judges is hearing someone who plays with a good sound and makes beautiful music out of the notes on the page. Almost everyone there will be able to play the music. The ones who win generally tell a story of some sort with their songs.
If there is sight reading, here is a little trick. Take as much time as you are permitted to look over the tune and sing it to yourself in your head focussing on the rhythms. When you play it, play it a little bit slower than you think it should go and keep a steady tempo. This makes the sight reading easier. If you play it too slow, then the judges will ask for you to play it again faster. If they don't then you probably played it cleaner than the people who tried to play it too fast and got fumbled up.