Posted by Brandon Jones on May 05, 2003 at 02:25:22:
In Reply to: Competition preperation posted by ??? on May 04, 2003 at 16:46:17:
First of all, the reason I'm up this late is because it's finals week at college and I'm going to basically be a zombie this week getting stuff done. With that in mind, let me answer your question. My past competition experience is 2 ITEC's (3rd in artist euphonium in 2001 in Lahti, Finland and 2nd last year in finals in Greensboro, NC). Also keep in mind, I'm 21 years old, so I may not have the best advice, but I'll try anyway. Here goes:
Treat everyday like a performance. Even the warm-up. MAKE YOURSELF do breathing exercises EVERYDAY, NO EXCEPTIONS! That's how you should start your day. Make them pretty extensive and intense as well. This will train your lungs over a period of time to be powerful and will help to breathe better when nervous. Do the fundamentals everyday (scales, arpeggios, slurs, tonguing exercises, etc.), NO EXCEPTIONS. To compete at the highest level, you must have these things on demand in your bag of tricks. You must only worry about the "MUSIC" that is going to be made when competing, not if your fingers are going to line up with your tongue or whatever. Treat everytime you put the mouthpiece to your face that an audience of about 2,000 is awaiting your every sound and gesture. This will prepare you for actual performance. But, there is NO substitute for performance. Play the pieces on a recital, even if it's for your parents or friends. Play them at church. Anywhere you can! Performing is performing. If you'd like to ask more questions or anything else I can do or tell you, feel free to email me at jonesbm(AT)wku.edu. Hope this helped a little, eventhough I am a zombie right now pumping out paper after paper after paper after....you get the idea! Good luck with the competition.