TubeNet

Relax, and play.

Eat 2 bananas if you can stand it. They're good for ya!

bananas and no caffeine the day of

In practice, and on the day - focus on keeping the stress out of your neck and shoulders.

I could go on to explain this, but I recommend it in every stressful situation (from playing to driving in the snow!)

You have lots of company. Almost all of us get nervous in performance/audition situations. The good news is that there is a lot we can do to manage our nerves. For now, my advice would be to give it your best shot this weekend and not be too concerned about how things turn out. In the long run, you can find lots of good tips in the TubeNet archives, and there are many good books written on the subject. For me, what works best is thinking positive (every time I start to worry about the performance/audition, I picture myself doing well and tell myself I can do it), practice the music so I can play it in my sleep, get plenty of exercise on the day of the audition, and take several long slow deep breaths before I start playing.

Sound over simplified, but if you get nervous, just ignore it.

Go in there and play the snot out of the pieces. You have them memorized, and you have your sound firmly in your head too. Play as musically as you can, and if you miss a note, make it the best sounding wrong note the judges have heard all day.

And after you leave the room, don't ever second guess or doubt yourself. I think sometimes people get themselves even more worked up after leaving the room.

First, breath deeply before you go into the room and while you are in the room as well.

Mental strength is half the game. If you think that you are better than everyone else than it can be true.

Remember that its all about musicality. Most people can play the notes, but the judges are looking to be blown away. Act like you are Arnold Jacobs soloing with the Chicago Symphony. Make a good sounds and dynamic contrast.

But most of all, breath deeply. This really helps nerves.

Hope this helps and goodluck!

Use the fear! Good playing often occurs when we feel like there is no alternative. Let the pressure psych you up, not psych you out.

An old TubeNet quote - "an amatuer practices a piece until they can play it right - a pro practices a piece until they can't possibly play it any less than perfect (wrong)"

So -

Don't just practice until you can play the piece right, practice it until you can't possibly play it wrong. Memorize it, practice it until "right" becomes reflex then 'nerves' won't matter.

And remember two things:

First, the adjudicators are on your side. They want you to do well.

Second, remember that every single one of them has sat where you will be sitting; with elder musicians listening to and judging their performance. They missed notes and fluffed articulations. Try not to. But if you do, it isn't the end of the world. In auditions for honor bands, often you won't lose much in the way of points if you don't let a small error throw you off of your game.

Get to your Doc and have him prescribe a Beta Blocker. They work by controlling the release of adrenaline and are typically used to control high blood pressure. I'm told many professional folks including musicians, actors, athletes, etc use them effectively. If you do get some try it out as day or so before you perform, they may make your reaction times seem different which could take some getting use to.

Alfie72287 wrote:You're the boss...

Listening to "Business Time" from Flight of the Conchords could help with getting into boss-mode.

Be careful if you take potassium pills....too much potassium taken in at a rate that your body can't get rid of it, can cause first heart arhythmias and eventually heart failure. I wouldn't suddenly take a bunch of potassium right before you play, if you haven't tried it ahead of time.

Turkey, bananas, playing for people as much as you can, remembering that the adjudicators want you to do well, and not over-practicing or second-guessing yourself are all good things to do.

Learning the concentration required to perform well is a skill like any other skill, and it has to be develped over time. If you had a hard time last year, the best thing you could have done was spend all this year working on your performance skills, which are different from your skill in playing the instrument.

Best of luck this year, and if you don't do as well as you'd like, then spend the next year working on performing as well as learning to play your instrument better. Start small, playing very, very easy pieces for just a couple people, with guaranteed success, and work your way up to more difficult pieces for more and more people. You can do it!

MA

Awesome job, man!

I hate those set-in-stone requirements for All-State and some other superlative bands. I don't think you can set rules like that in stone.

Is this the Arkansas Allregion? I just got back from that

Cool. I was there to. I was the only tuba player from Gentry. Did you make it?

SWEET!!!! I made 1st band 6th chair.

Serge wrote:After reviewing the scores at school, I realized that I did make the requirements for the All State auditions. The first thing I did was borrow a "How to make first chair" book from my teacher and now I want to know what tips you have that I can use.
A few things that I know I have to do is actually decide if I want to do this, I still want to become better at playing bassoons and that means practicing everyday which really runs into my tuba practicing time. Another thing I have to do is buy a recorder. Any other tips for me?

I believe I would make a decision about the direction I want to go. I don't see tuba and bassoon as a very practical double. That's my opinion, anyway.

After reviewing the scores at school, I realized that I did make the requirements for the All State auditions. The first thing I did was borrow a "How to make first chair" book from my teacher and now I want to know what tips you have that I can use.

What state is this?

k001k47 wrote:What state is this?

Serge earlier in the thread wrote:Yes, it was the Arkansas All Region.

Assuming Arkansas?

I know that your performance has passed, and that you had a good time and didn't get too nervous. However, I felt the need to interject some of my thoughts on the subject for the benefit of you (for future performances) and the community that this forum represents.

I have become somewhat of an expert on the subject of performance anxiety and strategies to combat it in the past few months. I have read a great deal of information, some of it very useful, and have come to some conclusions.

Firstly, we must realize that performance anxiety and problems arise from two areas: Physical and mental. However, the two are not separate entities. They are hopelessly intertwined and work together either for or against your goal of optimal performance.

Physically, your body goes through a natural, biological response to a stressful situation. Your pupils dilate, your heart rate and breathing speed up, and massive amounts of adrenaline are released into your blood stream. Your body does not know the difference between a real danger situation such as getting mugged on a street corner, and performing the Vaughn Williams Tuba Concerto.

There isn't a whole lot that can be done about the presence of adrenaline. Once its there, its there until you get rid of it, and backstage before a performance is not a very good place to burn it off. You could jump rope or run in place, but that would elevate your heart rate even further and tire you out (although moderate physical activity is not a bad idea) What can be done about these physical responses? Well you could take Beta blockers or other drugs. They are very effective and work well for some people. However, like all drugs they come with side effects. I believe that these drugs are not necessary except in extreme cases and the risks far outweigh the benefits. If a person simply cannot perform without drugs, I think that individual needs to seriously consider why they are performing in the first place. Also, beta blockers result in a lot of people feeling numb, and feeling as if they gave a flat and emotionless performance.

Turkey sandwiches are reported to work because of the chemical tryptophan. This chemical makes you drowsy and relaxed. However, I have also read that you would have to eat an insane amount of turkey to get any effects at all from the chemical. That having been said, a turkey sandwich is probably not a bad pre-performance snack.