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As a 4th yr. undergrad, I feel I need to think about gearing up for orchestra auditions. Living in the middle of Kansas, you it's hard to know what to expect. Can anyone fill me in on what the process consists of?

You need to get with a private teacher who has been through several orchestral auditions (either as a candidate or as part of audition committee). Then you should ask him/her this question.

To give you a short answer --- the process for the vast majority of audition-takers consists of playing excerpts from orchestral tuba parts for about 5-10 minutes and then being told to go home.

Expect to have stomach pains. Pepto Bismol worked best for me on the few auditions I took before I realized it wasn't for me.

There are several things that I coach my students on to expect in an audition situation (or even in a recital).

When you go in, you are in unfamaliar territory. This will cause you to tense up and will limit your breathing. Practice taking a full breath - consciously - before playing any excerpt. In the audition (and the practice room) take 2 inhalations before you start: a loading breath and a top-off breath to make sure you are comfortably full of fuel.

Because you know you are being evaluated, you will most likely begin to play too softly (the kiss of death) and you have not practiced it that way while preparing. This will usually lead to not using enough air and then you clam a note and the death sprial begins.

Now you take yourself out of the "present" - where you are right now, and begin to dwell on the missed note. Your concentration from what you are doing chages to the past - something you cannot change and therefore should not worry about other than briefly to understand what caused it and what should be corrected as you go on.

Expect the worst possible order of excerpts; low and loud, high and loud, soft in the mid register, etc. Have the mindset that YOU OWN THE ROOM. Often we feel like (almost) uninvited guests when we walk into the audition. Make the room yours and them the invited ones in your mind. Then just play it like you practiced it.

Just some of my observations.

Tigertuba wrote:As a 4th yr. undergrad, I feel I need to think about gearing up for orchestra auditions. Living in the middle of Kansas, you it's hard to know what to expect. Can anyone fill me in on what the process consists of?

http://tinyurl.com/3n56t

Douglas Yeo has a fantastic article on auditions which should be required reading for all aspiring professional musicians. The above URL should take you there.

In the last audition I played (and, in my mind, the only one of any real consequence/reputation), for the Marine Band, I pretty much nailed my prepared pice and the faster, louder excerpts. However, I completely ruined the soft melody from the Holst suite.

It's not that I lacked the skills; it's because I made too big of a deal out of it.

I'm sitting up there, thinking of going up in pay grade, getting the chance to spend time on a regular tuba again, making one of the top ensembles in the world... and what happens? I have half notes coming out going "wob-wob-wob-wob" with zero windspeed and no tonal depth. I SUCKED.

If I didn't care so much -- if I didn't put so much thought into a future that might or might not have happened -- I wouldn't have given any reasons to myself for being so nervous.

Back in college, I played for chair placement in an intercollegiate honor band. I didn't give a rat's *** about what chair I was going to get. I was already there, and how everyone got there was pretty silly anyway -- our professors had rated us and submitted their recommendations, and we were chosen. It was one step away from simply being appointed to the band. I practiced the parts anyway, and when I went in there, I hadn't given myself anything to worry about -- I just honked away, nailing every note with the auditioner two feet away in our little practice room, and I ended up with first chair.

My advice? Don't care.

Spend your waking hours working on your notes, and make every piece of music sound wonderful enough to sell to strangers. Lay the foundation for what you'll need to do when you get in that audition room -- which is just to PLAY YOUR HORN. Nothing else matters, there's no future to worry about, so just blow the thing and let them do the worrying.