Capriccio Espagnol

[The Jackson]

Hello, all

I have here the tuba part to Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio Espagnol". It was given to me by a local youth orchestra to prepare for their audition (which, oddly, I never asked for...). I plan on auditioning for them, and I wanted to know what areas do you think they would ask for (what I should be practicing).

I was given no marks or instructions on what they were going to ask for on the audition. I would assume that the coda in the fifth movement would be the most logical section for a tuba audition. Is that a safe assumption?

I've never seen this piece on anyone's excerpts list, so it's a little fuzzy to me. The orchestra people actually gave this piece to everyone their parts to this piece. That's pretty strange. They just played Die Meistersinger last season, so they have the parts to that...

Knowing how this orchestra operates, there is a very good chance that they have already scheduled Capriccio Espagnol for next season and giving everyone the parts to this is a little extra "boost" to get those who make it in to be prepared for what's coming. If that's the case, could anyone who has performed this piece have anything to say on it?

Thanks,

Jackson

[Todd S. Malicoate]

could anyone who has performed this piece have anything to say on it?

Yes...it's incredibly sparse, as you already know since you have the part.

The only thing they could really pick for an audition would be the end of the last movement, but even that is so easy I don't know how they could distinguish anything between several good players.

Of course, I suppose they could use the first movement to see who has the best sounding low A...or the third to compare everyone's Bb...talk about Johnny One Note.

[The Jackson]

Yeah, I'm sure they will ask for a coda, but I really don't know these people too well and don't know what else to expect. In my experience with these situations, most of it is just "winging it".

They might not even ask for anything in particular. I sit down and they just say, "Play the part."

[Todd S. Malicoate]

What's the alternative? Obviously not the first three movements...nothing there. I suppose you should make sure you can count the little 6/8 part in the fourth movement with the trombones...not much there, but make sure you understand the rhythm.

Grab a string bass part and read it down an octave...much more fun, particularly the last run.

[The Jackson]

Yeah, I know what you mean about the timing in Meistersinger. I've been working on that for a while, so I think that'd be ready.

On the audition requirements, they actually call for "two contrasting solo pieces". Perhaps I could do two contrasting excerpts like on my Florida Youth Orchestra audition? I could do, perhaps, Meistersinger and Fountains? Or Meistersinger and Mahler 1? I went to this orchestra's summer camp, and I don't think they would mind that, but the requirements explicitly say that I have to play the Rimsky-Korsakov.


Ugh, I'm going to try and call the school tomorrow and see if I can take a horn from them. They have to have SOMETHING to let me use until I get this tuba situation worked out.

Thanks!

[Todd S. Malicoate]

On the audition requirements, they actually call for "two contrasting solo pieces". Perhaps I could do two contrasting excerpts like on my Florida Youth Orchestra audition? I could do, perhaps, Meistersinger and Fountains? Or Meistersinger and Mahler 1? I went to this orchestra's summer camp, and I don't think they would mind that, but the requirements explicitly say that I have to play the Rimsky-Korsakov.

Yikes! Here we go again...it worked out well for you last time to ignore the printed requirements and play excerpts, but it's kind of like doubling down every time you get an 11...usually works, but when it doesn't you take it in the backside twice as hard.

I have to ask...do you have something against learning tuba solos?

[The Jackson]

No, I'm working (or I was when I had a horn) on the Vaughan-Williams concerto. I'm just saying that it's worked for me in the past. I also have Clare Grundman's "Tuba Rhapsody" that just needs some dusting off to be right. I'm just putting it out that I've gotten good results before and have gotten good feedback from orchestra staff when I've played excerpts (at their camp).

EDIT: Also, the requirements don't even say "solo", they say "piece". I have Kopprasch etudes that I've played for evaluations and the Tyrell book that I was working out of. I could easily find two contrasting piece from those.

[cambrook]

You could also play John Cage's 4'33", but that might not endear you to the panel either

[Todd S. Malicoate]

On the audition requirements, they actually call for "two contrasting solo pieces".

the requirements don't even say "solo", they say "piece"

Will you make up your mind???

Seriously, though...there's a big difference between "two contrasting pieces" and "two contrasting solo pieces." It's hard to give you useful advice when you change the parameters.

[The Jackson]

Well, I think I take "solo" differently as an adjective as compored to as a noun. When it says "solo piece", I'm thinking of anything where the tuba has a promiment role, while a "solo" is a piece written FOR the tuba as the main solo instrument. That's just how I'm reading it, and I might just be nit-picking with the vocabulary, but I do see where the confusion would come up.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

I like you, Jackson. I disagree with your point, but you stand up for your point of view and make reasonable, well-thought-out arguments.

Good luck getting a horn to practice on, and in your auditions!

[Cowgo]

I agree with you, the coda is the most logical part they would ask for.

I was in a similar boat as you many years ago auditioning for a symphonic seat. They handed out Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture to play. All they asked for was the familiar opening measure: A-A-A--G-F. For a solo I played Bach's Air and Bouree. It was a pretty easy non-stressed audition, that I ended up winning.

For contrasting pieces you can find several in the Blazhevich etude volumes.

Good luck!

[The Jackson]

I like you, Jackson. I disagree with your point, but you stand up for your point of view and make reasonable, well-thought-out arguments.

Good luck getting a horn to practice on, and in your auditions!

Thanks, Todd! I appreciate that.


@Cowgo:

Thanks! I'm glad I'm not the only one who has been in this kind of situation ( ). I think I'm going to look through my Tyrell book and the other assorted etudes and pick out some nice, contrasting things.

[MileMarkerZero]

The single most glaring error you can make on the intro and "solo" are not keeping the subdivision and time perfectly even when you move from quarters to eighths and back.

And the second most glaring mistake is playing the trill excerpt as a solO instead of a solI. Different approach entirely, even in an audition with no other instruments present.

[The Jackson]

Well, in case anyone was interested, I'll wrap this little story up.

The orchestra sent me my time for the audition. This weekend was their audition weekend, so I just knew the place would be pretty full. I arrive there 20 minutes before my time and it's a ghost town. Just the registration people and one other person about to audition. I saw a guy I know walking out, and he said that just about everyone had already auditioned and that I could just walk into the room, warm-up and audition at my leisure. Needless to say, I think I could see what I was going up against. I set myself up on the stage, did some long tones and scales and all that good stuff for about 15 minutes before one of the audition people came up to me and said I could come in now, and I was all right by then, so I went into the room. Behind the desk are three people who are the brass tech, woodwind tech and the conductor of the orchestra. All three are very nice and ask me if I have warmed up, and I say that I'm ready.

The audition started off with scales. Their website said to have prepared all 12 major and natural minor scales. They say Eb major, which is a scale that I'm very familiar with, but what happens? OH YEA IM ON A C TUBA LOL and I start playing what probably sounds to them like an excerpt from a Schoenberg piece. I just completely blank on that Eb major scale, but at least I started and stopped on the same notes. After that is Db major, which I did better on. I guess I kind of got into things by now.

Up next, they ask for the Capriccio Espagnol. I have been practicing the coda a lot, so I'm pretty confident about that. After some shuffling of papers and murmurs, they ask me to play the end section (with the 8th note runs) to the end. Now, I think I played it pretty well and play it at the tempo that I hear in recordings of the piece. It's pretty quick, but I get stopped by one of the techs and he tells me to go back and play it slowly. That should be no problem, but I was apparently very bad with the rhythm. Even now, I don't know what was wrong because I firmly believe that I was playing the correct rhythms. They were snapping their fingers and such and it was very disorienting, but they didn't ask for that section afterwards. So, I'm thinking that now would be the time for sight-reading or for my prepared pieces, ya? I was wrong again. They asked for me to play the section of the 4th movement with the 16th note runs (if you want to call them "runs"). I was caught off guard by this call, and struggled through it the first time. I was BLATANTLY playing the incorrect rhythms, and one of them stopped me to tell me the correct one. After that it was okay.

So, I have prepared the beginning and "solo" sections of Die Meistersinger and H to the end of Tchaikovsky 4, so I'm reading to play, right? LOL NO. On my stand appears Offenbach's "Orpheus in the Underworld". They tell me what they want to hear, so I look at the part. This is the second time that I remember that I am playing a C tuba. It wasn't a totally trainwreck, though. Okay, I'm reading to play the pieces that I've been working on a lot, right?

"Thank you, Mr. Parodi. That will be all."

Needless to say, I was not very happy, but that changed when the director added one more sentence.

"I'll see you in a few weeks."

That was probably the most shocking and surprising thing I heard at the whole audition. I still can't compute how they chose me, but I'm VERY grateful. As I was packing up, they asked me some questions about my education and ask if I have a private teacher. I tell them that I do and who he is, and all three of them knew him! That was pretty cool.

Indeed, I am feeling good in the neighborhood.


-Jackson Parodi