Well the i am at the end of my season in one of the few worthwhile orchestras around besides regionals/all state. The wya this works is that there are four levels of orchestra principal orchestra being the highest. i am curently the principal bass player of the orchestra below it, and am looking to make it into the next orchestra when its principal graduates at the end of this season. I need some help picking an audition piece. this season i played the jigue from a Bach suite. help please and thank you.
-nick

Can you be specific on the levels and difficulty of each? Here in Chattanooga we have the CYE (étude string orchestra) CYP (philharmonic full orchestra) and CYS (which I'm in symphony and full orchestra). CYE is for little kids and beginners. CYP is for advancing students who play middle of the road stuff and the CYS plays medium advanced stuff. For example last concert we played La Forza Del Destino, Night On Bald Mountain, 2d. Concerto for violin, and Dvorák 9th New World Symphony. What skill level of music do you think you are at and what skill level is the symphony your trying out at? This will help with recommendations.

Do have a teacher guiding you?? Was the Bach "at pitch" or a transposed edition (either down the octave or an other key??)? If it was "at pitch" I presume you have a very good teacher and therefore should ask their advice - a message board like this is not a good source for advice as we can't hear what level you are at!! You teacher can!! I don't want to recommend something above your level. Good Luck for your audition!! I wish you all the best.

uhhh well it wasnt at pitch cause im pretty sure at pitch its all thumb position which i could not do at this point. well the 4 groups are string which is the little kids, concert which is middle school, symphony, which is mostly lower classman or sucky upper calssman(im the principle bassist in this orchestra) and then the principle, which has some incredible players in it. the last couple of pieces the played included dvorak nine, aaron copelands quiet city, uhhh... im not that good with names, i just need a decent piece for an intermediate bass player. the most recent piece i played in my chamber group was tschaikowsky's serenade, the finale if that gives an idea, also played tschaikowsky's symphony number 34. i apiece for like the symphony would be better as far as difficulty goes seeing as i have a long time to prepare, the entire summer. i only take lessons in the summer, because pretty much everyday im doing some sort of music, and i wanted to have a few pieces in mind to discuss with my private teacher. any suggestions will be fine.

Maybe some of the Bach Cello Suites or the Capuzzi concerto or some of the Vivaldi sonits.

tchaik 34, eh? great piece. ;)
It would be a good idea to find a full-time teacher if this is something that you plan to do in the future. The Bourees from the third bach cello suite would be a good place to start, but you mentioned that you played a gigue for the last audition, nothing wrong with playing that again and rocking it! Capuzzi or Dragonetti would be a good started concerto for a high school audition as well. good luck and tell us how it goes!

actually looking through the bach cello suites im thinking about the prelude of the 2nd suite. its not terrible, and seeing as i have till september to prepare it, it wouldnt be to bad. and the gigue again wouldnt be bad either. mabey ill email my teacher and ask him for suggestions if i can dig up his email address... ill take a look at those menuettos though. thank you very much
-nick

Eccles Sonata in G minor - Last Movement

That's what I auditioned to get in the Chicago Youth Symphony when I was your age.

It's short, showy, and has little thumb position in it. Plus, if you haven't learned the Eccles yet, you will somewhere along the line, so it's best to do it now.

I basically taught the movement to myself in about a month, so I'm sure you could handle it.

oops, sorry for recommending the Dragonetti, I forgot about the part where he mention that he couldn't do thumb position!
So instead I would like to second thelast movement of Eccles. good choice.

Second movement of Eccles is a pretty good choice, too.

thanks ill have to check that out. thank you for all the help.
-nick

I probably wouldn't audition with Bach until later on in life, but that's just my opinion. It's hard to pull off well under pressure at pitch.

its not at pitch. its the peters edition. i couldn't play at pitch right now i can barely do thimb position.

Even the Peters Edition (which I would not use because it rewrites parts of the music deemed too difficult [!] in addition to putting it in different keys and octaves) I would not play for an audition. Bach is difficult music. Try playing Vivaldi or Marcello sonatas instead.

Well the i am at the end of my season in one of the few worthwhile orchestras around besides regionals/all state. The wya this works is that there are four levels of orchestra principal orchestra being the highest. i am curently the principal bass player of the orchestra below it, and am looking to make it into the next orchestra when its principal graduates at the end of this season. I need some help picking an audition piece. this season i played the jigue from a Bach suite. help please and thank you.
-nick

DUDE!!! Im Dennis Caravakis the principle bassist of the principle orchestra. I remember you from the audition this summer. I reccomend you pick up the Eccles Sonata and try and tackle the 4th movement. Eccles does get into thumb though, so maybe you should try some of the Vivaldi Sonatas, get in touch with me. I can always give you a hand if you need it. And who do you take lessons from? Remeber that Mr. G is always availible for lessons, you should talk to him.

By the way im not graduating. Im only a softmore, i got 2 years left in me

P.S. Tchaikovsky only wrote 6 symphonies!!

actually looking through the bach cello suites im thinking about the prelude of the 2nd suite. its not terrible, and seeing as i have till september to prepare it, it wouldnt be to bad. and the gigue again wouldnt be bad either. mabey ill email my teacher and ask him for suggestions if i can dig up his email address... ill take a look at those menuettos though. thank you very much
-nick

For auditions Bach preludes are generally not such a great idea. They're too long and you most likely won't be allowed to finish playing them. The last mvt. of the Eccles sonata is good, the gigue you played before would be good, maybe some Vivaldi as well. However, I'd stick with either the gigue from the 1st or 3rd suite or the minuets from the 1st. They're short enough so that you can get through the whole thing and they've got some nice showy stuff in them. Learn the 2nd prelude for your own personal etification but don't learn it for an audition. Like I said, you'll probably be cut off before you get to the end and the 2nd starts off kind of slow. You don't really get to the meat of it until the last 1/3 of it which I can guarantee you won't get to.

while everyones throwing out the different movement of the eccles ill go ahead and say the first movement, It sounds like your at about the same level as me Nick and the Eccles is a real great sonatta, because its not out of the park in thumb position and it lets you show off a little bit. Im playing the first movement for and audition in April and i think it will do me well, and its for the highest level of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony.

damn you revived an old thread, i already made my audition. thanks for the input though

damn you revived an old thread, i already made my audition. thanks for the input though
How did it go and what did you end up playing?

i played an aria, it was the ct western regionals piece, i moved up to the orchestra i wanted, bumped one of the previous members down a chair, i went from principle of a lower orchestra to the 4/5 chair in the top orchestra, and its going well. i having a fun season so far, and thats what its all about.

When I auditioned for the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, I used the Marcello Sonata in F (first and second movements). There's a little thumb position in the second movement, but this piece was my gateway into thumb position.

If you get tired of your ensemble and really want a challenge, consider the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra (http://www.bysoweb.org/index.cfm), formerly GBYSO (Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra). Many families drive from CT, Maine, New Hampshire, the Cape, etc every week-it's worth it. I have two daughters in the Senior Orchestra, both bassists.