Standard or Solo?!

[CliffEmAll13]

I am a Junior in high school, and I want to major in performance in college. I am just about to start to prepare for my auditions, but I don't know whether to start the Dragonetti with solo strings or orchestral strings. It obviously doesn't matter for my auditions because there will be no accompanist, but I am also planning on playing this piece with my high school orchestra and with a piano at a competition. Do parts exist for piano/orchestra in standard? Or should I just use solo strings? If so, at my auditions, should I tune down after that piece or play all my music a step up? My teacher has advised against learning the piece in standard and then just tuning up when I'm performing, so I'm quite lost. Any help would be appreciated.

[Johnny L]

I don't remember attending a master class and watching David Neubert, Paul Ellison or Jeff Bradetich making an issue of this with their students. But they did take their students to task for not playing their prepared excerpts. I'd guess that playing the concerto well should be your #1 priority, with the solo vs. standard tuning issue being a very distant second.

If you've already knocked out the suggested #1 priority, then I'd say stay in standard tuning unless you have 2 basses to wow the committee with.

Cliff Burton does indeed rule in my book too, for what it's worth.

[Mike Goodbar]

Originally Posted by CliffEmAll13

I am a Junior in high school, and I want to major in performance in college. I am just about to start to prepare for my auditions, but I don't know whether to start the Dragonetti with solo strings or orchestral strings. It obviously doesn't matter for my auditions because there will be no accompanist, but I am also planning on playing this piece with my high school orchestra and with a piano at a competition. Do parts exist for piano/orchestra in standard? Or should I just use solo strings? If so, at my auditions, should I tune down after that piece or play all my music a step up? My teacher has advised against learning the piece in standard and then just tuning up when I'm performing, so I'm quite lost. Any help would be appreciated.

Try Liben . I think they have a version in standard tuning, edited by David Walter.