Auditioning at The New School

[cjmodulus]

Hey all, I don't wander into the Double bass side of the forum very often, but I figured this was a good place to post this.

I have my audition at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary coming up in a few weeks, and I was wondering if anyone here has auditioned/attended the school, and if anyone has any advice or knows what exactly they're looking for in potential students. I plan on auditioning on electric and upright, and the tunes I have prepared are;

Ballad- in a sentimental mood (arco)
Up-tempo- ornithology ( if I can get that darn last phrase clean, if not it'll probably be all the things you are)

I need to pick a blues, but I'm not quite sure what to do. Now's the time would be easy, but that tune probably gets done to death at auditions. I can play the heads alright, and my walking is fairly strong, but I'm not super confident with my soloing yet. I can make the changes alright, but my sense of melody and phrasing still needs a lot of work...
If anyone has any advice or suggestions, I'd really appreciate it!

Edit- I should probably add that I only really started playing the upright seriously last year as a junior- I was forced to pick it up as a sophomore for school, but I didn't really start to like it until last year. I've managed to make the all state band (somehow) this year, if that can give any help as to measuring where I am development-wise.

[cjmodulus]

Almost 4 hours later bump? Would this have been better placed in the jazz technique section? It is about auditioning to a jazz school, but it's not necessarily technique related...

[MaxJohnson]

I went to that school, and there are a few things to know for your audition. Be confident, know the heads to all the tunes you are going to play, even if you don't plan on playing them, audition on whichever instrument you are stronger on. I auditioned on electric bass, but studied upright at the school, because I probably wouldn't have gotten in on upright. Now's the Time is a fine tune, all the standards are fine, as long as you play them like you mean it. If the tune has lyrics, at least have an idea of what they are so that you can appropriately phrase the head. Make sure you play your uptempo tune UPTEMPO, if you can't totally burn it down that's fine, but don't think medium is the same as fast. Bring CORRECT charts for all the tunes you want to play.

With all that, you should be fine, and remember to relax. It's only college, and JAZZ college nonetheless...

[cjmodulus]

Thanks so much for your reply Max! So if I were to take ornithology at around 180 bpm, would that do?
As for which instrument I'm stronger with, it's sort of a toss-up- I haven't use the electric for jazz really since I got serious on the upright. I think I'm about even on both of them at the moment...

[cjmodulus]

Figured I'd bump this to see if anyone else had some input. Would playing bluesette at about quarter =180 be sufficient for an up tempo tune? I'm a bit more confident improvising on that than I am on ornithology. Thoughts?

[cjmodulus]

One more bump? It's tomorrow and I'm somewhat nervous...