Youth Orchestra Audition- Aftermath

[Hemispheres85]

Hello everyone,

I've just come back from my first audition with my state youth orchestra. The scale and Vivaldi sonata movement I played were decent, though not the best I've heard.

I butchered the sight reading though. I got 3 measures in an I lost it completely, despite the fact that I kept going. I think nerves finally got the better of me while I had been holding them off first the first part of the audition.

I guess I'll hear the results soon enough! Anyone else have experience as to how much they take the sight reading into account?

[Cosmos]

Sight-reading is just something that takes practice... One way to do this is picking out etudes and trying to read through them at sight. It's a really important skill.

[Eli_Upright12]

and remember rhythm is always more important than intonation.

[JayR]

Originally Posted by Eli_Upright12

and remember rhythm is always more important than intonation.

I think a better way to phrase this would be to say that even if you make mistakes or land on a note out of tune, you should keep on going straight on in time, no matter what sort of nasty sounds you manage to accidentally make.

[Eli_Upright12]

Originally Posted by JayR

I think a better way to phrase this would be to say that even if you make mistakes or land on a note out of tune, you should keep on going straight on in time, no matter what sort of nasty sounds you manage to accidentally make.

not really the point I was getting at,but also important, what's really important is to show them that you have an internal sense of pulse, the notes can be fixed with practicing more easily than if you can't play in time.

[bblumenthal]

Originally Posted by Eli_Upright12

not really the point I was getting at,but also important, what's really important is to show them that you have an internal sense of pulse, the notes can be fixed with practicing more easily than if you can't play in time.

A phrase I like to tell my students is...

"A right note at the wrong time will ALWAYS be a 100% wrong note; it doesn't belong there. However, the wrong note at the right time is at least 50% right.. it's at the right time!"

The ultimate goal of perfect sight reading is to translate the written page into the exact sounds the composer meant the notation to describe. That's a tall order. However, in an audition setting, START with that goal by REMOVING your instrument from the process. Get the sounds of the written page in your head, in your ear.. sing it in your head until you know for SURE what it's supposed to sound like, with rhythm your first goal followed by the melody. Then, and ONLY then, start planning for how you'd like to produce those sounds on your instrument. Choose intelligent fingerings, check out the written bowings and plan for good bow distribution to allow you to phrase cohesively. Dynamics and articulations will also guide your choice of bow distribution and fingerings; make sure you check those out too.

As a person who has been a judge on hundreds and hundreds of auditions, I can tell you that outstanding sight readers share a common trait; they are rhythmically precise and musically expressive. They do NOT always hit every note perfectly.

Hope that helps a bit!

Best to all...

Barry Blumenthal

[Eli_Upright12]

Thanks Barry, you put it much more eloquently and elaborately than I did.


Hemispheres did you ever get your results?

[Hemispheres85]

Yes, I got the results a few weeks ago.

I got into the highest of the 3 levels of orchestras, which I was thrilled and yet puzzled about. Three out of five bass players of the youth orchestra (highest level) are graduating and many of the players from the orchestra below are not especially dedicated from what I've heard, so I got in with some lucky circumstances.

We'll be playing some challenging music for next year's season and it includes a tour of France next summer! I thought I completely blew the audition, so I'm guessing it was out of desperation that I was accepted. I'm working very hard this summer, I need to!

[Eli_Upright12]

Originally Posted by Hemispheres85

Yes, I got the results a few weeks ago.

I got into the highest of the 3 levels of orchestras, which I was thrilled and yet puzzled about. Three out of five bass players of the youth orchestra (highest level) are graduating and many of the players from the orchestra below are not especially dedicated from what I've heard, so I got in with some lucky circumstances.

We'll be playing some challenging music for next year's season and it includes a tour of France next summer! I thought I completely blew the audition, so I'm guessing it was out of desperation that I was accepted. I'm working very hard this summer, I need to!

No, don't doubt yourself, youth orchestras aren't professional level, your obviously a good bassist and got into the higher orchestra, because even if you had a bad audition they were able to see that you were talented. I had a similar situation we had three graduate and they pulled up four so I guess everyone was good enough that they wanted all of us. They dont put people in the best orchestra just for need, they put the people who should be there in that orchestra. I've been practicing a lot more since then and hopefully will have a legit shot at challenging for the principle spot even though its only my first year in the orchestra. All you can do is practice hard.

[myused_romance]

That's good you got in,

I normally have trouble with auditions, too.
Around my area, most of the youth orchestras require us to do scales, solo, sight-reading, and then a theory & conducting exam.

Recently I went to this college-camp thing,
and when we had placement auditions, I thought I did good on everything except for the sight-reading and theory exam,
It turns out I got last chair in the string orchestra, and after a couple of days of having a rude stand-partner who thought of me as completely stupid, we had re-auditions,
and I moved up three chairs.
And it made me feel good even with the first-chair senior all-state bassist there.

[nfblackburn13]

yeah i was co principal last year with our symphony youth orchestra but that was when we had to just prepare a scale and play an excerpt
this year we have to prepare a scale, a 5 minute solo, and an excerpt from beethoven's 5th
i am planning to do dragonetti mvt. 1 while the other co principal will probably do bottesini or koussevitzky
so in general
i'm screwed

[Eli_Upright12]

Originally Posted by nfblackburn13

yeah i was co principal last year with our symphony youth orchestra but that was when we had to just prepare a scale and play an excerpt
this year we have to prepare a scale, a 5 minute solo, and an excerpt from beethoven's 5th
i am planning to do dragonetti mvt. 1 while the other co principal will probably do bottesini or koussevitzky
so in general
i'm screwed

If you play solid and he hacks his way through bottesini then you'll be fine, both bottesini and Koussevitzky are really hard and take about a year to really get ready. Dragonetti is also difficult but since it is classical era it comes together a lot faster. The trio from Beethoven 5 is tough but just hammer it with a metronome for a couple weeks.

[nfblackburn13]

thanks for giving me hope!
i have been working on koussevitzky and bottesini for a while and the moses variations but have neither of them to audition level
and i have the excerpt under my fingers it just sounds like a herd of elephants
thanks again!

[Eli_Upright12]

which movement of bottesini are you playing? and I assume your playing the first movement of Koussevitzky, correct?

[nfblackburn13]

mvt.1 concerto 2 of bottesini and yes you are correct
they are both giving me trouble because my bass's action is set up for jazz
therefore the intensity of the bottesini is being ruined by buzzing strings
i would change it but i am in the youth jazz orch. and my school's jazz band

[Eli_Upright12]

The bottesini 2 mvt 1 is also an upper level college piece, if your seriously studying that one than koussevitzky should seem like cake. That first movement is really hard, and requires a really wide variety of technique. Why not get adjusters in your bridge so you can go back and forth.

[nfblackburn13]

yeah i am going into sophomore year and bottesini is extremely brutal but me and my teacher study line by line so i can really get it down right now i am just starting on line 9
it is a slow process but it should be worth it
and koussevitzky is just too squeaky to audition on
i am reconsidering right now and thinking about a Iberique Penninsulaire by Rabbath
but yeah i do have an adjustable bridge but i need to get it repaired

[Eli_Upright12]

Try playing the koussevitzky closer to the bridge, if you can maintain a slow bow down there you'll get a bigger, more focused tone with less squeaks. I really like all the Rabbath stuff, I'm playing Poucha Dass right now and think its pretty awesome, how long is there until the audition? I wouldn't switch unless you have a solid 3-5 months.

[nfblackburn13]

there is around half a month but i can play iberique penninsulaire sounding alot better
the only draw back is it doesn't fit the 5 minute minimum and dragonetti barely cuts it not counting my tendency to rush