All-State Band Audition On Saturday! :)

[FltnPicc_David]

I'm so excited! Hopefully I can turn the nervousness that I'll have on Saturday into excitement or relaxation. I hear eating banannas helps. I feel that I am completely ready. Well, my chromatic scale can use a bit more clean up when I slur back down but I can fix that Any tips form past experiences?

[FltnPicc_David]

ALSO! please give me some warm-up tips and maybe also, the Db Major scale is SO hard for me just because of the way the going from the fingering of Db-1 to Eb-1 both going up the scale and back down is. Any tips? I wish I had the roller but I dont.

[fluteguy18]

Okay, even though this sounds nasty, it works, and a lot of pros use this trick for going from low Eb to Db (and vice versa).

Beside your nose, on the outer edge of the nostril, is a patch of skin that has more oil on it than the rest of the face. You can discreetly scratch that area with the pad of your pinky. With this action, you have transferred oils from your face, to your little finger. you can then rub your Eb key, and Db key with the finger, once again transferring the oils. It makes them very slippery, and has helped many musicians over the years (my professor taught me this trick several months ago).

Afterwards, if you desire to do so, you can use a cleaning cloth to remove the oils.


I know, it sounds really gross, but it works. Try it, and you will be shocked.

Here is my advice on the nervousness issue. Dont call the feeling 'nervousness'. Call it "excited' or "anxious". If you say you are nervous you are pushing the performance (audition) away from you. If you are excited, you want to do it, and you recognize the adrenilene, and use it to your advantage. Also, keep in mind that this is not the end of your career as a flutist if you mess up in the audition. Life goes on, and you will be an even better player next time around. However, if you mess up, dont throw the performance away (essentially, an audition is a judged performance).

Here is a story I like to tell people who are nervous. In the most recent olympics, our leading figure skater was Sasha Cohen. She was in the running for gold. However, in her final program, she fell in a jump. This cost her the medal, but she kept on going, even though she knew that gold was out of reach. She kept performing. She still skated as if the fall had never happened, and the audience was moved by her performance despite the glitch. Sasha did not mess up afterwards, because she still wanted to make the best of her performance, and take the audience on a journey with her. Her Russian opponent also fell, but gave up. You could see, that unlike Sasha, she did not try to save the performance. Because of this, and this dissapointment because of a single fall, she let her performance go downhill, only to include more mistakes. Sasha performed, and her opponent did not. Sasha won the silver medal, and her opponent won bronze. All because of the drive to perform for the audience.

If you fumble, dont give up. There is still more of the song to do. Play the song with as much pathos (emotion being carried to the audience) as humanly possible (or appropriete for the piece). Continue to play as if you are still on the right path to take the gold. Then, if you had fumbled, you can show the judge that a simple mistake will not discourage you, and that you are a performer, and are confident in yourself. That quality alone, carries more weight in an audition than a shy perfect audition.

I know you will do well. You have prepared as much as you can. Dont worry. You will be fine. Just remember to save your performance/ audition even if you do mess up.

good luck

[fluteguy18]

Oh yeah... for warm up tips, I reccommend doing long tones. you know... play Bb for 4 or 5 counts, then work downward chromatically all the way down to low C (or B if you have the extra key). Then, do the same thing, but start low, and work your way up. Also, do your scales slowly, then up to the tempo you will be playing them.

Also, a tip on avoiding mistakes that I have, (I know it is too late, but it might help for future times), if you have a piece that is fast, and very technical, learn the piece, and gradually with the metronome, learn to play the piece far faster than the written tempo with good technique and interpretation. Then, when you slow it down to the proper tempo, the piece seems really easy.

However, learn the piece solidly first. then try to work up a faster tempo.

Also, if you have some runs that are a bit shaky, try learning to play them backwards. It helped me a lot in an all-state audition once. It was a 32nd note run that jumped in 3rds and 5ths. Scary....

Good luck!

[flutepicc06]

All of that is excellent advice. Also be sure that you don't show off the mistakes you make through facial expressions/vocals/body language. The judges may or may not be flute players, and may not have any idea you played a wrong note (or missed a rhythm, or whatever) and you don't want to convey that to them by subconsciously flinching when you hear something wrong. Practice in front of a mirror, and if you see signs of flinching, work to correct it. The visual presentation is just as important as the aural one. As for the bananas, the only reason they work is the placebo effect. There is nothing chemically about a banana to make it calm you, so I would not put my hopes on the banana thing.

[fluteguy18]

very true. I hadn't thought of the body language thing. In all of my All-state auditions, there was a HUGE wall, so it didnt matter if we flinched. They couldnt see us.

[FltnPicc_David]

Thank you for all the advice! I will use it all! And in Florida, we don't play live for judges. We record on a CD at a special location with some person who is responsible for our CD and it gets sent to the judges. Phew.

[flutepicc06]

That's a bit different from how I got to do it. We recorded CD's for a preliminary audition, and then auditioned for live judges. Anyway, good luck! Let us know how it goes!

[fluteguy18]

good luck!