The final week before the Vermont All State (or other) audition is here – it’s getting close! Take a deep breath, enjoy your accomplishments so far, and check over all the details to make sure your final stretch sets you up to show the best of your abilities. As you go into the final stretch, savor the experience of playing well, and keep working.
First, keep practicing as much as, or more than, ever. I notice a big difference in my tone the more I’m practicing. I find that 1-2 hours a day is minimal to keep my tone at its absolute best, while 45 minutes to an hour is adequate for most purposes. Less than 45 minutes a day and I have notably less control than I would like. If I actually skip a day, it takes a couple of days of practice to feel like I’m up to par. So first, quantity and consistency of practice in the final week counts.
Second, quality of practice counts. A consistent tone warm-up routine helps a lot in general, and particularly at this stage. Listen to yourself – to every note – accuracy and tone – beginning, middle and end; to every phrase – the tone, the shape, the continuity, the breath control, and the dynamics; and listen to the flow as one phrase leads to another – the overall feeling of the piece and what it expresses. At this stage, as mentioned in the last post, the most important part of your practice may be to play your piece through without stops, but listen as each note and each phrase goes by, and come back to those sections that need extra TLC after you get to the end. To reiterate from last post, you may wish to record yourself many times in order to get a more objective view of what you need to come back to – as well as whether today’s recording compares favorably to last week’s recording. And continue performing for anyone you can get to listen.
Keep drilling scales – I recommend flash cards to make sure you’re practicing them in random order. Spend extra time on those that might occasionally have an error, but keep practicing them all. Obviously note accuracy is top priority, but hopefully your scales are learned inside out at this point, and your primary focus can be on tone, intonation, and a little expressive flair! Yes, even scales can be fun, expressive, and have a dramatic flourish!
Do some sight reading each day. Go over all the tips listed in the blog entry linked here EVERY time you sight read. Practicing DOING the steps consistently will make it automatic to think about each step once you’re there. So even though you don’t know what you’ll be reading ahead of time you DO know how to approach it. Remember that it’s not only ok, but recommended and expected that a strong player will take the time before playing the sight reading selection, during the audition, to look over the selection for 1) feeling the beat; 2) rhythmic variation; 3) key signature; 4) accidentals; and 5) dynamics and other expressive markings.
Enjoy how far you’ve come – yes, listen with a critical ear, but also take the time to revel in your progress. Even if you don’t end up being chosen to participate in the festival, you may know that you are a better player than you were before you started working on this piece. THIS is what it’s all about! So enjoy that feeling, regardless of how you or the adjudicators may think you compare to others.
Be prepared for nerves at the audition – hopefully playing for others informally will give you a little taste of how it feels, so those feelings are not foreign once you’re there. Start planning ahead for the following: 1) mark some extra breaths just in case nerves cause you to be shorter on air than you anticipated – and spend part of your practice time getting used to those breaths (additional breathing thoughts here); 2) plan to bring extra water, and be sure to take some sips before you audition; 3) practice focusing your mind on positive thoughts – be prepared to take a moment before your audition for reminding yourself that you have worked hard for this, and this moment is for YOU! (maybe re-read entry #5) Remember that whether you’re at your best or not, it’s a great learning experience. Even if it’s nowhere near your best, you have another notch on your belt and will know how to better approach an audition next time around. Stay focused on doing the best you are able to in the moment, enjoy your own accomplishments, recognize the ways you have grown as a musician and as a person through the experience, and be ready to play your heart out! And remember, the adjudicators are only there to help you to grow as a flutist.
Finally, keep listening to recordings of your audition piece (for Bach click here – or here for thoughts on comparing recordings). Notice something new about a recording. This gorgeous music can make you swoon, can take your breath away, make you lightheaded and send you into a revelry that just makes this old world of ours feel new, exciting, and unspeakably beautiful! Revel, jump, dance, sing along. Allow yourself to be carried into a realm of existence where worries and cares are swept away and only a pure, gorgeous, sublime ecstasy surrounds you in this one perfect moment. That’s what it’s all about – let yourself be absorbed and immersed in it!
