I am currently preparing for multiple auditions, and am wondering if any of you have advice as to how to prepare? There are so many excerpts and pieces, that I feel my practicing isn't as good and productive as it could be. Many of the excerpts are the same, but then there's that one audition where the whole list is completely different from everything else, adding an extra ten pieces! Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!

Nora

Nora,

From my experience, I have found that there are two types of people-- those who will take every audition possible no matter what and those who pick and choose. The more auditions you take the better chance you have of winning one but you have to ask yourself if, by taking on so many lists and auditions at one time, you're putting yourself in the best possible position at every audition. I think inevitably you will not be prepared as well for each audition since you will spend less time on the excerpts and solos. Also, you must consider how the stress will affect you mentally at each audition. Personally, I'd rather take one audition where I feel fully prepared than 3 where I feel insecure about my level of preparedness. But some people are much more capable of taking on more lists than others.

I guess this doesn't answer your specific question as to how to prepare but I hope these thoughts are something you might take into consideration.

Hi Nora,
I have been on both sides that Ludde mentioned as far as taking as many possible & picking/choosing. I've asked players the same thing & have gotten varied responses. One thing that stuck out was that the odds are better if you take more, esp. if you're prepared for them all, & are getting good signs from some of them (such as advancing). For me, at different phases where I did take more than 1 audition in the same time frame, the rep lists happened to be similar. I basically just treated it like 1 big rep list & tried to forget what excerpt was on what list, that way they all get about the same treatment. If one or 2 "problem child" excerpts (I also call them my nemesis excerpts!) stuck out, then I would keep those up daily, but just touch up on the others until they're not, well, AS problematic. Of course, I focused on the actual rep list a week or 2 before the audition, depending on if I even had that long... in a couple of cases, I only had a few days or a week. I personally did better with more than one list & felt like I slacked off if I had done just one. It's a matter of multi-tasking in a way. Some people do projects well with distractions (such as with a radio, conversation, etc), some don't; some players can find practice & study time, & some do much better without the other. I think you should experiment, if possible, & see where you fit in. I definitely think taking 2 is fine, but if you're talking 3-4 within a month with very different lists, then that's where I'd pick & choose a little more. No matter how ambitious someone can be, it's also very easy to get burned out!

Hi Nora,

I actually know you in RL...but you have to guess who I am!

About your situation, I think you've answered your own question. Lets say there are 3 auditions occuring over month; A & B have very similar rep and C has completely different rep. By eliminating audition list C, you have created more time to properly prepare for auditions A & B.

Preparing for auditions while living in the real world is really about finding the shortest distance between two points - not neccessarily short cuts, but using your practice time in the most efficient manner. If you feel overloaded then you are overloaded at this point in time.

If you are insistant about playing all of the auditions you have scheduled, then you must rotate your excerpts daily. You will go mad practicing 25 - 30 excerpts each day. Categorized them into technqiues and break the entire list into repetitions over two or three days. So, each day you will be practicing a technique related to an excerpt, while you may not play that exact excerpt.

For example: I would put scherzos requiring a light articulation into one pile, long legato phrasing passages into another, crazy fast finger passages into another, etc.

Hope that helps!

I think I know who you are, but I'm not sure...hmmmmm