"strive to EX-press not IM-press" – Buddy Baker
The best advice I can give to anybody getting ready to take an audition is to fill your mind with musical thoughts.
First, be sure the tempo of everything you play, and start the inner metronome going at that tempo as soon as possible after you've finished playing what comes before. At the start of the audition, of course, fill your mind with the pulse of the first tempo even before you walk into the room. A steady pulse is a great kind of focusing thought.
Have a reason for everything you play. Know something about every piece - have a visual or psychological image. For example, when I play The Ride, I imagine the monsters flying in attack formation. At the B section of the B Major (F#, G#, E, G#, B...), where the dynamic is marked louder, I imagine a second squadron joining the first.
Know the high point of the phrase and show the listener what that is. Know the softest and loudest thing you will play in the audition.
If you're going to monitor anything physical during the audition, try making it your breath (if you are a wind player). The only downside of monitoring your breath is that sometimes nerves make the breath wobbly, and thinking about it only makes it more wobbly. It can be extremely helpful to find useful visualizations for the most delicate physical activities you have to carry out. For soft playing on a wind instrument, I like to imagine the air rolling slowly down a gentle slope; I control the angle of the slope with the embouchure. Sometimes finding a way to think about your body's activities without thinking directly about your body is the best way to get around the unwanted nervous reactions.
Some other thoughts:
Show how much you love the music you are playing and maybe how much you love your instrument. Demonstrate your joy!
As you get closer and closer to the audition, think more and more about great phrases and less and less about perfect notes.
Tell, don't ask. Don't play anything, ever, wondering how it will come out. Direct it, tell it, be in charge of what comes out, sing it in your brain. If it doesn't come out the bell the way you imagine, that's something to work out practice methods to improve. But keep your imagination in charge, not your body.
All of this needs to be practiced. You can't just turn on these thought processes for the first time when you walk in the audition room. Practicing is for your brain just as much as it is for your body.
And for that matter, follow JayFriedman's advice: dedicate a portion of a practice session every day to getting it right the first time. At some point you will want to play for somebody else, but you don't need to have somebody else in the room to practice the mindset of commitment to the moment. Evaluate what went well and what didn't (a recording device is essential for this), and then figure out how to do detailed practice on the things that didn't.
First, be sure the tempo of everything you play, and start the inner metronome going at that tempo as soon as possible after you've finished playing what comes before. At the start of the audition, of course, fill your mind with the pulse of the first tempo even before you walk into the room. A steady pulse is a great kind of focusing thought.
Have a reason for everything you play. Know something about every piece - have a visual or psychological image. For example, when I play The Ride, I imagine the monsters flying in attack formation. At the B section of the B Major (F#, G#, E, G#, B...), where the dynamic is marked louder, I imagine a second squadron joining the first.
Know the high point of the phrase and show the listener what that is. Know the softest and loudest thing you will play in the audition.
If you're going to monitor anything physical during the audition, try making it your breath (if you are a wind player). The only downside of monitoring your breath is that sometimes nerves make the breath wobbly, and thinking about it only makes it more wobbly. It can be extremely helpful to find useful visualizations for the most delicate physical activities you have to carry out. For soft playing on a wind instrument, I like to imagine the air rolling slowly down a gentle slope; I control the angle of the slope with the embouchure. Sometimes finding a way to think about your body's activities without thinking directly about your body is the best way to get around the unwanted nervous reactions.
Some other thoughts:
Show how much you love the music you are playing and maybe how much you love your instrument. Demonstrate your joy!
As you get closer and closer to the audition, think more and more about great phrases and less and less about perfect notes.
Tell, don't ask. Don't play anything, ever, wondering how it will come out. Direct it, tell it, be in charge of what comes out, sing it in your brain. If it doesn't come out the bell the way you imagine, that's something to work out practice methods to improve. But keep your imagination in charge, not your body.
All of this needs to be practiced. You can't just turn on these thought processes for the first time when you walk in the audition room. Practicing is for your brain just as much as it is for your body.
And for that matter, follow JayFriedman's advice: dedicate a portion of a practice session every day to getting it right the first time. At some point you will want to play for somebody else, but you don't need to have somebody else in the room to practice the mindset of commitment to the moment. Evaluate what went well and what didn't (a recording device is essential for this), and then figure out how to do detailed practice on the things that didn't.
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