Im auditioning for a youth orchestra.....?

Question

i play the flute and piccolo.i have to play a major and minor scale, and i cant decide on wich 2 scales to play. what 2 scales do you think i shold play?

Answer 1

1: Learn ALL your scales

2: Play any one, because they should all feel as easy as one another.

Or, play the one with the most flats and sharps.

Answer 2

Ideally, you should be able to play all of your major and minor scales from memory.  However, I do remember having to practice those scales A LOT in high school (and college) to really get them under my fingers.   In college, I had to play major, all three forms of minor, octatonic, pentatonic, and whole tone scales each week in studio from memory.  However, that's an entirely different topic within itself. :)

However, assuming that you're going to be working on memorizing all of your scales, I'd play the two scales that you are the most familiar and comfortable with.  When you're auditioning, you don't want to be stumbling over scales that you don't know.  Once you know of which scales you want to do, practice them so that you can play them "cold" for the audition.  If you struggle with accidentals, I'd recommend C Major/A minor (no accidentals), F Major/D minor (1 flat), or G Major/E minor (1 sharp).  

If possible, I would play the scales full range of the flute---C to shining C as my flute teacher would say.  If not, then do at least two octaves to show your ability to play in the different octaves at an even tempo.  

Good luck!

Answer 3

Personally, I think the F major scale is the easiest to play on the flute.  The D minor scale is alright too.  I don't like minor scales though.  

So, if I was playing two scales, I'd pick F major and D minor.  

Good luck!

Answer 4

I play trumpet and I find it's always best to play a midoctave range such as you a flat (concert B) and a higher octave such as e flat (concert f).