Viola auditions?

Question

I have been playing the Viola for 8 years and I have auditions for 4 different orchestras coming up. Audition material includes two and three octave scales, audition excerpts (bear in mind that for most of the excerpts, I have no composer, piece, or even time signature given to me), a prepared piece, and sight reading. My nervousness during auditions always seems to just destroy all the focus and knowledge of the music that I had before the auditions, so I wanted to know if you guys had any tips for beating nerves and generally giving a stellar audition.

Thanks much!

Alice

Answer 1

oooo. I'm an oboe major and it's the same process going into college.

You have to remember that a judge is someones opinion of you. It doesn't make you any better or worse than you were yesterday.

Just do as they say and act confident. They told me I'd hve to know like 10 scales, but I auditioned in 3 places and only 1 made me do a scale. (I passed all of them by the way).

So yeah. Just be you

Answer 2

See:

What is the best way to avoid being nervous at a jury or an audition?

http://beststudentviolins.com/AuditionsG...

If you have time, you might find an audition coach, also.

Good luck!

Answer 3

I have never been able to completely dodge the nerves, but the best advice I can give is to work like a dog and really prepare your excerpts and scales.  Theoretically, if you are well prepared, there is no reason to be nervous.

Unfortunately, that thinking never fully worked on me either.  I suggest that you practice playing through your excerpts, even if there are errors, so you work on the flow.  If you miss a note, that's just a speck in time.  But if you stop to fix it, that's a brick wall at 45 mph.

Try to get lost in your own music, so that the rest of the world just melts away.  That way, when you are auditioning, it's just you and your viola - all alone, making beautiful music.

Good luck!

Answer 4

What you need to do is practice as much as you can right before you go to sleep. It's clinically proven that if you study a thing before you go to sleep, you'll remember it better. And, all you have to do at the auditions is close your eyes, take a deep breath, and let the music flow through you.

Answer 5

Practice as much as you can. It helps you feel confident that you will do well, if you already know you did the way you wanted over and over.