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Thread: Audition help and suggestions.

  1. Audition help and suggestions.

    Ok guys I have a few questions for you. I have been in contact with the Army Band Recruiter regarding auditioning for euphonium in the Army Band. In speaking with him, he did seem to have some concerns as I'm not actually a music major, so don't have the years of expertise like many others do that audition. I do have about 7 years of playing experience in total, but that includes 3 years on trombone, 4 years on tuba, and now about a year on euphonium.

    Out of the 3 I feel best and most comfortable on euphonium, and am interested in trying to play professionally. I know really the only place you can do that is the Military.

    With that said, the recruiter told me to send him some recordings of me playing. I guess to see if I can actually play before he wastes his time sending me to MEPS, setting up an actual audition and such. In speaking with him he asked if I could play level 5 and 6 music. Well I'm currently playing with our local community college here in town, and we play level 4 and some low level 5 stuff. Can I sight read it?? Not really. Can I play it after working at it for an hour or 2?? Absolutely. With that practice 3 times a week, and also playing in the orchestra for a local church, I average 1-2 hours of practice per day.

    I guess my main questions here are, with the information I have provided, would it be completely stupid to waste my time to get ready for an audition? I would feel comfortable sitting in with any community band, but I'm not really sure of the caliber of player it takes to make one of the Army Bands.

    If you guys think it would at least be worth my time and I would have some slight possiblity of passing the audition, I would like to know if there are any pieces of music in particular that you would recommend I start working on to prepare for the audition. Also any other tips or info you can give would be great as I'm looking for as much information as I can get. Thanks.


  2. Audition help and suggestions.

    bccromer,

    If I were you, I would send in a tape or audition and let them tell you yes or no. Who knows, you might be good enough right now.

    There is a wealth of really good audition tips under the Euph Auditions link.

    Good luck.

  3. Audition help and suggestions.

    After reading your post there are several things that come to mind and might help you prepare for an audition:
    Sight reading is uber important. Most people say, "oh sure, I can sight read just fine..." but how often do you practice sight reading? This is a very very important skill that is absolutely necessary for passing a military band audition. I'm not sure how exactly the audition is set up for the Army bands but in the Navy band sight reading is HALF of your score, scales are 10%, and prepared solo is 40%. So if you aren't already working on this skill, I would recommend buying as many types of excerpts books as you can find and make sight reading part of your daily practice routine.

    You asked what music you should prepare for the audition... well aside from learning as many band excerpts as possible and becoming a good sight reader, what solos do you currently have in your repertoire that you could prepare to a high enough level that you could play well in an audition? Anyone on this forum could recommend hundreds of solos to you, but that is a bit pointless if we don't the level/difficulty of the solos that you're currently comfortable playing.

    Do I think that you should audition? Definitely, yes. Will you get in? I have no idea. From the information provided in your post it sounds like there is definitely a chance that you might have some improving to do, but then again there are a lot of really phenomenal amateur players out there who were never music majors in college. In the Navy bands if you audition and are not accepted into the program then you are required to wait 6 months before you can audition again. I'm assuming that the army has a similar policy, but it could be different. If you audition and are not accepted then it will probably be a very good eye opening experience for you, and will show you what you need to improve on in order to be accepted. I was in A school with musicians from the Army, Marine, and Navy band programs who all had very different musical backgrounds and experience, and VERY different levels of playing. There were a select few players who probably could make it in one of the premier bands, some upper level players, a LOT of average players, and a small handful of players who really shouldn't have been accepted... Sad, but it's the honest truth. I'm telling you this because I don't want you to be discouraged. I don't know what your playing is like so I'm not going to try to put you in one of the categories that I just mentioned. Take the audition and see how it goes... You either get accepted or you will learn what you need to do to be a better musician. Both are positive outcomes!

    I have several questions for you that are mostly related to your post. You said that you have 7 years of expertise in total... I was wondering what constitutes that expertise? Does that mean that you've been taking lessons for 7 years, performing professionally (getting paid) for 7 years, playing in community bands for 7 years, etc...?
    Are you currently studying your instrument with a professional teacher? If not then you should be, especially if you're preparing for an audition. It is important to have a set of well educated ears that can critique you and help you to improve. Also, what is your practice schedule like and how often do you really practice? Playing in ensembles doesn't count, I'm talking about real individual practice time on a daily basis. As you said in your post you don't have the years of expertise that many music majors have... so you need to make sure that you're practicing at least as much (if not more) than people who have many more years of experience than you if you are going to be competitive with them.
    Gregory E. Lopes
    Euphonium player
    US Navy Band Great Lakes
    US Navy Music Program, 2009-Present

    Besson Prestige 2052

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