College Marching Baritone Audition

[ElliotPiano]

I have not played Euphonium for the past 3 years and I have a baritone audition for a college marching band May 16. I have been practicing for about 2 weeks and what I am worried about is that my tone quality and endurance in the high register starts to suffer towards the end of my practice. Will 2 more weeks of playing help this or is there anything I can do to improve it?

[Msan1313]

Have you been playing anything else at all? Or has it been a 3 year leave from all music?

I'd really go at it, and focus on long tones, and tone building exercises. It's like working out, because your face after all is a muscle. The more use to it by the time your audition comes around, the better you'll be. So practice everyday and never skip fundamentals. There's not really a trick or anything to it, just practicing.

Best of luck on your audition!

[ElliotPiano]

Thanks for your encouragement! I've only been able to play piano since I moved to a science-oriented high school that does not have a band program, leaving me without a euphonium to practice on in my spare time. One thing that I didn't do when starting to play again is warming-up, which is something that I make sure to do now. So I should just do long tones working up my range, and should I do them chromatically or on a different partial, and legato or tongued?

[TEuph]

I thought most colleges was if you had high school marching experience you're in no need for audition??? Maybe just my school

[ElliotPiano]

It's for OU, so big 12 colleges are probably more selective.

[Msan1313]

So I should just do long tones working up my range, and should I do them chromatically or on a different partial, and legato or tongued?

All of the above! Long tones are by far one of the most important but boring exercises. There are something's that it's quality over quantity, but long tones need to be plentiful and the best notes you play. Personally I always start on all the open notes and go up/down chromatically, and repeat the sequence twice every time a note isn't "satisfactory" for me. Holding yourself to a high standard is the only way to get better (that's the number one lesson DCI has taught me so far).

[graeme]

Hi, I agree about the importance of long tones, I use the format that Steve Mead explains in his long tones video. See the Link. https://vimeo.com/18785136