Audition Tips

Well... I meant to post this a really long time ago, but... life kind of got in the way. So, finally, here it is: Rosetail the Flutist's Guide to Surviving Solo Performances! This could be for an audition of some sort, a Solo & Ensemble performance, and some tips are universal enough to be used for a drum major audition.

Let's start with the night before your performance. You're probably chilling at your house, eating ice cream or chocolate to help calm yourself down, and resisting the urge to practice every waking moment before the next day.

Tip #1: Don't practice. At least, not a lot. I know, you're thinking, Oh my gosh, there's so much I still need to work on! I'm not ready! But while running through it will help you calm your nerves about not feeling prepared, having a full-out practice session will just stress you out. And if you're a brass player, it'll be hard on your chops to practice a lot the day before a performance.

Tip #2: Go to bed early and get a good night's sleep. Even though you might feel like you can't sleep because you're too nervous, going to bed earlier will help by giving you more time to calm your brain down and fall asleep. I have also found that listening to "Rest," (a concert band piece mentioned in one of my other posts) or some classical piano music helps me relax and fall asleep.

On the day of your performance...

Tip #3: Get up early enough to have plenty of time to eat a substantial breakfast and get dressed and stuff, so you're not rushing around at the last minute.

Tip #4: When you wake up and realize what day it is, stop yourself before that sickening dread settles in your stomach. Instead of feeling incredibly nervous, be excited. I know, it sounds crazy to be excited about a performance that you aren't actually looking forward to, but then fake it. Pretend that you've been anxiously anticipating this performance for months not because you want to get it over with, but because you are excited to show off what you can do. Trust me, it helps. I wouldn't have done nearly as well on my drum major audition this year as I would have if I hadn't been overly excited about it all morning.

Tip #5: Warm up, but don't overheat:). Warming up is great, of course. It helps you focus, have your best tone and intonation, and feel more confident. However, I've found that if you do too much warming up, you'll wear out your chops and stress yourself out before your performance. I would suggest just a couple of scales (full or most-range chromatic and then a few that pertain to your piece such as the major and minor scales for the key signature it's in), get the tuning note for your instrument and a few extra-important notes of your piece in tune, and then play a couple of the harder excerpts from your piece to feel confident about them.

Tip #6: BREATHE. Seriously, deep breathing is one of the best ways to calm your performance anxiety. So take several deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth, and focus on the music. Only the music. Nothing else.

Tip #7: Think positively. It's natural to think negative things like, "I'm going to fail. I didn't practice enough." or "That section still isn't good enough." or "Why am I doing this anyway?" These thoughts are not going to help you perform better, and therefore should be banished with more positive ones like, "I'm prepared. I'm going to be just fine." or "It'll all be okay." I know, it's hard, and believe me, I've had some serious issues with this in the past, but you can do it. Even if you can't replace the negative thoughts, at least catch them and choose to ignore them.

Tip #8: If you remember nothing else, keep in mind that this solo performance isn't really that important. I mean, if it's a college audition or something like that, its outcome obviously makes a big difference, so that's an exception, but in that case, why would you jeopardize such an important performance by being overly stressed and negative? You can choose to control your performance anxiety. It's difficult, but you can choose to overcome it.
As for performances like those at Solo & Ensemble Festival, the performance itself isn't really that important in the grand scheme of things. What happens during that ten minute period of your life isn't going to make much of an impact at all. What matters are the many things you learned from preparing that solo, and the more advanced musician you are because of it. So go in there with confidence, and as someone from my school said to me before my district S&E performance this year, "Play your heart out."