This evening I played my first round audition for the Principal horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. As there are first rounds again tomorrow, I will not post the music requested at this time, and will simply say "excerpt one," etc.
I was well prepared for the day. All the training that you are led through really pays off under high pressure situations. Most useful to me, I believe, was Don Greene's audition techniques. Also, Robin Graham's advice to simply "Hit the first note," and let the rest of the excerpt take care of itself was huge.
The audition took place on the stage at Disney Hall, a stage I have performed on several times through CalArts. I even had the chance to play a bit by myself back during the "Slim And Beaten Dreamers" performance. When I played my test notes, therefore, I was familiar with the sound that I got back from the hall. The audition would be over in less than three minutes.
I began with the first excerpt, and nailed it. Halfway through I almost lost concentration, as I had a fleeting observation that "Wow, screwing up right now would be really bad." After putting this tangent in its place, I regained focus on the task at hand. Robin had told me of her experience in auditions, where she was able to enjoy her sound, and the process. I managed this for the last twenty seconds of the excerpt. It was great. No pressure. No nervousness. I was able to concentrate on hearing the whole piece being played around the piece I was playing.
I took perhaps ten seconds between excerpts one and two. Two began well, but my bit of nervous breathing struck soon after. I struggled with one and a half or two seconds of the excerpt, then was back on track. The end was just as good as the beginning. While I was getting the pitch of the next excerpt in my head, the proctor said "Thank you, that will be all." I knew that the jury had heard something to let them know right away whether or not to advance me. Alas, they didn't.
No one in my group advanced, in fact, a group of about fifteen people. I hope they all had as good experience as I did, but that I cannot know. On the whole, I think that there must have been many factors besides whether or not I nailed the rhythms and intonation, which I did, that determined one's advancement to the second round.
I can imagine several of these other factors, such as color, I play with a much brighter sound than the current section, and time / volume of applicants. I'm sure there are others. Then again, maybe I just need to keep on the ball and hit the excerpts for the next year, in order to be in top shape when auditions come up, and not have to work like crazy for four months.
***Edit***
The first round of the audition is over, so I can post the excerpts. The first round list for the audition was posted in the warmup rooms. It was as follows.
Brahms 3
Beethoven 7
Brahms 1 Mvt IV
Stravinsky Fairy's Kiss
Ein Heldenleben (opening through 1)
Schoenberg Chamber Symphony 1 (63 - 71)
