Good stuff Gary. Heather, you should take his advice. Many excellent managers on the Major League level were excellent in Triple A but never really made it to the Big Show.
Regards, Joe -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of G Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 2:04 AM To: The Horn List Subject: Re: [Hornlist] questions for paper --- "Gordon, Heather" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm writing a paper...Here're the questions: > > 1. What material (concertos, sonatas, etc.) helped > you most in preparing for auditioning for a major > symphony? The vast majority of auditions require one of the Mozart concerti. Mozart defines a hornplayer. Sometimes Strauss. You should be learning the "bread and butter" literature, and some of the jelly too, as part of your musical training; all of the literature is important. Even Varese. The best preparation for an audition is auditions. Take them every chance you can get. Auditioning is an art-form unto itself, and I'd be willing to bet that like learning to play chess, you have to lose a bunch before you start winning. There are simply too many variations of play that must be taken into account. Very few players win their first audition, and the vast majority never win. Such is the nature of the beast. > > 2. What etudes best prepared you for auditioning? Kopprasch, Maxime-Alphonse, Gallay, Reynolds, Bach Cello Suites, Arban, Kling, Neuling... However, etudes don't really help you to prepare for an audition. Etudes are for training in technique that will get you to the level of being able to audition in the first place. They are a means to an end, that being a well-developed player. Besides...isn't an orchestral excerpt just another kind of etude? > > 3. How do you mentally prepare for an audition? In the same manner that I would prepare for any performance. If you think you will win, you might. If you think you will lose, you will. I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of capable players psyche themselves out. Don't pay any attention to the other players in the warm-up room. They aren't better than you, they just sound different, and their sound may not be what the orchestra is looking for. Better is too subjective a term in a room full of relatively equally accomplished players. And remember - the toughest competition in the audition will come from yourself, not the other players. > > 4. Do you have some sort of ritual (music or > non-music related) you do to prepare for an > audition? No. Why add a ritual to a routine that you wouldn't do for any other performance situation? You're asking for trouble. The morning of the day of the audition is too late to practice. I once had a conductor ask me at a pre-concert rehearsal if I wanted to run through the solo in Tchaik 5. I said "no, if I don't know it now it's too late. Besides...the one I play here in about an hour is going to be the keeper." > > 5. What advice would you give to college-level horn > player about playing in general? Practice. A lot. Learn your scales. Don't be a specialist of high or low horn, master the entire range. There are no specialists anymore; well, very, very few anyway. Don't look for shortcuts; there aren't any. Playing the horn is learning by rote. Play every chance you get...band, orchestra, quintets, chamber music, musicals, opera, bar mitzvahs, dinner parties, whatever. You MUST get used to performing, and there is no way other than doing it. Learn to play natural horn...your aim will improve as well as your finesse. If you don't have a natural horn, just play your double without using the valves. Practice a lot on the F side only for the same reasons. Go to concerts and recitals. Go to masterclasses for other instruments and singers; learn how other instruments approach the fine art of phrasing and shading. Teach young people...teaching wide-eyed children to make noise on a horn will help you solidify your own concepts of how you do what you do in the simplest of terms; you're also passing on a time-honored tradition of playing the horn. And you'll make a few bucks on the side, which is really the whole point now, isn't it? Never blame your horn until all other possibilities are ruled out. Your equipment is not the problem; it's you. > > And again, please give your name and symphony > (unless you're just doing this for fun). Thanks for > the help. Gary Suits No major league teams, but played Triple-A ball in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, and South Carolina. Had to win a few of those jobs. > > Heather "Red" Gordon > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > (If you'd rather answer these questions by phone, > you can email me for my number) > > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/beowulf_36%40yahoo.com > Get Firefox!!http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/central.html _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/joescarpelli%40earthlink.net _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
