Judgement Day by Phillip O. Paglialonga
With focused preparation, your students can learn that a successful audition is not always about winning
Every year band rooms across the nation are filled with anticipation for the upcoming honor-band audition or solo-and-ensemble competition. Nerves are on edge. Can this energy be harnessed for a superior performance? By learning to set a firm foundation of careful preparation, students can turn these stressful moments into the highlight of their school year. Here's how you can help.
Setting goals
Before beginning any sort of audition preparation, it is important to set appropriate goals, which will help create a sense of purpose and also a means of evaluating success. Spend a few minutes discussing these goals with students at the very beginning of the process. These goals should reflect the students' own feelings, which helps them understand that achieving them is in their best interest.
The specific goals you set should reflect what would best enable your student to be successful in the long term. To this end, winning is never an appropriate goal. Make it a point to explain to students that they can do very well and not win; or play poorly and still come out on top. Because winning has more to do with outside factors, it cannot be used to create a sense of purpose or to gauge success.
It is best to have some sort of general musical goal and a preparation timeline for each student. Musical goals could be to maintain a beautiful sound, to ensure that all dynamics and articulations are clear, or to maintain concentration. Obviously, more advanced students will require more specific musical goals.
A preparation timeline provides a good way to set incremental goals. Make a calendar with specific goals to be achieved by certain dates. Physically writing out a timeline can help students structure their practice time leading up to the audition. Make sure that the schedule you set is front-heavy so that the student will have adequate review time in the final days before the audition.
Musical consideration
Musical preparation for an audition is different than for a concert. The more stressful an event, the more repetition it takes to secure positive results. Under pressure, students generally perform at the same success level as they do during practice. In other words, if a student plays a passage ten times and manages to play the passage perfectly eight times, one should expect an 80 percent chance that the passage will be done correctly in an audition. Too often, students do something correctly only once after having played it incorrectly hundreds of times and then wonder why they were not able to execute the passage under pressure.
When working with students, try to imagine what comments the judges will make. Most judges tend to look at four broad categories:
Articulation — both in quality and speed.
Intonation — both with others and as an individual.
Rhythm — accuracy, with steady and appropriate tempi.
Character — lots of it, to create interest.
These areas are broadly accepted and far less subjective than other concerns. Use these categories to suggest strengths and weaknesses to your students, which will help them begin to think in terms of these four categories. Also have students evaluate their own performances in each of these categories.
Try to phrase all comments and criticisms in a positive way when working with students. Ask them to "maintain a steady pulse" instead of "don't rush." By phrasing things this way, you highlight the solution to the problem so that students instantly have a direction to follow. This will help build confidence for the audition because they will know what they need to do to perform at their best.
Stage fright
Whenever the subject of auditions comes up, the discussion inevitably turns to stage fright. What causes stage fright and how can you help students overcome it? There are many causes of stage fright, including a fear of failure, poor preparation, inadequate positive repetition and persistent negative thoughts. Fortunately, stage fright is not a terminal condition; it is merely another obstacle one must work to overcome.
The best way to become more at ease in an audition is to experience as many auditions as possible. One way to gain this experience is to have a mock audition. If you have multiple students participating in the same audition, get them together and have them take turns playing for each other. Then, after everyone has played, have the group make observations about what they have heard. You might also ask your students to bring a few friends to observe the mock audition. Even if the people observing the auditions do not make comments, the experience of performing under pressure will be invaluable for your students.
In the weeks leading up to an audition, try simulating the stage fright your students will likely encounter. After playing a normal warmup, they should put their audition music on their stands ready to play. Then have them engage in some sort of physical activity to increase the heart rate, such as running in place for a minute. Once the students are slightly out of breath, have them sit down and spend ten seconds or so mentally preparing to play. Have them concentrate on slowing down their breathing and thinking about the music. Then have the students play the entire audition once through. It will no doubt be more difficult than usual. This is intended.
Mental preparation
The value of mental preparation for an audition should not be underestimated. When using our minds to imagine an audition, we can develop habitual success from always practicing perfection without the possibility of failure.
Have students set aside a few moments each day to imagine the audition. Although this can be at any time of day, it can be most effective right before going to sleep at night. In the moments before falling asleep, the mind is at its most relaxed, and suggestions are easily accepted into our subconscious.
Ask students to visualize every conceivable detail of the upcoming audition. Have them imagine what they will be wearing, what they will do when they are waiting to play, the size of the room they will play in, and what they will play as a warm-up. The more detailed the visualization, the more useful it will be, as the students can create a sense of familiarity with a foreign situation.
Presentation at the audition
Whenever adjudicators can see the candidates, visual presentation must be considered. Applicants should look clean and should be neatly dressed in a comfortable yet professional way. Be sure to remind students that appropriate clothing for an audition is not the same as that for the prom. When in doubt, dressing on the conservative side is best.
Similarly, the way students carry themselves at the audition should be polite and courteous. They should concern themselves only with their own performance and not worry about what others might be doing. Students should be especially courteous to those running the audition. These people are often volunteers who have given their time to make this opportunity possible. Besides, you never know when one of these people might have some input in the judging process.
Events like solo-and-ensemble competition sometimes allow a small audience to observe the audition. Anytime there is an audience applauding a performance, all performers must bow at the conclusion, just as they would for an ordinary concert. Explain to students when they must bow, and rehearse their bows with them. Also make it clear that not bowing is a rude gesture to the audience and is unacceptable.
When rehearsing a student's bow, have him or her go outside the room and then return as if coming in to a real performance. Once he enters the room, he should stand and face the audience with feet together, making eye contact briefly. Then he should bend at the waist with his head falling toward the floor for two or three seconds before standing up tall and again making eye contact. Be sure that during the bow, the student's eyes are looking down, not out toward the audience.
When entering the competition space, students should play without any undue delay. Judges begin to form opinions from the moment the audition begins, not the moment when music begins. However, students do need to take whatever time is necessary to ensure a successful audition. It's their audition, and they should make sure it counts.
Final thoughts
In the end, the judges will come back with results, and of course you will hope to find your students at the top. However, always remember that what the judges decide is not the sole indicator of success. Look back at the goals you set with your students, and assess if the audition was successful in those terms. Also consider what could be done differently to improve your students' chances in the next big audition.
Phillip O. Paglialonga is based in Michigan, where he maintains an active career as a clarinetist and as a music educator. He may be reached at ppaglialonga@hotmail.com.
