The Most Common Audition Mistake

What do you think is the most common mistake auditioners make when preparing an excerpt?

If you've been diligent in your preparation, you spent a lot of time with a tuner and a metronome. Hopefully, you also did a lot of slow practice to really nail all of those shift and position changes. And I hope you gave some thought to the character of each excerpt and how to accurately portray that with sound (hint: it’s all in the bow!!).

Good for you! These are critical aspects of practice, but they won't keep you from making the most common mistake.

Before I give you the answer, you need to remember that audition committees are usually made up of members from the entire orchestra. When you play your excerpt, we’re all sitting there singing our own parts. In your head, do you hear the harmonic shifts underneath you? Do you hear the interplay with the other instruments?

So here's the mistake—a lot of musicians play as if they don't know the rest of the score. When they play excerpts, they don't give the committee members the "space" to hear their own parts.

Next time you prepare an audition, remember that one of the main things the committee listens for is whether or not you know what else is going on while you play the excerpt. Do you know what other instruments play the melody with you? Do you need to adjust your sound so you blend with them? Do you know which instruments are supporting your line? Do you know where your part changes from being the tune to a supporting role for another instrument?

Too often in our preparation, we concentrate upon the specific technical considerations of just our part. It’s really easy to forget that we need to hear the entire orchestra when we make decisions about:

• how to phrase

• where to take time

• where to breathe in a phrase

Listening to the whole orchestra, reading the score, and seeing how your part fits into the entire piece makes you a good team player. And playing in an orchestra is all about being part of a great team.