Audition Tips 2

I would like to reinforce Richard Lewis' point about not playing a piece that you are struggling with. Play a piece that's within your grasp and try to regard the audition as a performance rather than an exam, we're looking for musicians so play a piece that you enjoy playing.

Practice your excerpts with a metronome (I'm presuming your teacher will have done this with you for your pieces)and practice them slowly at first then build up to the required tempo.

Use the time at the beginning of the audition to tune up carefully; the walk from the warm up room to the audition room along a cold, draughty corridor can play havoc with the pitch of your instrument, and when you're tuning play some notes with a full sound; it will give you a chance to get the feel of the room which could have quite a different accoustic to the warm up room.

Finally remember that we all want you to play at your best but we all understand that auditions can be nerve racking; don't be put off by the odd fluffed note, try to keep the music flowing and the duff note will soon be forgotten.

Steve Broom, Viola tutor