Audition Tips

How to practice audition material

  • Obtain audition requirements and materials far in advance.

  • If possible, work with a teacher to help you prepare. If you don’t have a private lesson teacher, ask your band or orchestra director for help.

  • Decide on a solo piece that shows off your strengths — consider range, technical and expressive aspects, dynamics, and style. 

  • Use a tuner and metronome during practice. This will help you correct pitch and rhythm problems as you learn the piece.

  • Prepare expressive parts as carefully as technical parts. Identify the mood and message of these sections.

  • Be aware that the audition committee may ask for only part of a piece. Be prepared to start your piece from various points (not always at the beginning).

  • Be familiar enough with your material so that you can perform it no matter what happens.

  • Yes, you can practice sight-reading! Use an étude book — open to an exercise you’ve never practiced, take a few minutes to study the music, and then sight-read it. Review it for any mistakes you know you made, learning from those for next time. Record yourself for additional help.

  • An excellent goal is to know your scales from memory.

  • Rehearse in your performance/audition clothes. Are you comfortable?

  • Record your audition material using a computer, tablet, or smartphone to assess your strengths and weaknesses. Build up your strengths and work on weak areas.

  • Practice playing in front of an audience and let them critique your performance.

  • Learn the context of your excerpts by listening to the entire piece played by an orchestra. For most pieces there are numerous recordings readily available.

What to do on audition day

  • Dress appropriately and treat the audition as you would a job interview. Let the audition committee know that this is important to you.

  • Arrive early and warm up.

  • Bring music and anything else you might need (extra strings, reeds, etc).

  • Be ready to interact with the audition committee. They are friendly and want you to succeed! Talking and smiling will help you relax, too.

  • Be courteous and professional.

  • Take plenty of time at the audition—there’s no need to rush!

  • Get involved in the music. The audition committee wants to hear the joy and expression of the music as much as they want to hear accuracy.

  • Use your best posture.

  • Relax and breathe! 

  • Keep going even if you make mistakes—don’t quit and don’t panic.

  • Know that if the audition committee asks you to play something with a change it doesn’t mean you played it wrong. They may want to see how you take guidance and make a correction.

  • Enjoy yourself!

  • Practice perspective. After an audition, it’s easy to obsess and overanalyze your playing. But keep in mind that no audition/performance is ever perfect—it is a learning experience. Take away from it what worked and what can be improved on for next time.