Audition Prep
It’s been ages since I took an in-person audition for anything. I’m talking around 10 or 11 years. Auditioning isn’t my favorite thing in the world to do (I mean, does anyone really enjoy it?) and for the longest time, I had it in my head that I just wasn’t an “orchestra” flutist because of things that happened in the past. We really can be our worst enemies.
As I met people after college and started networking, I was asked to join various orchestras and have found success and massive joy in playing alongside so many different musicians. The anxiety around playing in orchestra faded and my viewpoint of myself started to shift. It’s been a long process and I play the imposter syndrome game often, but I’m gaining confidence in putting myself out there.
Which brings me to this moment in time - I’m auditioning for things again! Join me as I find my footing in creating a practice routine again and what I notice in the practice room.
Today’s practice consisted of:
Tone exercises (thanks to teaching a UNH SYMS flute masterclass where we worked on long tones!)
Maquarre Daily No. 2 - flexibility exercise
I’ve been noticing myself feeling pretty tight, but in embouchure and in my shoulders/chest. I just finished up PT less than 6 months ago and have been getting trigger point injections every 6 weeks for some shoulder/trap issues and I don’t want to injure myself again. I went slower than I thought was necessary so that I could notice what my body was doing as I jumped around the different registers. If you’ve ever done grounding exercises, I did something similar to that where I did a quick body scan every time I made a larger leap. What was my mouth doing? Was the inside of my mouth open enough? Was I setting my jaw in one place and needed to free it by balancing my head over my shoulders? Was I rounding my shoulders forward and rolling my right shoulder blade up? Towards the end I found myself cracking far fewer notes and being less sore than I normally would be.
T & G # 1
Articulation has always been super tough for me, especially lately where I haven’t been uber focused on it. I played through No. 1 with the 3rd articulation pattern focusing on keeping my tongue light and nimble while at the same time keeping a supported sound through all registers. I noticed a tendency for my tongue to start making the articulation further back on my tongue meaning that I wasn’t creating the “ta” sound with the tip of my tongue resulting in a stuffier sounding articulation that often cracked notes. When I noticed it, I just attempted to lighten up again.
William Tell Overture excerpt
This excerpt has always given me anxiety. I have always felt slow in articulation and the rhythm of the grace notes and the rests has always thrown me off. I’m taking the advice I always give my students - practice things WAY slower than you think you need to. I’m focusing on getting the correct rhythm and clarity of articulation before moving faster.
Beethoven Leonore No. 3 excerpt
Aiming for a strong first low D and clear articulation up to the legato section. Legato section should be a little stronger and very rhythmic. I noticed that my jumps towards the end of the section were fuzzy and a little messy, so some slow work needs to be done on that.