Things I Noticed in All State California Honor Band/Orchestra Recordings
Things I Noticed in All State California Honor Band/Orchestra Recordings
by Sean Reusch
Last year I had the great honor of judging round 2 of the All State California Honor Bands and Orchestra auditions along with another judge. Forty nine students submitted recordings (39 tenor trombones and 10 bass trombones) The audition piece for the tenor trombones was sections of Ferdinand David’s Concertino, and the audition piece for the bass trombone was sections of Alexander Lebedev’s Concerto. In addition, applicants also had to record two major scales, two melodic minor scales, and a chromatic scale. Thirty-nine tenor trombones and ten bass trombones submitted recordings for the All State California Honor Band/Orchestra auditions. Recordings were submitted and assigned numbers so students remained anonymous to the judges.
There were 5 scales and each was judged in the following way:
Tone - 1-10 points
Intonation - 1-10 points
Rhythm/Tempo - 1-10 points
Articulation - 1-10 points
Phrasing - 1-10 points
The Solo was judged the following way:
Tone/intonation - 0-50 points
Accuracy - 0-50 points
Articulation - 0-50 points
Musicality - 0-50 points
I heard lots of great music-making! Here are some things that I heard on the recordings - I hope this feedback is valuable to you. Remember that preparing for the audition is an incredible way to get better on your instrument. Go for it!
Keep time during rests. Remember rests are measured silence. Keep time throughout!
Microphone placement - experiment how close or far the microphone is from your bell. Some people played too close or had the gain too high so their sound got distorted. Be sure to have a sound check to check levels and the quality of your sound on the recording before you start recording.
Try to record in a room that that is quiet and not super boomy.
Practice for a week or two playing straight through your scales and solo before you record. It’s a fantastic way to work on focus, how to practice recovery when one makes a mistake, endurance, and gives you a realistic picture of how well one can play the music. It seemed like the recording was actually the first time some people tried to play through their music without stopping.
Many people played their solo well. It seemed that some people didn’t put the same effort into their scales. Remember that the scales count as a third of your score. If you play them well, scales can get you into honor band, and if you don’t, they can keep you out. Be sure to spend time on them! Focus on clear articulations, great time, great tuning, and consistent beautiful sound. Play them every day!
The chromatic scale was consistently the weakest scale of the five required scales on the majority of the recordings. Be sure to focus on playing in-tune half steps! Also, practice breathing in time. It is helpful to take breaths earlier and more often when you don’t need them as much (sip breaths), rather than later, when you are almost completely empty. It’s very challenging to take a completely full breath in a split second. I also find it helpful to practice glissing the chromatic scale to practice steady air and the timing of one’s slide.
Try your best to play your scales at the required tempo. HOWEVER, it’s better to play your scales at tempo where you can actually play them with great tone, tuning, time, and articulations. If you need to go a little slower to sound great, do it!
Practice recording yourself each week. You could tell that numerous people don’t record themselves often. Recording oneself is an art and takes time to get better at doing it (ie. focus, the ability to play one’s best at a specific time, mental and physical stamina, mastering nerves). Listen back and take notes. This is one of the most important things you can do to improve very fast. When listening back, focus on one thing at a time such as tone, rhythm, tuning, articulations, dynamics, and phrasing). This information is gold!
Practice playing a much wider dynamic range (soft and loud), but especially in the soft dynamics. Great brass players can play very soft. Many people sounded like they played mp-mf. Be sure to play with a beautiful, focused sound in the p dynamics.
Pay close attention to the articulations! Be sure to play the ink and not any articulation that makes the music easier to play. It’s helpful to play the music slower to allow one to be precise with the articulations.
Be careful of dotted eighth and sixteenth rhythms. Many people sounds like the played them like triplet eighths (swing).
Be careful of notes at the ends of phrases or before breaths. Many people clip these notes. Be sure to taper them.
Some people played very aggressively on their recordings, often with harsh tones and articulations. Be sure to play confidently with a beautiful tone, clear articulations, with expressive phrasing, and with a sense of ease. Be sure to play under control.
Remember the three T’s - Tone, Tuning and Time. These three things are essential to focus on to really sound great, especially on a recording.
It’s more important to submit a solid recording where one plays with a beautiful sound, in tune, clear articulations, great rhythm AND making music. Focus on consistency. I heard several recordings where people tried to play perfectly in regards to notes, rhythms, articulations, etc but played monotone. Always put music first and play expressively!
Be sure to lubricate your slide and oil your valves. The clanking and the scratchy-sounding slides really detract from the performance. Remember that your instrument is a tool for your music-making. If the tool doesn’t work well, it limits how well you can make your music.
Relaxed breaths! I heard a lot of noisy, tense breaths. Remember to fill up in a comfortable and relaxed way. Whatever goes in, goes out. If you breathe with tension in, then you will have tension out and this affects everything in a negative way.
Empty your slide! Some people played with lots of condensation throughout the entire recording. We want to hear beautiful sounds - not gurgling notes!
Choose your breathing spots carefully. Be sure to serve the musical phrase - don’t just breathe in any spot! Listen to great artists perform the solo and imitate where they take breaths
Don’t record everything on the same day if possible. Take breaks! Some people sounded very tired because they probably had recorded multiple times in a row.
Don’t wait until the last day to record your audition. Record a little each day the month before the recordings are due. By doing this, you won’t be under pressure and can select the best take.
Make sure the breath matches the music. Some people took gigantic breaths for really soft sections.
Be sure to listen to your recording before you submit it! Make sure all the sections are included and that you selected the best takes.