Audition Challenge Week 6

I told you this was coming. It's the best part of any audition prep, regardless of instrument. That part, where you check your list and you see the names Daphnis and Chloe, and you're like "Aah yeah, gonna get my noodle on!"

You pull out your music, listen to your favourite recordings, get yourself into a sensuous headspace, and...painstakingly practice the opening passages with a metronome in various rhythms and with emphasis on different parts of the beat until things start to even out. It takes time, hard work, and brutal honesty. Sometimes accidents happen. Sometimes you do something stupid.

If only there was an easier way!

But, eventually it kind of starts to come together. Then you remember there's a big ol' solo a few pages later that you should probably pay attention to. It's only one of the most important solos in flute repertoire. Then you take all the joy of your noodle practice and try as hard as you can to convey it in something that is distinctly less noodle-y. Doesn't work. Then you come at it from another angle and try to feel the harmonic changes and let that dictate how you feel during the solo. That works a bit better, but the opening is just stuffy and feeling unloved.

Then you go back to the flute doctor and get your baby back. This is where the tides turn, and things are MUCH easier. Still not 100% for the opening to the solo - and let's be honest, it's not exactly easy, there's a reason you're asked to play it. But, still, it's better, and you're just so happy to be reunited with your favourite metal tube that the joy just radiates out of every note.

It's no Kuzco-topia, but it's a close second.

And so it goes, dear reader. Tone colour returns, intonation drastically improves, notes are now connected and your sound actually goes somewhere.

Then, one fateful day later, upon listening to your most recent run of Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun, you're reminded that a beautiful sound is not everything you need to pay attention to, as fun as that may be. The audition panel does expect you to count, after all.

Back to reality, slacker.

So anyway, that was my week. The only thing that would have made it better would have been if my favourite ramen place wasn't closed on the day I had time to go. Alas...

Next week is a visualization exercise, so there's no video required. I will likely do a big mock audition and post that at the end to see how things progress.