Cold Courante

August 12, 2008 at 11:34 AM

I received a time for my audition for the LSO: August 27th at 7 p.m. This is a Wednesday night, after which I will have worked a full day at my office/lab job. And, even more exciting, it is the day after my daughter's 9th birthday party (not an extravaganza, just some girls going to an art studio, but still).

It was nonetheless still feeling too remote for me to really be able to motivate and focus. I was feeling like the Bach and the Clarke were "done." Or as done as I could get them at my current level, back to the plateau of okayness.

Several blogs ago, Pauline suggested that I view this audition, my first in >12 years, as practicing for how to take an audition. So, to simulate that really authentic sense of terror and brain freeze that has heretofore characterized my audition experiences, I decided to walk into the rec room and play the Bach and Clarke as if I had arrived at a strange place on the T after a full day of work. And record it, knowing in the back of my mind, that I would, would indeed, really post it.

This is the Bach:

The Clarke is still too dreadful to post. My old one is still up, with the video going twice as fast as the sound, and it's funny to watch. But for some reason it cuts off before it gets to the truly appalling part in 7th position. What the YouTube gods taketh away, they also giveth:

After posting the Bach, I was directed towards all sorts of other, better, recordings of the same piece. Besides being reminded again that I need some real recording equipment other than an Olympus waterproof digital camera, I was also struck by the number of players who used rubato. My teacher, and Mendy on this site, have both pointed out to me that the Bach suites are not appropriately played with rubato, so I've been keeping it to a minimum, if not out altogether. I'm used to that interpretation now, but I wonder occasionally if that lack of rubato in my case makes it sound a little mechanical.

For the Clarke, Drew's stratosphere blog came at a good time.

Any other suggestions or comments welcome, including how to combat brain freeze!!

From Yixi Zhang
Posted on August 13, 2008 at 5:02 AM

Brava! Karen, thank you for posting the videos! I enjoyed watching them so much that I watched them twice in a row! Some day I will invest a video camera and post mine too. Some day.

From Karen Allendoerfer
Posted on August 13, 2008 at 10:25 AM

Thanks Yixi! I have my lesson today, and recording the Clarke has really helped me focus on a couple of passages.

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