February 3, 2006 at 11:27 PM

I have an audition. Well, it is an interview. It is for GHP. If I make it... I'll get to spend six weeks at Valdosta State University studying music this summer.

I wanted to play haydn Concerto No. 1 for my audition section of the interview. I had my lesson wednesday, and two days before an audition is not a good time to get used to those fingerings.

So, I am falling back on Bach. I thought about maybe playing Mozart 3 (most likely the first movement), since I still have it memorized, but I decided it wasn't a good piece for showing what I can do... even though Mozart is incredibly difficult on a "musical" level.

I chose Bach's Minuets I/II from partita No. 3 to play. It shows my ability to play intune, even with chords, and a certain musicality found in Bach.

With Mozart 3, I could play it, from memory, but I don't think I could do as good of a job with it as I could with Bach.

Plus... I'm sure the judges will hear plenty of terrible renditions of Mozart, and I don't want them to have a certain negative connotation when I tell them what I am playing.

I also have an interview section. It includes music history (simple stuff), average high school level music theory, how is your favorite composer, stuff like that. Plus, they should have some stuff with listening to rhythms and writting them down, as well as identifying intervals and maybe chords.

Hopefully, I can breeze through it.

Switching topics: Intonation has always been a weakness of mine. I practiced it so much that it actual has become one of my stronger points. I used to have a bad bow hand, but I practiced holding the bow and it has become one of my finer spots.

Do we as musicians feel compelled to fix our problems? When I focus on my problems, I tend not to focus on much else. A long time ago, if I was out of tune, I would get so fixated on my left hand that I neglected my right hand. Then, one day no this sight, i found something someone said very interesting: "if you think the left hand is the problem, then focus on the right hand, and vice versa".

I tried it one day and it worked well for my technique. The trick wasn't really focusing on my other hand, but making sure that both got equal attention.

Getting back to intonation... I really dislike performances where a performer is out of tune. It seems like such a simple technique that is neglected, especially in young virtuosos, where the teacher's main concern is teaching them the techniques required for paganini and wieniawski.

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on February 4, 2006 at 3:58 AM

Zowee,
I finally said something useful.
Good luck with your playing and auditions,
Buri

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February 3, 2006 at 11:27 PM

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