Auditions

The next month is going to be a very stressful time for me. Though I have finished applying to all of my colleges, I chose to apply to a few music schools. These require live auditions. Differerent schools have different requirements, but most of them make you play one major and minor scale with arpeggios, an etude, 2 contrasting movements from a Bach suite, and a movement from a concerto- all memorized.

The scales are kind of self-explanatory. But the etude is interesting. An etude is a short work designed to hone a certain technique or skill. There are many different composers for etudes with hundreds of etudes between them. Choosing one for an audition is a tricky thing. I chose Kreutzer's etude #16. This one focuses on getting even trills and a reliable bow stroke. Etudes are usually not easy to memorize, but this one is particularly difficult because it is essentially the exact same measure over and over again. There is not much of a melodic line, which is very helpful for memorization.

For my Bach, I am playing the first two movements (Prelude and Allemande) from Suite no. 3, in C Major. This is actually my favorite part of the audition. Both of these movements are relatively simple on the page, but there are infinite possibilities for interpretation and expansion when you delve deeper into the music. Every single cellist and violist has their own style for playing different Bach, and an important part of growing up musically is choosing one you like the best.

The last part of my audition is the movement from a concerto. I am playing Fantasie for Viola and Orchestra by J. Hummel. This piece is split up into 3 sections. The first is similar to a heavy Mozart opera, and is slow and melodramatic. The second is more like a light Mozart Opera. It is faster and less ponderous. The last movement is very fast and is definitely for showing-off. There are tricky technical passages in this third section that are not present in the first two.

The audition process is long and difficult, but it's made a lot easier because I enjoy the pieces that I chose.