Submitted by Sderci on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 09:52
Let's wrap this one up... with the coda! Many audition lists will also include the last page, or coda, as well as the first page. Here it is:
It's basically more of the same, with an unwritten option (one that I accept) to bump the tempo up a bit for a more exciting ending. If you've shown great control and restraint in the main section, here you can show more virtuosity.
Submitted by Sderci on Wed, 05/04/2011 - 09:36
So how do you get it started? I've unfortunately heard many auditions where a candidate simply got off to a bad start and couldn't recover his/her coordination. It can happen to anyone. But you decrease the chances of it happening to you if you have a consistent, and I mean ironed-in, starting routine. Your routine should begin with the violin in a "down" position, as it would be between excerpts in an audition. You imagine that the next excerpt requested is the Schumann. You then put the instrument up and begin. Sounds simple!
Submitted by Sderci on Tue, 05/03/2011 - 16:45
The Scherzo movement from Schumann's 2nd Symphony ties with Don Juan at the top of the "Most Wanted" list for violin auditions. In fact, I remember former Cleveland Orchestra violinist Erich Eichhorn telling me (way back when I was 17), "Don Juan. Schumann Scherzo. Mozart's 39th Symphony. These are what you need to know." I should have started practicing them right away!
Submitted by Sderci on Mon, 05/02/2011 - 18:15
I'm excited! This is the beginning of a project I've been imagining for a while now: an online collection of videos dedicated to the orchestral excerpts. I've always loved William Preucil's CD of selected excerpts, but I've often wished that I could see just how he was doing what he was doing! Today I took out my Panasonic Lumix LX5 and put together a Schumann Scherzo. Here's the video, below which you can download PDFs of my actual part, with bowings and fingerings.
Submitted by Sderci on Sun, 03/20/2011 - 12:04
Fleur and I are anxiously waiting for Akiko to return from LA tonight, where I'm happy to report that yesterday she won the violin audition in the Los Angeles Philharmonic! It's an unexpected return to the orchestra for her, since she was a member from 2000 to 2004 before winning her job in Chicago.
Submitted by Sderci on Thu, 03/10/2011 - 05:04
I write this post on the morning of the finals for our latest violin audition. In just two hours, our hall will be filled with the concerti of Mozart, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Brahms, and maybe even Beethoven (but probably not Mendelssohn). Hopefully by the end of the day we’ll get a new violinist for the orchestra. I was privileged to listen to roughly half of the 150 preliminary auditions this time, but I will not be part of the final committee.
Submitted by Sderci on Thu, 09/30/2010 - 23:00
not "Play it again, Sam" as the saying goes. When Ilsa asks Sam to play "As Time Goes By" in Casablanca, she's asking because he once played it for someone else, and now she wants him to play it for her.
When I play for people in advance of an audition, I usually don't need to do it in the strictest sense: I've played these excerpts for people before, I know in a general sense how I'm going to play them under pressure, etc. But I need to play for people I trust because I need their musical ears, which are different from mine.
