Mississippi College Fall Concert Band

General Audition Information

 

 

1.  Auditions for the Mississippi College Fall Concert Band (and Symphonic Winds) will be held at the beginning of the Fall Semester.  Sign-up sheets will be posted in the Band Hall.  If  you absolutely cannot make it on your assigned day and time, you may talk to Dr. Young about an alternate time.

 

2.  Music can be picked up at the band hall starting one week prior to the auditions.  If you are not in the marching band, you may request to have the music put into your campus mailbox by calling (3439) or emailing Dr. Young (cyoung@mc.edu).

 

3.  Auditions for the wind instruments will consist of four parts:

 

             A.  The excerpts provided in the packet

             B.  Scales up to 3 sharps and 5 flats (C, G, D, A, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db)

                   -These are your instrument's scales, not Concert Pitch scales

             C.  Chromatic Scale the entire range of the instrument (personal range)

             D.  Sight-reading

 

4.  Percussion:  We will not be having auditions, but we will arrange a time to talk about the assignments and maybe discuss technique on some of the instruments.

 

5.  The jury will consist of Dr. Young and at least one other outside juror.

 

6.  The first rehearsal for the Fall Concert Band will be the 3rd or 4th Monday of the Fall Semester at 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm.  The schedule of all rehearsals will be announced.

 

 

Audition Hints: 1)  Do not wait until the night before to learn the music: it won't happen. 2) While preference is given to those who play well AND at the correct tempo, it is more important to play the passages well than at the correct tempo.  Play at a tempo that you can play it RIGHT, rather than playing it at a tempo that is too fast for you to handle.  3)  While points are given for correct rhythms and notes, it is how you play the MUSIC (tone, phrasing, dynamics, articulations, etc.) that is listened for by the jurors.