{"id":1885,"date":"2015-05-27T15:18:53","date_gmt":"2015-05-27T22:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=1885"},"modified":"2018-02-20T11:05:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T19:05:53","slug":"5-ways-to-prepare-for-an-audition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/5-ways-to-prepare-for-an-audition\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Prepare for an Audition"},"content":{"rendered":"

by October Crifasi<\/em><\/p>\n

Preparing for an audition or competition can feel overwhelming at times, especially if you\u2019re new to playing live in front of an audience. While the stakes may vary from the festival stage to the audition room, one truth carries through them all \u2014confidence and comfort with your repertoire and interpretive voice is a must. Dividing up your work and applying focused practice will get you well on your way, as will the following tips.<\/p>\n

1. Play in Front of an Audience as Much as Possible.<\/h3>\n

It doesn\u2019t have to be in a concert hall. Play in front of your friends, your relatives, your neighbors. Performing often in front of others works out the nerves that come from playing publicly. The only way to develop comfort on stage is to consistently put yourself in the live stage fire, so to speak, and play your way through to the other side of it. Set up a situation in which you have a good chance of failing so you can have the experience and move on, noting what will work better the next time (and be sure to schedule that next time).\u00a0 Play in a variety of environmental conditions\u2014uncomfortable chair or a cold room, for instance. The more comfortable you are in these uncomfortable conditions, the less nerves can get the upper hand if you stroll into an audition to find the room is freezing.<\/p>\n

2. Record Yourself.<\/h3>\n

Record yourself doing a full run-through of your program. Record it early enough in the day so you will have time to listen to it in the evening. This is a performance run-through, not practice time. Recording your performance allows you to hear what is working and what may not be.\u00a0 It will also help you to get used to and comfortable with your own unique sound and interpretive voice.\u00a0 Once you get a sense of that voice, see if you can then listen with a critical ear\u2014as if you were listening to another guitarist and make changes based on how you would critique them.<\/p>\n

3. Visualize the Performance.<\/h3>\n

Visualization is, in essence, the mental practice of knowing your program inside and out. Picture yourself sitting in the audience watching yourself as you give the best performance possible.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve recorded yourself, visualize yourself playing as you listen. Should you not have a recording, imagine yourself playing through the entire program.\u00a0 If you make a mistake while mentally playing, stop and start from the beginning and run it again. Athletes often use visualization as a part of their training, fully sensing every movement in the body as he or she heads to a successful crossing of the finish line. Much like an athlete you are creating a physical and mental experience of success for yourself each time you visualize; you don\u2019t want to incorporate a mistake into that experience.<\/p>\n

4. Find the Piece that Best Represents You.<\/h3>\n

\u201cFind that one piece that sums you up, one where you really think and delve into the interpretation,\u201d says Dr. Steven Thachuk, director of Guitar Studies at California State University Northridge (CSUN). \u201cYour concentration level is something that you can communicate to other people. When you concentrate for 15 or 20 minutes and 90 percent percent of the audience is with you the whole way that means you\u2019ve done something fantastic. If you can pull off a feat like that\u2014where you\u2019re concentrating, you\u2019re focused, and you\u2019re sure you\u2019re bringing everyone along with you\u2014you\u2019ll probably win that competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

5. Refrain from Judging Yourself.<\/h3>\n

The final, if not most important suggestion, is to foster a mindset of non-judgment, a mindset where you simply stay with the music and allow it to be what it is. The minute you judge your work either for better or worse you pull yourself out of the moment and pull yourself out of the flow and that can make for nerves and disconnection from your unique voice.<\/p>\n

October Crifasi<\/a> is a guitar instructor based in the Los Angeles area.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

This article was originally published in the Spring 2015 issue of Classical Guitar<\/em> magazine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"CG_377\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The issue also features Sharon Isbin, Frantz Casseus, a special focus on guitar festivals & competitions, and much more. Click here for more information on the issue.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by October Crifasi Preparing for an audition or competition can feel overwhelming at times, especially if you\u2019re new to playing live in front of an audience. While the stakes may vary from the festival stage to the audition room, one truth carries through them all \u2014confidence and comfort with your repertoire and interpretive voice is a must. Dividing up your work and applying focused practice will get you well on your way, as will the following tips. 1. Play in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1891,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/sillouhette_classical_guitarist.jpg?fit=518%2C719&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}