I enjoyed writing duet parts last year for the Tennessee All-East audition etudes, so I thought I would do it again for my students and others. They are great for:
Playing with a classmate
Playing with your teacher
Playing with a recording on YouTube (or even make your own and play along!)
Sight-reading practice – remember that’s part of the audition, too.
Hone your rhythm. These will fit together perfectly, if you’re playing in time.
Improve your intonation. It’s easy to let intonation slide when we play by ourselves. Playing these along with someone else might highlight some places where you can play better in tune.
Hearing the etudes in a different way. They might surprise you, but might also give you some more musical ideas.
Having fun!
You can view or download them below. You’ll need the audition etudes available from your director. Let me know how you like them!
Try out these duet parts I wrote to go along with this year’s Tennessee Mid-State audition etudes. You can play them along with a friend, your teacher, or one of the recorded performances online. Not only is this great practice for the sight-reading part of the audition, but I find playing these super helpful for honing rhythm and intonation. If both parts are played well, the rhythm will fit together and the pitches should lock in harmoniously. It also might give you some additional musical ideas when you hear more than just one line of music. I’ve included versions below with both the etude and the duet part together as well as the duet part on the page by itself. I hope these will help you have a little bit of fun while you prepare for the audition!
When preparing for an audition, we often forget to practice for the dreaded sight-reading. But how do you practice reading something you’ve never seen before? By playing things that you’ve never seen before. What better way to practice sight-reading than playing duets with a friend!
I wrote these duet parts to go along with the upcoming East Tennessee State Band and Orchestra Association All-East audition etudes to give you something fun to sight-read. They also might give you a new perspective on the etude in terms of harmony, rhythm, and style. And they simply won’t sound good if you aren’t playing your etude in tune, in time, and with accurate rhythm.
Once you’ve sightread these, you can listen to a performance of these duets (see below) by Dr. Erika Schafer (Professor of Trumpet at University of Tennessee-Chattanooga) and myself.
Over the years, I’ve helped numerous collegiate and high school trumpet players prepare for auditions of all sorts. Whether it’s a major career audition or the annual audition for your school’s band, here are seven practical suggestions that capture the process from preparation to audition to reflection:
Practice creatively.Use all of your “tools” to practice good rhythm, pitch, sound, articulation, dynamics, phrasing, etc. Clap, sing, buzz, say, and blow the music to hone these things. Slow the tempo down until you can play it perfectly, and practice small sections at a time.
Perform often. Make time in your daily practice to simply perform. Stop trying to fix things and simply focus on making music. Ask your friends, family, band director, dog, and others to listen to you play. Even more important than getting their feedback is the opportunity for you to have an audition experience. (Plus, Mom will always think you sound great!)
Record yourself. Certainly you’ve heard a teacher say, “You can’t be listening to me if you’re talking, too!” The same is true with an instrument. While we’re playing we can’t listen as well as when we only listen. Plus, it gives your chops a needed break to listen back to what you’ve played.
On the day of the audition only think positively. While you’re preparing for the audition in the weeks and days beforehand listen critically to yourself most of the time. Then on the day of the audition vigilantly dismiss the voice inside you that offers doubts and criticisms of your playing. Remind yourself of what you do well.
Don’t try to win the “warm-up competition.” Listen to your warm-up, not the others’. The other guy always sounds great warming up, but that doesn’t matter. What matters is how you play in the audition. Don’t play too much before the audition, and focus on preparing yourself to share enjoyable music!
Focus on breath. Breathing fully and comfortably not only keeps us relaxed, but helps the production of sound to work freely. Make sure to add breath marks to your music and practice these ahead of time.
Learn from the experience.Take some time after the audition to reflect on what went well, what didn’t, and why. Regardless of the outcome, take something away that you can use to improve your music for the next performance.
Let me know how these help you not only audition well, but more importantly, become a better musician!
Brian Reichenbach 