Selecting Music for Your Audition
One of the most important decisions you will make about auditioning for Suncoast Music Scholarships is to determine which pieces you will perform. In the 4 – 10 minute performance for your audition, the guidelines state:
Applicants are required to perform a minimum of two pieces of music which must be of contrasting styles and from different periods.
Contrasting styles in classical music would be understood as baroque, classical, romantic, impressionistic and contemporary. Contemporary covers a number of style varieties, including jazz and Broadway.
Composers in each of these segments often offer widely different, personalized styles. But keep in mind that Broadway showtunes from different composers or jazz compositions from distinctive artists may still be interpreted by the professional musicians judging your audition as pieces from the same style and period of music.
Your audition will be judged on technique, musicality and presentation.
Selecting pieces from contrasting styles will show a broader range of technique.
To demonstrate musicality, select pieces that are rich in tone that you are comfortable with and play well. If you are playing a work with rapid repeated passages, be sure to keep this quality in mind, so those passages do not sound like you are playing an exercise.
Presentation will be covered in a following blog, but keep in mind as you rehearse that you are preparing for an audition performance. You will be the star in front of a panel of experts, and you want to shine the best possible light on your talent and skill as you perform on your chosen instrument.
Susan Hicks
Lee Dougherty Ross
Suncoast Music Scholarship Co-Chairs
