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Audition Excerpts

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Helpful advice for your Westlake Concert Band Audition

1. Don’t worry too much about nerves 
   • When you come in for an audition you will most likely either be very nervous or… extremely nervous. It will probably affect your playing in some way. 
   • I am very good at imagining how you would sound without your nerves.
   • I can generally also tell the difference between nerves and lack of practice.
   • If I only used people who were not nervous in their audition, I would have about 5 people in Concert Band
2. The audition excerpts are hard
   • The extracts of music which you must learn for your audition are amongst the hardest bars from the hardest parts of the most challenging piece that we will learn next year.
   • The audition excerpts represent the hardest 5% of technical passages which you would need to play if you were accepted into the band.
   • In other words, don’t be put off by the difficult audition music, most of what you would need to play if you got into the Westlake Concert Band would be easier.
   • I will be most impressed by the people who play the excerpts perfectly… but I will ALSO be impressed by people who don’t rush or drag, or lose the beat despite making some mistakes.
   • Clever players will find recordings of the audition pieces so that they can get familiar with the tempo and style before their audition.
3. Playing a piece of your own selection
   • You’ll need to prepare a piece of your own which is no longer than 2 mins.
   • I want to see that you can stay in time while you’re playing – that the music doesn’t get slower and faster, that you have good technique, a nice tone, and can project your sound (the Westlake Concert Band can play very loud)
   • If I stop you before the end of your piece it doesn’t mean you have played badly, it just means I have heard enough to finish writing my comments.
4. Additional tests
   • You will probably be asked to do some additional tests in your audition:
     • Playing one note and holding it for as long as you possibly can.
     • Demonstrating how fast you can tongue repeated semiquavers.
     • Listening to notes played on the piano, finding them on your own instrument, and then playing them in tune.
     • Playing a very very loud note
     • Playing a very very soft note.
     • Playing a note which changes from soft to loud and back again, without going out of tune.
5. When you arrive for your audition on the day
   • There will be some Concert Band Audition Forms on display in the foyer. Fill one of these out as soon as you get here.
   • Find a practice room at the back of the music department – up to two or three people can share if need be.
   • Make sure you stay aware of the time. Sometimes things run a little late, but if no-one has come to get you at least 15mins after your time, then you are so well hidden than I don’t know you’re even here.
   • Don’t worry if your audition feels short. There are lots of people to listen to.
6.  Feedback
   • During audition week I listen to many, many people. Even if you do an amazing audition I simply can’t give you any indication about whether you’re in or not because I don’t know if there will be other amazing people who will come along to play.
   • Unless we are running far behind, I will always try to give some short amount of feedback, which will usually take the form of:
   • What I liked best about your playing, and,
   • A piece of advice that, in the event that you don’t get into Concert Band for 2027, will help you prepare for your audition for 2028.
7. Places in the band
   • Sometimes people do their own calculations and come to the conclusion that because they don’t know of any Year 13’s retiring from the band on a particular instrument, that there will no spaces for players on that instrument in the following year. So they figure there must be no point in auditioning.
   • To be clear, there are potential spaces in the Westlake Concert Band for EVERY SINGLE SECTION IN THE BAND for 2027.
   • It is likely that the 2027 Band will be larger than the 2026 group, so there will be genuine places on offer for players of ANY instrument who are willing to work hard and learn the audition music
   • There will be at least two Concert Band rehearsals before the end of 2026.

Good luck
​Mr Robinson