All State season? What? Now? It’s still May! Etudes don’t come out until August, and the auditions aren’t until November! That’s six months away!
All-State Honor Band is an extraordinarily difficult and competitive group to audition into, particularly for the clarinet. Students need a near flawless audition to be accepted. Due to the high level of competition, etudes are quite difficult; some would say the excerpts are at a collegiate level. Scales span the entire range of the instrument, and sight reading WILL be in cut time, or some sort of compound time (6/8, 9/8, 3/8, etc) which many students struggle with reading.
In my years coaching students for these auditions, guess which students succeed? The ones who work to play at a stellar level year round, or the students who start to learn the scales in September? It’s not a difficult question…of course, the former students, the ones who practice hard year round, make All State.
Honestly, All State should not be an end goal, but is part of the process of practice, preparation, performance, and evaluation which creates a great musician. Those who succeed do so because they love to improve.
I can’t tell you how many students I have seen begin lessons in September or October, or even November, for All-State auditions- and it’s clear they just began to consider the requirements. Once, a student – the poor thing – came to me the WEEK BEFORE the audition for me to help her with the repertoire. I watch them struggle to master the requirements and, often, do not make the cut.
So, what is the best preparation? Learn the scales NOW! Get the scales under your belt, so that when the etudes come out in August you won’t have to worry about them. Sight read some music every day; http://www.sightreadingfactory.com is a great place to start. Be sure to vary the time signatures and key signatures. Learn etudes from the Rose 32 etude book or similar; the All State etudes will require similar musicianship from you.
Use my scale chart below to track your progress as you learn!
Lauren W. Murphy 