Posted by Steve Raybould - April Mentor on April 08, 2008 at 10:07:09:
In Reply to: Graduate School Audition Advice posted by anon on April 07, 2008 at 11:22:08:
I would film yourself instead of using a mirror. When you use a mirror, you know why you are giving a cue and therefore you say to yourself "that was a great cue." Set up the camera at the position of the middle of your ensemble (they don't have to be in the room for this). Now conduct.
Watch the video. Look for the number of times you make eye contact. Are your cues really clear? Do you conduct or are you just a metronome? Are your hands mirrors or do you use one for tempo and articulation and the other for phrasing? Could someone who knew the piece of music tell where you were in the piece without the audio? (Because you can bet your committee will know the piece for your audition so well , they won't need the music.)
As far as the audition, if they have you conduct a specific set of pieces, you should be able to conduct them without a score. You should know the melody and who has it the entire time.
As for the baton, if you can do all of these things above very well, your lack of baton won't harm you much, but you will have to be that much more expressive with your gestures, especially the small ones.
: I have a graduate school audition in conducting next week. As with I'm sure many small town teachers, most of my conducting the past 8 years has involved trying not to get the children completely lost, not much on nuance and such. I would love any advice!
: Also - I have never used a baton. Wasn't trained with one, have never used one. Opinions on this being an issue or not?