Every year, the North Carolina Bandmasters Association holds auditions for honors bands at the country, district, and state levels. Every audition involves learning a predetermined solo, unique for each instrument, playing several memorized scales, and sight reading a piece you have never seen before. I have auditioned for All-County and All-District every year I have been in band, so at the beginning of the school year I went out and purchased the solo for the euphonium this year, "L'Allegro" by Koepke.
With everything I have going on, I did not get much of a chance to practice the piece until winter break. It quickly proved to be the most challenging piece I have ever learned for my instrument. Being a low brass instrument, the euphonium does not often get complicated melodic parts, and that is basically all the solo was. I practiced the solo dutifully for about an hour each week leading up to the first audition (for All-District, at the end of January), as that was all the time I could allow.
My audition for All-District took place at Cary High School. I felt nervous going, worried that I had not practiced enough. When my number was called, I first went to a room to play my scales, scales I had memorized years ago and knew by heart. But when I played the first scale, I faltered and played several wrong notes in a row. This mistake rattled my nerves, and although I got back on track, I was uneasy for the rest of the audition. I made many mistakes on the solo and the sight reading was poor. Needless to say, I did not make the band. I was upset with myself, for being so nervous, for letting one mistake throw me off balance, but most of all for not practicing more.
I got in as much practicing time as I could before All-County auditions. My audition was much better this time around, and I did make the honor band.
The old adage certainly proved true: practice makes perfect. I also learned not to stress out about every mistake. I let the error on the first scale get to me, which ruined the entire audition, even though one botched scale would not have affected my overall. It's important to persevere and try your hardest until the very end.
