in my mission to understand how different professional musicians practice, i’ve mainly interviewed orchestra musicians.
we know how to keep our upcoming orchestra repertoire in our hands, and we certainly know how to keep a packet of excerpts up to speed. (or, at least, we did back when we were auditioning.)
but i wanted to interview someone who has to learn and maintain repertoire on a massive scale. i needed to talk to a soloist who plays concertos.
meet augustin hadelich, international violin soloist. he’s played with basically ALL the major orchestras. he sounds amazing, and i was lucky enough to get a few minutes of his time.
(also, he graced the met opera percussion room with his stradivarius… probably the single coolest instrument that’s ever been inside.)
augustin has to keep many full-length concertos in his current repertoire at all times. he’s usually traveling from one city to another, playing a different piece every weekend. he combines all the standard rep with lots of new contemporary music that’s sometimes written for him.
so i had to learn HOW.
how does he keep all that repertoire in his fingers?
how does he decide which piece to practice, and when?
and how does he structure his practice session?
this video is about how augustin hadelich, international violin soloist, organizes his practice.
want to have a simple, daily practice schedule?
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imprecise rhythm is something that can get you cut from an audition IMMEDIATELY (regardless of your instrument). and great rhythm is something that an audition committee can sense, both consciously and subconsciously. hearing someone play in the pocket just feels good.
well, i have a few tricks up my sleeve to straighten out my rhythm, and today i'm sharing one of the most effective strategies.
things i do on audition day:
warm up by playing on the hotel pillow,
watch vast amounts of tv shows on my phone, and
never drink coffee.
when i was in detroit in february i got to interview three great DSO musicians on how they approach audition day. pretty fascinating to see how their approaches are so different from each other.
i’m endlessly fascinated with how musicians practice (as you know). so i was fortunate to talk to augustin hadelich, international violin soloist, about how he gets ready to play a different concerto with a different orchestra every week.
one way that i keep myself sane is to make a practice schedule and keep it up to date. you can use paper and pencil, a word document, evernote, or a wall. in today’s video i explain how to get it set up.
i’ve been getting lots of messages from people having trouble finding motivation or direction now that they’re at home all day. i’ve been dealing with the same issues, but i’m finally out of the funk.
so i made a video about how to get motivated and set practice goals (during coronapause). check it out.
this is an interview with nathan hughes, principal oboist of the metropolitan opera and faculty at juilliard. he has to practice and make reeds… every day. anyone who wonders how to balance the artistry and the project management of being a musician should watch this.
some days i’ll feel good about my playing. but some days i'll walk into the opera pit and question whether i really deserve to be there.
i’ll think <with an extremely fred savage from the wonder years voice>, “i wonder how i ended up here. oh well, i guess i’ll pretend to be a professional musician and play the triangle again today.”
it’s called imposter syndrome.
but just because you experience imposter syndrome doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. problems are figureoutable. anything you’re lacking as a musician is something that can be analyzed, addressed, and eventually solved.
in today’s video i’d like to tell you about my experience with imposter syndrome, and how i’ve worked to overcome it.
i've worked with hundreds of musicians on audition preparation. and nothing - NOTHING - has been as effective and life-changing as when they start self-recording the right way.