Oof. So I definitely fell off the practice train. Week 4 and 3 of the challenge kinda went down the toilet! Work and life really got in the way. I didn’t even get a chance to practice during week 4, so now my endurance is completely shot. But its ok, the best thing I can do now is try to get back on the train.
I think if I were actually taking a real audition at the end of this challenge, I would seriously consider NOT taking the audition. I would not be 100% prepared (like I should be for auditions, especially when I have to travel so far). But since I’m not taking an actual audition, I’m going to just jump back on the challenge as if I never got side tracked…
Week 2
This week is the start of our “taper” into the audition. The focus now is to visualize and practice performing. During week 5, I practiced a little visualization with the Mozart Concerto. Wow, I realized how terrible I am at it! This may be the root of my problem. I can hardly get through the first phrase without losing focus! So the assignment this week will involve a lot of timed visualization, with the intention of incorporating it into the audition itself.
So the video this week should be a mock audition for the camera. But instead of just playing through each excerpt, set a timer for 20 seconds and do a 20 second visualization prior to playing each excerpt. Its important to be disciplined here…20 seconds of focus before putting the horn to your face each time, no more, no less. The eventual goal is to reduce this time to 10 seconds, and make it part of playing the excerpt for the audition. So here’s the assignment:
- Mozart Concerto, beginning of solo to measure 98.
- Choose 5 excerpts at random, selected just prior to recording video.
Hokay…so lets hope I can hit the restart button successfully this week! Happy practicing!
Sandy Herrera, Clarinet 