Ever Audition For School? Here's my tale!

[Soles Mojo]

Hey there. i just wanted to tell you my story. I auditioned for school 6 years ago, classical guitar, and I was so uptight and nervous, but i was also unprepared.. anyways, so i finally had the chance this year(and the money) to try and go back to school.. so i re-apply at the same school.. and this time i CAN play (and smashingly if i do say so myself)! so, i sit in the practice room and everything is dandy.. then i get called into the audition, and i just lost it. everything i know i didn't know.. every thing i could play my fingers forgot! so, once again, i tried and failed.. however, I do think it went better because i knew my stuff.. just couldn't get it out. the moral of this pointless story is - even if you fail and fail again.. keep trying.. i plan to! I thought to myself as i was leaving (and saying good-bye) "i'll see you around the same time next year!" i'll become a professional applicant until i get over my fear of whatever it is that stops me dead in my tracks.. maybe it's the white walls.. maybe it's the panel of evaluators facing me as i sit alone in the center of the room.. who knows. but i do know that even if it takes me 10 more tries.. i will succeed. and that's all you need - believe in yourself and you'll do fine!

[drumstix128@aol.com]

Your story is not foreign to me. I have exactly the same problem when having to perform/audition/play in front of strangers. It's been really disappointing at times, but like yourself, I refuse to give up.
JoSh

[dmt]

Wow, good luck! I admire your determination.

One idea to consider is seeing a counselor and working on your performance anxiety. It would cost some money, but that would be a drop in the bucket compared to a few years at school.

I have two other ideas:
1) try putting yourself in other stressful situations, until you become used to it. Play at an open mic. Hold solo performances. Besides music, take a "public speaking class". Join "Toastmasters", etc. You could even practice for this audition by auditioning for other music schools! (one of which might actually suit you better).

2) Get more comfortable with this school and the people who work there. Maybe one of the professors moonlights giving private lessons? Get a job as a janitor or IT guy there or something. Write the most important panelists 'Thank You' notes about your audition and tell them what you told us - that you got nervous but intend to be back. Stop buy one or the other of their offices sometimes to "keep in touch" and ask for advice. Ask to "audit" a class, or just to sit in for one class. Etc.

You don't have to do all of that stuff of course, but if you do even one or two or three of those things (or other ideas in the same vein), it might help you to deal with the situation better. Also, like I said, another school might end up being a more comfortable fit.

Best wishes for you in however you decide to handle it! I don't mean to add any pressure with all my suggestions. ***Just simply going back and trying one more time might very well work too - especially since, like you said, you can already play guitar well enough.*** Good luck!
-David

[This message has been edited by dmt (edited May 12, 2003).]

[Soles Mojo]

with regard to the counselling thing - i got over stage (playing gigs) performance fright ok.. it took repeated embarrassing attempts.. i had a thing about microphones! lol it was funny - i could play and sing as long as i didn't look at the microphone.. as soon as i did, i would go blank! but that only took about 5 embarrassing jam nites to cure.. so hopefully i'll only have to apply another 3 times! lol.. It's funny, but i teach guitar to children, youth and adults, and i just get them started on performing earlier, so they don't run into the same roadblock! It works out good. They learn from my experiences, and I keep trying.

[Thea]

it was cool to read a story about auditioning. I'm thinking about taking a music education at a university two years from now, but i've only played almost a year now. I know that its probably really difficult to get accepted, but i want to try. I dont really know how good you have to be to get in, cuz in one branch you can choose it says (badly translated from norwegian) you'll learn "to express music on your instrument", in another branch you'll learn to write and compose music for your instrument. But it also says that on the audition you have to show that you can play an instrument, so it seems you should be fairly good at it! Since i'm NOT fairly good at it (at least not yet) and i DO have an exceptionally huge stage fright, i have something to practice to....

[Soles Mojo]

The best tip anyone ever gave me was this: even if you can't play amazing long huge super fast pieces on the guitar, choose a song that is simple, and master it! Then add trills, and make sure that you know that piece up and down. Sometimes if you show the audition people that you are competent, but just not as far advanced yet,you can still impress them. They will probably ask you questions about why you want to study music, they will test your ear training, and your performance skills on the guitar.. don't worry.. just study, keep learning, and if you ever need help, just ask. If you love the guitar, you will do fine. Oh, practice playing in front of a panel of people.. and have them take notes while you play, and direct you.. that's kindof what it's like.. it may be a good idea to familiarize yourself with that type of atmosphere.. (best wishes!)

[Soles Mojo]

Forgot something! If you want to find some really nice classical pieces with matching midi files to help you learn, copy and paste this into your browser.. it's a really good site!
http://alt.venus.co.uk/weed/music/classtab/welcome.htm

If you are just starting out, try learning bianco fiore, greensleeves, volte, las hachas by gaspar sanz, or rene bartoli's aubade and romance... they are beautiful, more simplistic pieces that can be turned into very impressive pieces depending on what you do to make them your own.. add your personality to them.. well, as for theory, you can either use this site, or you can visit www.teoria.com (http://www.teoria.com) it is amazing too! Good luck Again. - Soles.

[Thea]

thanks for the advice and the site http://www.zentao.com/ubb/smilies/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by Thea (edited June 19, 2003).]

[Chirp]

You might want to check out this article on stage fright. It helped me to understand it better.
http://www.ibreathemusic.com/article/110

[DeathsRequiem]

Nice story, i play classical guitar and am trying to teach myself electric (emphasis on the trying part) and when i play infront of people i just tune them out and focus on my guitar playing im a beginner but it works for me

[YowhatsupT]

never had you guys's problem i have never in my whole life been shy...so when i gig i just play and have a ball doing it...only time i get nervous is when a guest muscisian friend of mine goes up to play with me and hes better than me so inevitably i lose the gutiar duels......only time i get nervouse...i love it though

[AcousticShred]

Whatsup, in one of my performances, me and a friend who is better than me did a guitar duet on acoustics. Apparently on the end when we doubled the speed, he did an amazingly fast solo and I missed it because I was so focused on the rhythm part. lol!!