Be Prepared for Anything

This weekend I auditioned at the University of Memphis for their DMA program.  At some point in the audition, I was asked to play the infamous tuba excerpt from Fountains of Rome, which I was happy to do.  I played the first few measures and was pleased with what I was playing.  Once I got into the technical section, I came to a realization that I had not unfolded the part on my stand and would not be able to see the back half of the excerpt.  This thought caused a bit of a panic and resulted in a chip note, but I calmly continued knowing I had played the excerpt for memory many times before.  I wish I had handled it without the moment of panic, but all in all, I’m happy with my ability to recover quickly and move on.

I feel that by now I should be unshaken by anything, I have brought the wrong tuba to gigs, had music in the wrong order for weddings and even had a few humorous mishaps at funerals.  The point is, in a performance setting, there we must be ready to handle these and almost expect them to happen.  There is very little room for error and the time for recovery is minimal.  Unfortunately there is way to plan for every incident.  That being said, there are a few common knowledge things we can do to prevent the majority of them.

First is being prepared.  Practice your music as much as you should and an out of order page will most likely not throw you off at all.  There have been times I’ve tried playing things for memory and blow myself away with the amount of music I can remember without even trying.  This way, if you miss a couple bars or drop a piece of music, it isn’t the end of the world.

It may seem like overkill, but double and triple check for your music.  I know I check before  I put my music in the bag, I check before it goes in the trunk, I check when it is in the trunk, I check when I arrive at the gig and I check when I am unpacked.  The earlier you can figure this out, the better.

Bring your practice room with you.  I have discovered organization has a few benefits this year.  Anything I need for a four hour practice session can be reduced into two tuba cases and a bag.  This includes all of my music, valve oil, tuners, and metronomes.

Finally, a concept we were introduced to by Professor Manning is Dr. Distracto.  We are literally in a situation that allows our audience to unrelentingly screw with us and make us mess up.  It certainly is not likely to happen at a gig like that, but it helps improve your concentration when you are trying to make it through a piece with a flamingo hat being placed on your head.  Or if you’re in the middle of a recital and someone is snapping pictures…