RHSbigbluemarchingband

In the upcoming week, the material for my high school's jazz band auditions will be distributed. Then in about two weeks, the tryouts will take place. Last year, i well flunked. This year I want to take a more relaxed approach, and essentially create a schedule. We have to memorize 12 jazz scales (4 mixolydians, 4 dorians, 4 blues) and of course 4 flats, 4 sharps, and there relative minors (not even worrying about that, memorized already), play a written solo, with a improv section, play an improved solo over a background track (last year was abersold vol 2, Bb track), and then sight read. I typically practice an hour and a half, sometimes two hours. Im working on regional solos aswell, but im willing to add an extra hour (probably about an hour break before hand) to help prepare all the material. I play the scales every day, as much as I can, to help memorize, but any ideas, or tips to help prepare all this material? Last year my primary reason for doing poorly, was I crammed a lot of practicing, destroyed my chops, and just stressed out the entire time. I want to have a relaxed approach towards the tryouts this year, so any help, or tips would be greatly appreciated!

thanks!

__________________
?1975 Bb Beuscher Aristocrat
1970 Bb Bach Strad 37
Bb Dynasty Marching Trumpet 010-M503
Beuscher 7c MP
Bach 3c MP

missmybaby

Smoke some herb right before?

errrmmmm, nevermind. Bad advice from a bad, bad person... I will flog myself repeatedly through the public streets for the suggestion. BAD BAD JOKE!
Sounds like you got it under control, really. Set your schedule and work it. You know what's expected and you have some time.

Relax, Breathe, Play.

Almost forgot. Wear a suit, a beret, and grow a goatie, darnit!

No need to freak out if you're prepared. Even if you feel you're not fully prepared, still don't freak out.

Relax, Breathe, Play.

Brekelefuw

If you know your major and minors, the dorian and mixolydian scales should be easy. Dorian is just a major scale starting on the 2nd degree and Mixo is a major scale starting on the 5th.

__________________
Schilke B3L
Schilke XA1
Bach 37 180 ML
Chinese custom horn
Yamaha 6310G
Wedge 5B, 5A and 5FLG

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley

missmybaby

BTW, the stuff you're not worried about may well come back to bite you square in the arse. Mix that into your schedule, too, just to be certain. You'd hate to F up what you think you KNOW that you already KNOW...
Relax, Breathe, Play...
...and grow a goat.
=)

Pedal C

Take breaks when you practice. The more you need to work on, the more important it is to keep yourself fresh throughout your practice. Sometimes just putting the horn down for 30 seconds is enough to refresh the body and mind.

Don't increase your practice dramatically overnight. Work a little more time in each day. Then, a couple days before the audition, back off a little bit so you'll feel fresh at the audition.

Get to everything as soon as possible. The first day you have the material, a little of everything is better than lots of half the audition, in my opinion. Don't wait until the last day or two to start working on that last scale.

Each day, run the audition just as it will be. Stand or sit around without playing for a few minutes, then run it down. The simulated audition can expose where you're least consistant.

When you go in to play the audition, remember that whoever is listening WANTS you to sound good!!! Believe it or not, they are on YOUR side. Relax, take a breath and show them what you can do.

__________________
"The oboe's A is to make sure we still play it 1 and 2" - Bud Herseth

"One way or another, every patient stops bleeding." - Scrubs

RHSbigbluemarchingband

[quote=Pedal C;458166]
Get to everything as soon as possible. The first day you have the material, a little of everything is better than lots of half the audition, in my opinion. Don't wait until the last day or two to start working on that last scale.

Each day, run the audition just as it will be. Stand or sit around without playing for a few minutes, then run it down. The simulated audition can expose where you're least consistant.
quote]



Thanks everybody for the advice, and I never thought to run throught a mock audition, might be a good way to prepare myself. Also the majors, and their relative minors (they are played as one scale) I play every single day. Oh and berkelefuw, i've been trying to find a straight forward definition for all of jazz scales, so thanks a lot for that, my director has always told me once you get the technicality of the scales, its easy to memorize them, which is what happened with the straight scales. I think the material comes out today, so I'll post back with the actual material.

Thanks!

__________________
?1975 Bb Beuscher Aristocrat
1970 Bb Bach Strad 37
Bb Dynasty Marching Trumpet 010-M503
Beuscher 7c MP
Bach 3c MP

Brekelefuw

About the practice audition: Try doing it in front of your parents or friends so you have people watching you while you play it. That always helped with my speeches in school.

__________________
Schilke B3L
Schilke XA1
Bach 37 180 ML
Chinese custom horn
Yamaha 6310G
Wedge 5B, 5A and 5FLG

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley

RHSbigbluemarchingband

Well im fine with standard auditions, mainly because they are in front of my director, who im very good friends with, but these are blind auditions, so I tend to tense up

__________________
?1975 Bb Beuscher Aristocrat
1970 Bb Bach Strad 37
Bb Dynasty Marching Trumpet 010-M503
Beuscher 7c MP
Bach 3c MP

kcmt01

Well, as the leader of my own little jazz band, I think I might have some insights. First of all, I'm VERY skeptical of High School jazz bands. I was rejected before I was even allowed to audition for jazz band when I was in High School. And here's the ironic thing: None of the jazz band players I knew in High School would be good enough to play in my band.

With jazz, the most important thing is always the count. All the different scales don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. dowa dowa dowa dowa dowa dowa dowa dowa.

There's a lot more to jazz than memorizing scales, and Miles Davis solos. You've got to feel the music, feel the beat, and be honest about how it comes out. You can play damn good jazz without going above a g over middle c.

The trumpet is the lead instrument. Listen to the groove. Listen to your rhythm section. AND KEEP THE COUNT!

And above all, remember that even if they don't let you into their clique, that doesn't mean you failed. Play the music. Honestly, from the heart. Don't fall into the trap of faking, and just playing notes. Play jazz, the real thing. If it ain't good enough for them then maybe someday you'll be like me, with your own band, playing the good stuff.

muchan

One octave is from 12 half tones.
interval of 2 half tones is called whole tone.
Here, writing W for whole tone, and H for half tone, major scale consists with

(Root) W W H W W W H
in C, C D E F G A B C (in German notation, B is written H)

take the 2nd note to be root, you get Dorian, you can shift the above WWH things,
(Root) W H W W W H W
like this for 3rd Phrygian, 4th Lydian, 5th Mixolydian, 6th Aeolian, 7th Locrian.

To get the feel of each mode, it's good if you can hear the root in low voice
while playing the scale. (hit the piano in low keys and play the scale notes above)

Natural minor scale is identical to Aeolian,
(Root) W H W W H W W
Harmonic minor scale is to move the last tone a half tone higher
(Root) W H W W H (W+H) H
Melodic minor (accending) is to move the last 2 notes a half tone higher
(Root) W H W W W W H

(I made my best to write it, but if you find mistake, correct me please!)