Mr. Mayo’s All-West Tips
If you do not know the prepared piece, there is little chance of making All-West. Do not procrastinate. Begin learning the music the day you get it and practice it every day.
Learn the music with proper articulation and dynamics as you are learning it. This will save a lot of time.
Practice some aspect of the prepared music daily.
If the music seems difficult, it may be as simple as learning one measure a day.
If the music does not seem difficult, this may be focusing on a phrase or a section each day.
Only focus on playing full sections when there are limited errors in our music.
90% of musical errors can be fixed through the following factors:
Slow it down
Use a Metronome
Chunk it out
Practice the parts that you have problems with, not just what you know.
Practice scales daily
Take a scale slow at first and really focus on thinking about the note we are playing, if it is in tune, and the finger/pitch relationship. Play it this way for several days and then gradually over time change the metronome marking and duration of the notes. This is a several week process. We are never too advanced to take scales slowly.
If we focus on adding a scale a week, we will know all of our scales within a few months
Once we know a scale, play it every day. This goes past this year’s audition.
If we wish to develop multiple octaves, take the same procedure we use for one octave and practice it slowly.
For chromatic scale, we should slowly work on adding notes to our range. This can be done by adding one or two notes a week at a time.
For All-West auditions, the number of octaves/range performed and speed are factored in. It is a high-risk-high-reward portion of the audition. You will only be rewarded for what you do well. Playing a range that you do not have a good tone or so fast that it is uneven can hurt your score. Focus on clarity and quality of sound.
Practice sight-reading daily
Sight-reading is a skill that must be developed. If we are “bad” at sight reading, it is likely because we are not breaking it down.
Start with easy to sight read music. There is no shame in starting at grade one at any level. Once we have 90% accuracy with multiple sight-reading examples, then we may consider going up a level.
Sight-reading is all about note and rhythm recognition.
Use sightreadingfactory.com and rhythmrandomizer.com
Both websites allow us to customize options. Use these settings to customize where you are and work toward the audition requirements.
Check out the sight reading tips below.
Be smart about how we practice:
Always have a good warm-up and relate it to what we are practicing for the day. Utilize and create exercises that will translate over to what you are working on.
Slow things down and keep them slow for a while. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Use a metronome.
Break things down into small chunks.
Focus on one element at a time during a challenging spot (rhythm, pitch, etc.).
Use a pencil to bracket off challenging sections, circle rhythms or notes we play incorrectly, add musicality, and act on mistakes. My general rule is if we make a mistake more than once, mark something.
Set an accuracy level of repetition.
If we practice a measure, phrase, or section, how many times do we play it correctly? If it is only once, then we are not yet ready to move on. We want to have a high accuracy level. If we play it ten times, and play it correctly 6 times, then our accuracy level is 60%. We likely need to break things down into smaller chunks and take things slower. If it is 9 out of 10, then we have a decently high accuracy level of 90%. We are likely ready to move on.
Record it and listen to it – we tend to miss errors while we are playing. Recording can help us to listen from a different point of view. Keep up with these recordings, as it can help us to see how far we have come.
Create a private Instagram that you post a recording to daily.
Listen to professionals perform – Listening can help us gain a better understanding of what we should sound like on our instrument (tone, projection, musicality, etc.). Do not just try to find a recording of the audition music. Listen to many people who are professionals on your instrument everyday.
Start with the problem spots
Be consistent about practicing - set aside a time each day to practice and make it the same time everyday. Sure, weekends may be different, but commit to the time. Make sure we practice on all the days that end in Y. Otherwise, one step forward will become two steps back.
Understand that progress may be slow in some areas, faster in others, and differs from person to person, concept to concept, and across the various instruments. Keep in mind though that if each day we get 1% better, over time we will see tremendous growth. 1% is hard to see, especially for some of us that are critical of ourselves. This is where recording can help.
Be Willing to Make Mistakes - Understand that mistakes are part of the process. Making mistakes and identifying them are just part of music. In our culture, we have this mentality that mistakes are bad, and we should not make them. We are afraid of making them, which actually limits us in so many areas. In music, we should go for things full force. If we mess up, identify the problem and work on it. The true mistake in music is trying not to admit your mistakes, hiding mistakes, or being afraid to make them. Mistakes are how we get better.
Many students who make All-West take private lessons. It is very possible to make All-West without private lessons, but you must practice efficiently everyday. If you are interested in finding a private lesson instructor, speak with Mr. Mayo or Mr. Kelly.
Mr. Mayo’s Tips for Becoming a Better Sight Reader
Most musicians tend to think of sight reading as being difficult. This is because most of us have heard from others about its difficulty. Simply put, it is not difficult. Like all other ideas in the music world, it must be practiced.
Relax. The world is not going to end if you mess up. Take a deep breath and begin to look over the piece.
Look at your key signature. In order for this to be effective, you must first know your key signatures and scales.
Look at your time signature. Pay attention to whether the quarter note gets the beat, the eighth note, etc.
Ask yourself where the pulse is, and be sure to keep that pulse in your head.
Look for your highest and lowest pitches. This will help to tell you the range you will be playing in and can help you to play some of the correct pitches. While you are doing this, also look for accidentals.
Look at the rhythm of the piece. You must know how to read basic rhythms in order to be successful. In most auditions that require sight reading (All-West,) rhythmic accuracy scores more points than melodic accuracy. This means you need to look for parts that are difficult rhythmically and possibly have syncopation. Count out in your head these figures and then finger/air play the notes with them. If you struggle with rhythm, find some rhythm sheets to practice reading.
Look for patterns in the music, specifically rhythm, scale like patterns, arpeggios, common intervals, and even repetitive sections.
Look at your road map. Are there any repeats, D.C or D.S. al codas, first or second endings, tempo changes, key or time signature changes, etc.? Know the basic music vocabulary so that you can do what the music asks for.
Note: for All-West Auditions, these elements should not be present.
Pay attention to the shape of the piece and try to hear it in your head. If you know that the next note is higher than the one you are currently playing, then be sure that the next note you play is higher.
Look at dynamics, style, and articulations. When you are in an audition, what may seem like minor details in the music can add tremendously to your score. Pay attention to phrasing as this can tell you where to breathe.
Select the tempo that is right for you. The tempo marked is important but do not sacrifice the rhythm and/or melody for the tempo. It is more important that you take a piece slower and play the excerpt accurately than to rush through a piece and only play half of it correct. Also, it is very important that no matter what tempo you select, that you keep a steady tempo.
If you are in a solo audition, take a few more seconds after you are told to begin to continue to look over the piece. It takes a good seven to ten seconds before a judge really starts to wonder when you are going to begin. Utilize this time to finish what you are looking at.
Be sure to maintain a good tone while you play.
If you mess up, keep going and do not hang on that mistake. What is important is how you overcome that mistake, and you can actually gain points off of recovering from a mistake. If you get off, get back on as soon as possible. We are all human and make mistakes. A professional will make more mistakes than the average person will even make attempts. In other words, embrace your failures to reach your potential.
Do not take your eyes off the music. This means you need to know your way around your instrument and what particular positions, notes, etc. feel like or where they are at. This has a lot to do with muscle memory.
Count in your head while you are playing. This may take time to master and is multitasking, but it will tremendously improve your rhythmic accuracy.
Find enjoyment in sight reading and use your nervousness or excitement to your advantage. Stay concentrated, relaxed, confident, and play like the musician that you are.
Practice sight reading every day because the more you sight read, the better at it you will become. Five minutes a day can help you become a better sight reader in a very short amount of time. Record yourself and listen to it to find your mistakes.