Audition-related Episodes

221: Brandon McLean on audition strategies

Pittsburgh Symphony associate principal bassist Brandon McLean

Today’s show features Brandon McLean, who just won the associate principal bass position for the Pittsburgh Symphony. Brandon has most recently served as principal bass of the Colorado Symphony, and prior to that he held positions in the Vancouver Symphony and the Florida Orchestra. Originally from Seattle, Brandon did his undergrad at the University of North Texas, his masters at the Boston Conservatory, and studied at Carnegie Mellon after that with Pittsburgh Symphony principal bassist Jeff Turner. He played in the New World Symphony before landing his first gig with the Florida Orchestra.

We dig into the details of the audition process, like how Brandon starts preparing long-term for the audition and how that preparation changes as the audition approaches, Brandon’s technique routine, which he keeps up throughout the audition process, the benefits of getting to practice in a large space like a concert hall, and routines in the days prior to the audition. We also feature excerpts of Brandon performing the Dave Anderson Duets with Brendan Kane.

Books mentioned:

Interview Highlights

Audition Preparation Strategies

the process starts right after finding out what the list is
looks at what are the more problematic excerpts for him and begins by spending time on those
about 5 weeks out, he starts to get more disciplined
for a long time did the system of ranking what the more difficult excerpts are and spending the most time on those, but he found that then the audition would come up and they’d ask for the excerpts that he didn’t spend as much time on
breaks up practice session into 10 minute increments; practices for an hour or an hour-and-a-half in a couple of different segments in the day
keeps himself disciplined to no more than 10 minutes on a specific excerpt
breaks up the last as many ways as possible:
- top to bottom
- bottom to top
- skip and do every 3rd excerpt
2-3 weeks out, he shortens that 10 minutes per excerpt to 3-4 minutes per except so that he’s hitting everything briefly just about every day
Brandon generally runs things at 75% tempo most of the time
he can generally play this under tempo—it’s getting them up to tempo that’s the real issue
there’s some point between that 75% and 100% tempo that he can usually solve most of the technical problems
problems associated with fast excerpts were dealt with away from those excerpts – dealing with technical studies that helped
during audition prep, Brandon still spends at least 30-45 minutes still doing scales and technical exercises
he cuts that down when getting really close to the audition

Brandon’s Technique Routine

pick a scale
slow bow practice (whole notes) using Intonia software
then does a different scale with half notes, quarter notes, etc – gets himself playing pretty quickly
do something similar with arpeggios after that
right hand practice
- string crossings
- spiccato
- exercises to get his right hand moving a little quicker

Playing in a Large Space and Recording

the benefits of getting to practice in a large space (concert hall) – he didn’t get this until later in life
getting over the idea that he doesn’t really know what he sounds like objectively (similar to getting over the way your voice sounds when you play back a recording)
the angle that you play the bass – no one else will ever hear your bass playing from that angle—it’s such a specific thing
things started to turn on the audition front for Brandon when he started to get really serious about recording himself
Brandon had a pretty steady path of progress in auditioning – not advancing, then getting to semis, then making finals, then runner-up for a bunch of auditions
Brandon realized at a certain point that he just wasn’t a very natural audition taker
- had to start treat audition taking as his job
- dealing with the mental discipline of audition taking was something that took him a while to get a grasp of
Don Greene books helpful in terms of centering, etc.
Brandon has gotten away from thinking that he just needed to have a really good day to win an audition
after teaching students and observing them nervous and not nervous, he has concluded that there isn’t nearly as much difference in the two states as the students think
When he wasn’t doing well in auditions, he had actually lost those auditions months in advance

Routines as the Audition Approaches

usually flies in the day before – flying in too early usually psyched him out
it’s amazing what tiny things can seep into your mind during an audition
when he goes, he generally doesn’t talk to people at the audition
running is helpful
doesn’t try to change anything lifestyle-wise coming up to the audition – changes only cause problems

Links from Listener Feedback:

215: Robin Kesselman on audition strategies, injury recovery, and bow arm practicing

Houston Symphony principal bassist Robin Kesselman

Today’s episode features Houston Symphony principal bassist Robin Kesselman. Robin studied with David Allen Moore and Paul Ellison at the Coburn School of Music and the University of Southern California, and with Hal Robinson and Edgar Meyer at the Curtis Institute of Music. He has also performed as Guest Principal Bass with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, travelled internationally with both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and performed with the National, Atlanta, and Baltimore Symphonies.

During Robin’s time at USC, he sustained a playing injury that took him out of commission for a prolonged period. We dig into how Robin ultimately recovered from this and how it changed his approach to practicing and performing on the bass, and how he practiced while he was out of commission. This was a left arm injury, and Robin continued to practice open string and harmonics with the bow, going into his lessons and working on the Bottesini Concerto on open strings. We also discuss how Robin approaches the audition process: his preparation strategies, his musical goals for an audition, and using visualization techniques.

We also feature excerpts from Krzysztof Penderecki’s Duo Concertante with Eunice Kim on violin. Enjoy!

Interview Highlights

Discoveries During Playing Injury:

sitting in practice room – “this hurts, but it also still sounds bad” – the mistake of pushing through pain
this time spent not using his left hand ultimately took his bow game to a new level – he spent large amounts of time just practicing with the right hand – playing solos and excerpts on open strings / harmonics in lessons!
“the building blocks with which I was making my shapes were not completely honest” – referring to the bow arm
mental practice / visualization – he got into this during this time period
learning the difference between an ache and something more serious

Thoughts on Auditioning:

there’s nothing that isn’t practicable
timing and pulse
mathematical pulse/note division vs. feeling right
the fallacy of perfect audition rounds
similarities between prepping for an audition and a recital
auditions have to be an artistic endeavor and about musical expression
if you walk out and your whole goal is to play notes that are even and in tune, the second that one note isn’t exactly the same as another note you officially have nothing left to offer, because your single goal has crumbled
if your goal is to make lines and to make shapes and be expressive, it’s ok if one note is a little shorter than the others
philosophy from David: as soon as you come in and things are in tune and in time, you are officially at zero

The Audition Process in Detail:

record constantly during this whole process -throughout the whole day
first 50% of the interval
- really hibernate and work things super slow – considerably under 50% tempo
- move something up 40 clicks over a period of weeks
- A and B lists that kind of parallel each other (one Mozart Symphony on one and one on the other, for example)
- doesn’t play for anyone during this time – nothing’s put together – it’s all really cut up at this point
next 25%
- buff out the edges, smooth out the music, give it a shine
- playing with recordings, getting the flow right
last 25%
- take the show on the road, play for anybody and everybody, start setting up mock auditions and lessons with other (non-bass) instrumentalists
the last week
- go back to “hibernating”
- stop playing for people – running rounds – 4-5 excerpts in a row
hours wise it’s similar through he whole process, but the hours are being used differently
all the way until audition time, there was never a day/time when he could not continue to make things better
have a specific game plan for those 20 minutes of warm-up once you arrive at the hall
bass players don’t hire bassists – committees of other instrumentalists do

209: Joe Conyers on Curtis, being yourself, and musical entrepreneurship

Philadelphia Orchestra assistant principal bassist Joe Conyers is featured on today’s podcast

I’m thrilled to bring you this episode featuring Joe Conyers. Joe is the assistant principal bass for the Philadelphia Orchestra and is the founder of Project 440, a nonprofit organization that brings music to young people in Philadelphia. We’re joined on this episode by John Grillo, my longtime podcast collaborator.

John and I talk with Joe about topics such as:

growing up in Savannah
studying with Hal Robinson at Curtis
the audition circuit
becoming comfortable with your own playing
the mission of Project 440
conducting Philadelphia’s All-City Orchestra

Enjoy!

206: Auditioning for Music Schools

Trevor Jones and Jason Heath talk music school options at the 2016 Chicago Bass Festival

Trevor Jones and I have done joint clinics in the past, but this is the first one since restarting the podcast, and I figured that it would make sense to put it out this week since we just released our conversation a few days ago.

This talk was held at Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall as part of the 2016 Chicago Bass Festival, which is an event put on by the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory. Michael Cameron of the University of Illinois and Allan Dennis, former double bass professor at the University of Wisconsin and the MYA executive director, were both in the audience, so you’ll hear us refer to both of them a couple of times during the talk.

I left Curtis off of my list of schools putting out successful auditions, but of course that should be at the top of the list! My mistake.

Some of the questions from the audience are kind of hard to hear, you’ll get the gist of the question as soon as Trevor and I start talking again.

We talk about Don Greene’s excellent books on auditioning—all three are highly recommended:

201: Ira Gold on bow strokes, musical curiosity, and practicing techniques

National Symphony bassist and Peabody Institute faculty member Ira Gold is back for a “round two” interview!

We’re featuring National Symphony bassist and Peabody Institute faculty member Ira Gold on today’s episode. Ira was one of the very first interview guests for the podcast, and we spread it out over three episodes: 15, 18, and 43. This “round two” interview was conducted almost a decade after the first conversation, and Ira has been incredibly active with all sorts of new projects.

In this interview, we talk about physical fitness and how it helps with all aspects of life, making the transition to standing full-time, what Ira listens for on an audition committee, wanting to make music with people who share the same musical values, how being a “curious person” opens yourself up to new experiences in playing, practicing techniques, turning practice into puzzle solving, and many other topics.

We also talked about the three summer camps at which he’ll be teaching:

You can learn more about Ira and all his activities on his website. Enjoy!