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Depending on the state you are in, regional honor band auditions at the high school level may have either recently happened or are coming very soon. Besides music that you are required to prepare you will be asked to play scales, and it should at the audition never sound like a surprise. “F# major! AAAK!” should not be your reaction, although from having judged in the past it too often sounds as if that is the case. If a scale is on the list they can ask it!
In working on our regional audition music with high school students recently I noted that they had a sheet of scale requirements for all the instruments. If this was generated by their band director or by AMEA I am not sure, but it does give some clear goals for horn students preparing for our regional auditions. Specifically:
Tempo. “Maximum controlled speed” is requested. My suggestion is at least 1/8 notes at a quarter note = 60. Practice them with a metronome, keep yourself honest.
Articulation. The sheet says “At least one scale is to be played slurred and one tongued,” so be ready to play scales either way. But from the judging angle of this I am more interested in hearing good, medium tonguing.
Range. The document specifies either one or two octaves for each scale. The list is the same for horn and low brass in this regard (even though listed separately) so I am not sure how much thought was given to this topic by the people who generated the document, but their list is as follows, the number after the scale being the number of octaves required “to receive full points.”
Major Scales: C1, F2, Bb2, Eb1, Ab2, Db1, G2, D1, A2, E2, B2, F#2, C#1, Gb2, E to Bb chromatic (2+ octaves)
Note the 2+ octave chromatic scale, that would be something to be specifically ready for as well.
[And yes, Db/C# and F# Gb are the same scales, I don’t know why they are listed twice.]
So if you needed something specific to push you, and a lot of students do, those are the goals suggested on the document I saw related to Arizona regional auditions. In the bigger picture of horn performance the list above is pretty minimal and needs to be mastered by any horn player serious enough to be reading Horn Matters, challenge yourself to reach a higher level. Now get busy!
