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For several years I’ve had the Till and Brahms 3 excerpts as being required of all grad applicants. It helps to have apples to apples components as I rate applicants.
The bigger problem
I say this carefully but I was forced to come to a conclusion that many horn teachers don’t teach excerpts well. For many excerpts there is a very limited range of what could be considered a correct interpretation. Certain boxes have to be checked off, boxes a good teacher defines through insights gained by their orchestral experience and taking professional auditions. In my own case I took 30 professional auditions and was Third Horn in Nashville for 6 seasons (among other playing, including as Principal Horn at the Brevard Music Center). I have clear ideas of what I want to hear.
Sometimes too, I suspect the student doing the audition has not played the excerpt for a competent teacher, or if they did, they did not implement their advice. Or maybe too many Zoom lessons? In any case, I have some specific thoughts to consider.
The excerpt a strong applicant should offer
Shostakovich 5 is an essential excerpt. It is not a deal breaker; I’ve accepted many grad applicants that did not have low range power yet. But this excerpt remains the elephant in the room, the excerpt you should be offering even if I don’t require it. If you are reading this and your low range is very much still in progress, my Low Horn Boot Camp book could be of help.
Till
On Till I have covered a lot of my thoughts in a prior post and also episode 50 of my Horn Notes Podcast.
The biggest issue is if you are a grad applicant you need to be able to play it with the correct rhythm and blap out a decent low C. Even these are not deal breakers for me for an entering MM student, we can work on these things, but still, these are things you have to learn and work out.
Brahms 3
I’m constantly telling people to play the solo louder and faster. This is not a slow, soft, sad excerpt! It is not from the slow movement of the symphony. Also, the texture is thick, you have to play over a lot of sound on the stage, it needs to sound like you will project to the back of the audience. It is a solo, not an inner voice in a woodwind quintet.
Another big issue is there are specific, best places to breathe. I will admit that I have strong opinions on this drawing from my own audition prep and having performed the work several times. However, recently I saw a European pro post to Facebook a video of Brahms 3 with their orchestra, testing a new horn. Honestly, they took way too many breaths! I don’t understand how this is OK, unless you have a very small lung capacity.
Above all,
A bad interpretation of an excerpt is not a deal breaker in a grad audition — any version will show your potential — but a good interpretation enhances your application to be sure.
When the series continues, we have one more major topic
