How I Prepared to Prepare for Auditions
1) Technical Practice- gotta have the technical facility on lock. Be able to do every fundamental technique and a variety of extended techniques. The more you have in your tool box, the easier it will be to play anything put in front of you.
2) Timbre- train your ear to know what constitutes a good sound for your instrument(s). Let that guide your physical exploration of different variations and characters of that good sound. This goes hand in hand with technique.
3) Time- developing a good sense of time isn't enough. Steady tempo isn't either. It must be infectious, listenable, groove, stable, musical, confident, literally a human metronome (organic time).
4) Thought- strengthen your focusing ability, critical listening, critical analysis, study subjects related to the art and instrument, study other interests you're passionate about, attend/YouTube/podcast masterclasses, take notes in lessons/rehearsals.
5) Theater- anywhere you play, perform. By yourself, as you practice, as you develop concepts, in lessons, for the neighbors, for family gatherings, impromptu gatherings, recording yourself, mock auditions, auditions, in concert, in rehearsals, literally anywhere. Get comfy in this state, but never take it for granted.
6) Train- what music could be asked? What has been asked before? What new pieces are being asked now? What hasn't been seen on lists in a long time? Learn at least 85% of the possibilities extremely well, and be very, very aware and familiar with the other 15%.
7) Transcend- #1-6, (at least 4 out of the 6), must be developed until it's second nature, automatic, at some level.
8) Thrill- #1-7 at some level must have a sense of adventure, inspiration, pleasure, fun (though not necessarily so), or else working on them becomes lifeless and mechanical. Don't forget to indulge a little in them and enjoy it.
9) Tolerance- be patient with your progress and be objective with short comings.
10) Take Ten- remember, life is more than the work. Take breaks when needed, do other things you are passionate about, and take time to relax. Organize your time so that you are both productive and rested. Balance in life is key to balance in your career.
2) Timbre- train your ear to know what constitutes a good sound for your instrument(s). Let that guide your physical exploration of different variations and characters of that good sound. This goes hand in hand with technique.
3) Time- developing a good sense of time isn't enough. Steady tempo isn't either. It must be infectious, listenable, groove, stable, musical, confident, literally a human metronome (organic time).
4) Thought- strengthen your focusing ability, critical listening, critical analysis, study subjects related to the art and instrument, study other interests you're passionate about, attend/YouTube/podcast masterclasses, take notes in lessons/rehearsals.
5) Theater- anywhere you play, perform. By yourself, as you practice, as you develop concepts, in lessons, for the neighbors, for family gatherings, impromptu gatherings, recording yourself, mock auditions, auditions, in concert, in rehearsals, literally anywhere. Get comfy in this state, but never take it for granted.
6) Train- what music could be asked? What has been asked before? What new pieces are being asked now? What hasn't been seen on lists in a long time? Learn at least 85% of the possibilities extremely well, and be very, very aware and familiar with the other 15%.
7) Transcend- #1-6, (at least 4 out of the 6), must be developed until it's second nature, automatic, at some level.
8) Thrill- #1-7 at some level must have a sense of adventure, inspiration, pleasure, fun (though not necessarily so), or else working on them becomes lifeless and mechanical. Don't forget to indulge a little in them and enjoy it.
9) Tolerance- be patient with your progress and be objective with short comings.
10) Take Ten- remember, life is more than the work. Take breaks when needed, do other things you are passionate about, and take time to relax. Organize your time so that you are both productive and rested. Balance in life is key to balance in your career.
The Table of Time
This is one of my favorite pages to practice on a daily basis. This is a standard interpretation of how to practice these combinations of beats within a measure, but there are more that you can use as well in addition to these. I like practicing this straight through (forwards and backwards), and skipping around. I really think the skipping around will tell you how well you know each individual rhythm and their relation to time as you go from one to the next. Try going from quarter note triplets to sevens, or twelves to fives. Any combination will get you more comfortable with standard time and I think it's definitely worth practicing on a regular basis.
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Rhythmic Integrity
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Rhythmic integrity is something I obsess over. How does this fit in the beat, what is this rhythm's relationship to another's, what is this eighth notes relationship to this sixteenth, etc? These Delecluse exercises are only a few of the variations you can try and experimenting with the options is really important in feeling more comfortable with your overall time. Using these and similar exercises has been a constant in my daily practice.
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Paradiddles
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My favorite rudiment: paradiddles! On the left are the most commonly seen iterations of the rhythm. The goal for me was to make them feel like second nature and to be able to play them at a decent quick speed, utilizing a double stroke rebound (the key to playing them fast). On the right is the Guy Lefevre "Superior Technique" paradiddle combinations. These are so cool to listen to, not just play, and they have so much character while giving you more fluidity within the paradiddle structure.
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Rudimental Roll
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The double stroke roll is probably the most important rebound stroke because it borders completely bounced and completely controlled. Separating the hands is an effective way of evening out the roll and figuring out which hand, if either, is different in sound or feel and how to fix it. These exercises from Mitchell Peters' "Developing Dexterity" are my go-to to solve these problems, for duple, triple and buzz strokes.
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Inverted Doubles
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From the book we all should own, "Stick Control", inverting the double stroke is an excellent way to isolate and solve problems within the strokes we do. The accents in particular force us to be totally relaxed before and after each execution of the double stroke, again balancing the sensation of totally bounced and totally controlled.
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Measured Rolls
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As we become more comfortable with rolls, being ready to execute a certain roll speed or amount is crucial to our flexibility within any piece. These exercises help develop a base measured roll for duple and triple meter circumstances. Doing these with triple stroke and buzz strokes will also be very helpful in the long run.
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Concert Roll
These exercises break down the concert roll, specifically the triple bounce and the soft buzz. In my experience, I've used the triple bounce for general medium to loud playing and the buzz only for medium soft and below, but these can easily be adapted for any roll type and speed. The soft buzz exercises really helped and I recommend them to almost everyone.
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Civic Orchestra Audition
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I recently sent an audition tape to the Chicago Civic Orchestra. I thought it'd be good idea to post it publically. This was the second of three takes that I did on a Sunday after I had gotten home from a trip to Chicago for a week.
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Getting to Know Your Triplets
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Often we have to play on the off beats, without the help of a downbeat in our rhythms. Usually we can either place the beats too late or too soon. This hopefully will help in how we can feel where the proper placement of each note should be. This method can be used for any rhythm, not just triplets, and comes in handy whenever you find yourself in that position of playing off or towards the downbeat.
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Xylophone Exercise 6
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The last variation posted is a combination of both Variation 2 and Variation 3. In the rhythm, 1 and uh 2 and uh 3 and uh 4 and uh, go upwards in the chromatic scale while striking the note a half step below the primary note. Then, at the top, go down a major scale in 16ths. Done in all keys.
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Xylophone Exercise 5
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Variation four is the exact opposite of the previous one. Instead of playing a half step lower every 2nd triplet, you will play a half step higher (C, C#, C; B, C, B; etc.) Done in all keys.
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Xylophone Exercise 4
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With the third variation, as you go upwards chromatically you will be striking a note a half step below the main pitches every 2nd triplet (C, B, C; C#, C, C#; etc.). This is done in 16th triplets upwards and a major scale down in 16ths. Done in all keys.
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Xylophone Exercise 3
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In the second variation you go up chromatically but in a 32nd note rhythm (1 and uh, 2 and uh, 3 and uh, 4 and uh) and back down a major scale. Done in all keys.
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Xylophone Exercise 2
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This is the first variation of the PSG exercise. It's the exact opposite of the original, go down chromatically and back up in a major scale. Done in all keys.
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Xylophone Exercise 1
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Along with my pad exercises, I spend a lot of time working on scales and mallet technique. This is the original exercise that was taught to me by Patsy Dash and Douglas Waddell when I was in the Percussion Scholarship Group. The concept is playing both a chromatic scale going up or down and a regular scale in the opposite direction. Done in all keys.
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How to Impress in Auditions
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Berlin Philharmonic woodwind panelists Andreas Blau, flute; Albrecht Mayer, oboe; Wenzel Fuchs, clarinet; and Stefan Schweigert, bassoon, talk about what judges listen for in auditions. I found this really helpful because they are non-percussionists and we really need to realize that, we are not just playing for other drummers. We have to play musically on top of our technical facility.
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The Number Hack
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This is a video request from Sara Neilson, one of my very good friends. Here I demonstrate a hack that was shown to me in college. Basically, to practice transitions between different number groupings of beats, like triplets and septuplets, you take a phone number and play the phone number. Here I use the number 519-256-2754. Though it's a short video, I hope this is as helpful to you as it was for us.
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The Bolero
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This exercise was given to me by Marc Damoulakis, principal percussionist of the Cleveland Orchestra. It takes the snare drum part of Bolero and inserts accents, subdivisions and hand to hand flams. Not a walk in the park by any means, but hopefully this breakdown makes it a little easier to catch on.
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Hand to Hand
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Most everyone has either come up with themselves, seen or been taught the "8 on a hand" exercise. Here is a "new" twist on how to get the most out of that exercise, practice any number of beats on a hand, and stay alert during your warm up. It helped me and I hope it helps you as well!
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Tempo Modulation
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I really enjoy having a sense of fluidity with whatever I'm playing in whatever tempo. A way to practice that is to modulate tempos back and forth, going noticeably faster and slower. Here I use quarter notes and quarter triplets to achieve this, but you can use any type of rhythmic modulation to do it as well.
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Flam Triplets
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The very first video request comes from Jordan Hale, a student at DePaul School of Music and one of my good friends. He asked that I do some videos of me playing pad. Wondering why? Watch and see!
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The Moeller Stroke
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This video describes my approach to learning the Moeller stroke. Members of the Percussion Scholarship Group of the Chicago Symphony asked me to make this video as a guide to figuring it out. Hope it helps!
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