Band VP’s Message
Facing the Music . . . and Shooting to Score
I
am a soccer fan. I’m not sure if you were able to watch any of the World Cup this past summer, but I sure did! Didn’t
matter who was playing, I watched. My five-year old daughter would usually cheer for whichever color I wasn’t cheering for.
My two-year old just got excited whenever anyone else did. One of the teams I was rooting for was Peru - even though they had next to zero chance of advancing out of the first stage. I spent two years in Peru, and the country and people are near-and-dear to me. At one point during the match, Peru was fouled very close to the goal they were attacking. In soccer, this results in a penalty kick (PK), which is where an attacking player gets to shoot the ball and score from a spot 12 yards from the goal. The goalkeeper has to stay on the goal line until the ball is kicked. He can move laterally along the line all he wants, but he can’t step off the line until the ball has been kicked.
The odds are greatly in favor of the player shooting the ball, something like a 70%+ chance that the player taking the shot will score. That’s a fairly safe bet. Most goalkeepers feel pretty successful if they just move the right direction. So this Peruvian player steps up to take his PK. He’s facing the music! The referee blows his whistle; the player begins his approach, strikes the ball… and misses (plug in trombone “wah wah waaahhhh”). When I say miss, I don’t just mean he didn’t score. He MISSED the entire goal! It didn’t just bounce off the crossbar or miss by a few inches either. You could have put a tuba between the ball and the crossbar as it sailed over. I was astounded. Here are the world’s top soccer players, and this guy misses the entire target.
OK, Tolman. Get to the point!
After your student leaves the audition room, how many of you think, “I know I handed out the etudes in class. Were they playing something else?” Or maybe, “I told them that it was the 12 MAJOR scales, right?” Or this one, “Hey, Tolman, maybe next time try a reed.” I know I’ve had similar thoughts as some kids have walked out of the room. They didn’t just miss a few notes. They weren’t even CLOSE! When our kids step up to “face the music,” many are shooting and sailing way over. How can we fix it? I don’t claim to have all the answers, but here are some thoughts.
• Preparation. A dentist talking with a group of elementary kids told them that brushing your teeth for two hours,
18
once a week, won’t cut it. It’s consistently brushing everyday that keeps everything clean. Too many of our kids are attacking the audition process like a hotdog eating contest, cramming as much as they can in as little time as possible. That’s not going to work. They need to be consistently practicing over time. Scales (guess what?? They are the SAME scales every year. Yup, no joke), long tones, or range exercises. All those basic, fundamental parts of playing are things kids need to be doing more than just in class.
In talking with an All-State and All-Northwest flutist, she mentioned that she spends little time on the actual audition materials due to the fact that for the rest of the year, she follows a regimented practice schedule. So when she gets her audition materials, most of the more technical aspects of the material are something that she has previously mastered in a solo piece or other aspect of her practicing. Encourage your students to not just prepare for their audition the month (or week) prior to the audition date. Their preparation begins months, even years, before they have to step up and face the music.
• Chunkify. How do you eat an elephant? I know many of my kids try to take on the entire etude at once. Teach them to tackle little sections at a time, just a few measures. Maybe one measure at a time! Trying to eat the whole elephant at once just won’t work.
• Speed. In my book, it’s not about who can play the fastest, but who can play the most accurately. Kids tend to think faster is better. Heck no, Jo! Slow that metronome down. I always tell kids that the key to playing fast is playing slow.
• Magic. If you’ve never done it right, it’s not going to magically happen in the audition room. I’ve had conversations with kids after their audition who are just devastated with their performance. I always ask, had you played through it correctly before? Way too often
Wyoming Windsong
Zach Tolman WMEA Band VP
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