Hey there! Eleanor here.
Do you have auditions coming up? Me too.
And do you want to know the thing that has helped me thrive in my auditions? Ready ready?
Mock auditions.
Why mock auditions? Because when I was auditioning for music schools, my first mock audition that I did was the worst audition that I had ever done for music schools — or even just in general. And I know that I’m not alone.
So let’s dive into the how and why of doing mock auditions…
Multi-tasking? There is a podcast episode all about this!
Why do we need mock auditions?
Because auditioning is a skill.
Think about this: Let’s say you are baking a cake and you put in every single measurement of flour, of water, of sugar all in the mixing bowl. Everything is perfect. And then, instead of carefully putting the cake mix in the oven at the right temperature, you just throw it at a fire and hope it becomes a cake.
Is that gonna work? No, of course not. And so we can’t do the same thing with auditioning. In my analogy, the fire versus the oven is the audition room. We all need to know how to audition in order to audition well, and we need to get used to auditioning in order to audition well.
I remember the first mock audition I did. I was super duper nervous and I was so glad that I did it because it was one of the worst auditions that I have ever done. I learned a lot. I played really poorly. I really struggled with the interview questions.
In fact, they asked me what my favourite oboe solo is. And I have favourties, but in that moment, my mind drew a complete blank and I said an english horn solo! So practicing doing auditions is so crucial.
I am really grateful for that mock audition. Because if it were one of my real ones, then I would have been really disappointed.
So now that we know the why, let’s talk about the how of mock auditions.
How do we do mock audition?
Here are the top things that I have learned about doing mock auditions.
1. Do as many as we possibly can
Seriously, as many as you can. Having one with your teacher as the judge; having one in front of some friends to judge — get creative with them. How many can you do, and with whom? Write your ideas in the comments below!
2. Treat it like a real audition
Research everything about your audition so that you can mirror it as closely as possible.
For instance, are they going to choose excerpts randomly? If so, have someone choose excerpts randomly.
If you’re going to play straight through everything, then do that in the mock audition.
Are there going to be questions? Will you know what the questions are? Try to mirror that as close as you can.
Another thing to remember is coming up with questions for the panel. In auditions, they will always ask, “do you have any questions?” And if you don’t, that can look unprepared. So have some questions prepared for them. For my music school auditions, I printed out a page with a few questions for them. That way I not only looked organised, but I also didn’t have to remember the questions in my head.
3. Do mock auditions in different mental and physical states
The classic one is doing jumping jacks and then playing through your pieces. Your heart rate will mimic nervousness after you have done some jumping jacks.
You can also play your pieces right after a nap. The important thing is doing it in different states. Get creative with this one!
4. Just perform for people
Anyone and everyone who will listen. The point is to get used to performing under some pressure. So play for your family, friends, teacher — even busk if you can. Play a recital or go live on Instagram. There are tons of different ways to perform for people. Write your ideas in the comments so we can all get creative about this!
If you have an audition coming up, I wish you the best. I hope you found this article helpful!
All my best,
Eleanor
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