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  • Noa Kageyama

    Administrator
    April 14, 2020 at 5:30 pm

    Hi Akira,

    Great question – that’s kind of the million-dollar question, right? I wish I could say that there’s a single best way to approach this, but I don’t know if there’s an exact right way to approach it.

    For instance, some people do tons of mocks leading up to audition day for weeks. Others do more slow practice. Others do a bit of everything. Some prefer to go into audition day well rested, while others like to be physically worn out a bit (though I think the research tends to suggest that well-rested is the way to go, there are always some exceptions). Etc., etc.

    The general recommendation is to do more high-intensity performance-like practice as you get closer to audition day, and less low-intensity woodshedding as you gradually start cutting back on the amount of time on your instrument. But the exact ratio and formula depends on the person. This is where keeping a practice log can be really helpful, because the way you figure this out is you start with a theory about what might work best for you, and you log exactly what you do, and then you listen back to the recording afterwards, reflect on how it felt confidence-wise, physically, etc, and then decide what parts of your last week you might want to adjust or tweak for the next one. And then you keep track of all of the variables for the next one, and reevaluate your plan for the next one. And so from each experience, you’re able to get closer and closer to your ideal preparation formula, based on actual evidence and data that you collect over time. Kind of like going to the gym, and figuring out what works best for you based on collecting data and results over time.

    My guess would be that a good place to start would be to err on the side of more run-throughs and less woodshedding in the week of, and even cutting back quite a bit in the last 24-48 hours, where in the last 24 hours you might not play the excerpts or touch your instrument much at all, but just do some long tones, or easy warm ups, or exercises to stay connected to your instrument, and some mental practice and visualization, but not wear yourself out too much physically.

    It’s awesome that you’re doing this now, and get to use these mocks in school to start honing and refining your optimal process. You can be as nerdy as you want about tracking your training and results; I know some folks who just keep a notebook, while others have a pretty detailed excel spreadsheet and so forth, but whatever works best for you and makes sense for you and will therefore be easiest to sustain is the best. I don’t know to what degree he has laid out his own system, but if you haven’t read Jason Haaheim’s blog, you might get some general ideas on the idea of tracking process and results, you might find some there too (he’s the principal timpanist at the Met, and also worked as an engineer before getting the job, so has a very analytical, science-based thought process).

    Hope this helps to give you some ideas!

    Noa

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