James Egan

NBTHS Band Director

North Brunswick NJ 08902

732 289 3737

Clicking on the first chair icon to the left will bring you to the CJMEA Regions II web site.You should be aware that their web site is not always up to date so checking dates is very important. As a judge I have seen students show up with the previous year's audition piece.

Students who have studied with me are aware of my working in threes. I find that information given in threes is easier to remember.

So here are the most basic things that will almost automatically ruin any audition:

Here are three things all good performaces have in common.
1. Pulse/Beat, good musicians never play a note with creating and following a good pulse or beat. A strong understanding of time signatures and note names is essential for this first step.

1. not repairing the audition piece adequately
2. not knowing scales
3. inability to sight read.

These are in order. It should be noted that every musician in my program auditions for a seat within our ensembles. My auditions and scoring procedures are directly related to the national standards followed by MENC, CJMEA, and USSBA.
Here are two more groups of three for serious musicians.
Tuning:

1. Match pitch, (hum the reference pitch)
2. Critique, (play your pitch, is it high, low, or in tune)
3. Repeat.

2.Intonation, see my three steps to good tuning, but also know your instrument. Check every note on your instrument with a friend, and a tuner. Every instrument has it's own idiosyncrasies. once you know your instruments specific pitch problems you can adjust accordingly.

3. Art and Expression. The ability to follow expression markings and really animate those markings is not just extra, it's a necessity for a competent and entertaining performance