#especially if you're not pulling from very recent/contemporary compositions. which tend to be fiendishly technical | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

supercantaloupe · 2 years ago

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Hello! Would you consider the Vaughan Williams Oboe concerto to be a basic ass piece to play for college auditions? I luv Vaughan Williams but I’m scared they’ll think I’m basic and lame

jeez, no, i think that's MORE than fine. if it's a really competitive program like at a conservatory or something maybe they'd want to hear something else but jeez the vaughan williams concerto was definitely beyond my skill level when i was auditioning for undergrad and i had no trouble getting in where i wanted to...of course i had my own circumstances re: where and how i auditioned so your mileage may vary but. gd no yeah i think the vaughan williams is MORE than suited for college auditions

#sasha answers #anon #oboeposting #the thing w oboe is that like... there's not a lot of concerti out there to choose from to begin with #compared to strings or piano anyway #especially if you're not pulling from very recent/contemporary compositions. which tend to be fiendishly technical #(and imo not that great to listen to...)#if we're talking cliched solo rep then nothing will beat the mozart concerto but even then i think that's a fine piece #for a college audition? like you're not winning a chair in a major orchestra or doing a concerto competition #the professors want to know that you can play. and jeez if you can play the vaughan williams then You Can Play #reiterating that idk if you're applying to like. curtis or juilliard or something. i certainly didn't and i have zero tips on that #but for your average music school i think thay should be fine #there's a lot of technical shit in that concerto any woodwind player worth their salt will recognize if they hear it #and honestly if you can make the vaughan williams sound good then 'getting in' is the least to stress about #anyway. this isn't musical theater i wouldn't worry about picking rep based on if it's 'cliche' or not #find out what the schools you're auditioning for want you to have prepared (in terms of like length and tempo/contrasting styles etc)#and go from there but honestly i don't think you ought to worry about something being 'overdone'#there's only so much solo rep out there for oboe y'know #good and classic solo rep anyway.

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