This year we will prepare two excerpts from the band literature and a sonata. For your audition, prepare the following three pieces:
- Colonial Song by Percy Grainger. Note style (vibrato) and dynamic markings (loud to very loud). There is an outstanding recording on YouTube with the President’s Own Marine Band. Even though this is originally scored for soprano saxophone, perform it in your audition on the alto saxophone.
- Dionysiaques, Opus 62 by Florent Schmitt. Note dynamics (soft to very loud), articulation, and tempo. There is an outstanding recording on YouTube with Eugene Corporon and Cincinnati Wind Symphony.
- “III. Con Moto” from Sonata by John Cheetham. Outstanding recording: Kenneth Tse, “An American Exhibition” (buy the album! Do not rely on YouTube for this one).
Paper copies of the sheet music are outside saxo studio, and with Alli Bach at the undergrad office. I will be sending you midi accompaniment and practice tracks for Cheetham via Dropbox shortly. You will be performing Cheetham with a collaborative pianist at your audition.
Questions? Concerns? Suggestions for high A fingerings? – email me!
Practice hard and see you in September,
Idit