How to Use Mocks to Prepare for Your Live Audition
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Congrats! You were successful in submitting an amazing application with killer prescreening videos and were invited to come and play a live audition. One step closer to getting into your dream schools.
In my opinion, the next step other than practicing a ton is to start mock auditioning!
What is a Mock Audition?
A Mock Audition is simply a fake audition. It’s something you can set up with a teacher or colleague where they act like the person(s) you are auditioning for.
This is used by a ton of different artists and musicians. My first exposure to this was from some Orchestral Percussionists. This group undergoes an extremely rigorous audition process to get a job. For them, mock auditions are an absolute necessity.
In simple terms the more you do something the better you are going to be at it. Similar to practicing scales, throwing a football, or cooking a steak. You need to practice auditioning, which is why I recommend mock auditions.
Do Some Audition Research
Every single audition that I took was different in some way or another. One was in a large practice room, one was in a studio space, and one was in an office. One had five people listening while the other two had only one person. One gave me all day to warm up while the other two gave me thirty minutes.
These kinds of variations continue, but I won’t list them all. However, you can at least get a basic understanding of the audition processes at individual schools to help guide your mock auditions. To do this I would reach out to people who have done those auditions before.
After talking to friends at my own school, colleagues I met at Chosen Vale, and my teacher I felt like I had a great starting point. However, be aware that there is a strong possibility things will not go as planned and that’s okay.
How Often Should You Mock?
This will vary from individual to individual, but if I was to go through the audition process again I would do a mock every single day starting two weeks before my first audition.
I did this for my first school which was a much better run, compared to my other two schools where I had only done one week. However, you can do way more than what I recommend, it can’t hurt.
Who Should I Get for My Mock Panel?
Personally, I used any musician that I thought could give me valuable advice. I played for different instrumentalists, colleagues of varying ages, and teachers of varying subjects. However, I think the most effective people to get are people who have done or ran similar auditions to what you have. For me, that meant prioritizing the graduate percussionists and my private teacher at my school.
You should also vary the number of people in each mock audition. Like I said before, I had anywhere from one person to five people in an audition.
With all of this being said, music students and teachers are crazy busy so it can be a pain to schedule all of this out. What I would recommend is to schedule these a week or two ahead. This allows them to figure out their schedule, gives you time to fill out a mock with more people, and schedule a room. Also, it wouldn’t hurt to get them some donuts or something.
Where Should I do My Mock Auditions?
If you haven’t figured it out by now, variation is key. So, try and find a number of possible spaces that could simulate where you would audition.
Try varying sizes of rehearsal spaces, halls, practice rooms, studios, and even your teacher’s office. Being able to quickly adapt to different environments will make sure you don’t freak out when you’re in a space you’re not used to.
Running the Mock Audition
For a mock to be as effective as possible, try to make it as close to the real thing as possible. To do this, here are a couple of things you should do:
Get your panel in the right headspace
Make sure to tell your panel that you want this to feel as much like a real audition as possible. As long as they believe that what they say or do fits within the context of running an audition I gave them full reign.
This presented some pretty interesting mock auditions, which were both helpful and comical. Some of my mock panels were super cold and barely talked to me. Some cracked jokes the entire time. Some turned the audition into a mini-lesson. Some let me play all of the rep and some cut me off early. Some even tried to mess with me. All of these variations could very well happen in an audition and luckily for you, all you got to do is adjust and play your best.
Mess Around With Warm-Up Times
I mentioned this before, but I had varying amounts of time to warm up. Every school was different so try and vary that as well during your mocks.
You can do this yourself or even ask the panel you are about to audition for to give you a specified amount of time. Two or three of my panels even told me to play cold, which was a valuable experience in itself.
Entering and Exiting
To make it feel as real as possible, After warming up I would let my panel into the room to get situated, with the instructions to call me in when they were ready
I would then enter, introduce myself, answer any questions, and begin playing. After everything was completed and they said I could leave, I would exit the room just like in a real audition.
Record Your Audition
You don’t need to pull out mics and a camera for this. I just used my phone and set it up near the panel so that I can see and hear everything post-audition. More on this later
What To Do After the Mock Audition
Get Comments and Critiques from the Panel
While the first goal of mocks is to just get used to the process of auditioning it can be a great opportunity to receive last-minute critique from your peers.
This can be about your playing, about how you carried yourself, how you answered questions, etc. I usually had a ton of questions to ask them after reflecting on the experience and they more than likely had an opinion to give. Also, if they had handwritten or typed notes ask them to send them to you and put them in a journal for later use.
Listen Back to the Recording
I liked having the ability to cross-reference the comments and critiques I got from the panel to a recording. I personally found it to be much more impactful that way, plus I was able to hear exactly what they were talking about.
I remember getting a comment that I was cutting a multi-bar rest in an excerpt by almost a beat. To be frank, I didn’t believe that I was doing that. Well, lo and behold they were right, but I only got this confirmation after listening back to the recordings.
Lastly, you will be able to find some extra stuff that was not caught by the panel in the moment. Use this information to continue to refine your playing for the next mock.
Good Luck!
Auditions can be a nerve-wracking experience, but with the right preparation, anyone can play their best and feel comfortable. I hope you find this advice helpful and let me know if you have any questions. Comment them down below or feel free to send me an email through the contact page!
