All-Northwest hopefuls, your audition music is available here. It's worth noting that some of these excerpts get repeated from one season to the next (in this case, the Andersen and the Grainger, lucky you!), so get started now, and even if you don't make it this year, know that you are investing in your future chances.
The video below takes you through all of the excerpts in one fell swoop, but individual performance videos can also be viewed at the UWYO Flutes Instagram page here. Good luck to you all this September, and keep in touch if you'd like some individual help at nriner@uwyo.edu. ; )
Some notes...
Andersen: It's easy to rush ahead in this etude. Practice with very vertical placement, and treat it like a march in style. I love to practice with the metronome on the off-beats whenever I find myself rushing--try it for yourself!
Bach: they've chosen a new movement this time around, but my general comments from 2022 apply here as well. You will notice I've added some subtle shaping (hairpins) on long notes just to give them some musical interest, so I guess I'm contradicting myself a little bit here...but all of this is to say, be a musician! ; )
Dvorak: I've pasted a photo of my personal part, marked up by my former teacher Richard Sherman, below. As you'll see, the slower end of the ANW tempo range is most appropriate for real life playing conditions, and the tempo should actually change between the tutti passage and the solo. Based on written directions in this audition packet, I'd recommend playing it safe and sticking to quarter note=126 or so for the entire excerpt.
*Be careful that your eighth note followed by two sixteenth notes don't turn into triplets in an effort to make fingers feel more comfortable. The best way to ensure rhythmical integrity? Practice slowly, with a metronome, and articulate two sixteenths for each eighth note!
Grainger: This is an Irish dance! Practice while stomping your feet, imagine drums playing underneath you (bonus points if you have an actual drummer in the house for support), and go to town! (PS, remember to bring lips forward for high notes, rather than just tightening up and blowing harder.)
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