Audition Details & Procedures
November 7 & 9, 2011
5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
John Page Middle School Band Room
29615 Tawas St., Madison Heights, MI 48071
Openings: The Motor City Youth Brass Band is looking for dedicated brass and percussion student musicians that wish to develop their ensemble playing through improving fundamentals and learning about brass band literature. Openings are available for students who play trumpet, horn, trombone, baritone, euphonium, tuba and percussion.
Eligibility: Students must be in 8th – 12th grade, accomplished on their instruments, and enrolled in their school band program. Students must also be committed to all of the rehearsal and performance dates (See calendar page on website). If you have conflicts with anything on the calendar, please contact the director to see if it would prevent participation.
Audition Material: Each student is required to play a prepared piece of your own choice, memorized scales (chosen from MSBOA - Proficiency I), and complete a sight reading excerpt. Please make appropriate cuts to your chosen piece to keep the time under three minutes for the purposes of this audition. You do not need to perform your solo accompanied, but a piano will be available should you wish to use it. Audition pieces should be chosen from the standard repertoire for your instrument. A piece you have performed successfully at solo and ensemble festival or your all state audition would make a good choice. Percussionists will need to prepare a snare drum solo or etude AND a mallet instrument solo or etude. All standard concert percussion will be available for your use in the audition. Call if you have questions or specific instrument needs.
Details: Schedule your audition in advance of November 7 by contacting the MCYBB director at mcybb@mcbb.org. If you schedule your audition early, then you will have a greater selection of audition times. When scheduling your audition, please indicate your preferred date, and the times you will be available. Please also include what school you attend, your grade, and the piece you will be performing. The director will reply with a confirmation of your audition time. All musicians, whether new to the band or members during previous years, shall audition at the first meeting in the fall session. Students participating in the fall are automatically renewed for the spring semester of that academic year.
Procedure for audition day: You will need to arrive prior to your performance time in order to warm up. When you arrive, check in with the audition coordinator and fill out the audition form. Warm up in the designated room and be ready for the coordinator to call you just before your audition time. In the audition room you will perform your chosen audition piece and scales as requested by the directors. You will have a minute to look over a short sight-reading excerpt, and then perform it. Notification of placement into the Motor City Youth Brass Band will be by e-mail. All students will audition on their primary band instrument. Upon a successful audition, students will receive instruments on loan from MCYBB for use during the 2011-12 season.
All auditions will be judged by staff members of MCYBB, Bona Opatich and Toby Kmet.
Please do not contact John Page Middle School or the Lamphere Schools regarding MCYBB auditions.