Get in the Piece Before You Start

Make sure that you get yourself firmly into the feel of a piece of music before you start playing. I think this is especially important in the context of playing excerpts in an audition. Oftentimes in an audition, the awkward silence between excerpts leads the player to rush into the beginning of the next piece. Taking the extra ten seconds or so necessary to calm your mind and get in the correct mind frame is worth a lot more than the satisfaction of feeling like you're not taking too long to get to the next excerpt.

I try to have a mental musical cue for every excerpt that will allow me to start immediately in the correct style and tempo. For example, in Bolero I try to hear a few steady bars of the snare drum rhythm before I jump into the excerpt. In Ein Heldenleben, I also try to hear a few bars of the snare drum. In Tuba Mirum and Hungarian March I think of the tempo at which I want to play the eighth notes in the later parts of those particular excerpts before I start. Until I feel comfortable with the established style and tempo, I don't begin the excerpts. Starting before you reach that comfort level can be a recipe for disaster. If you start off unsure and it takes two or three bars for you to get into the feel of the piece, you've already lost the battle and the attention of the committee/audience.