T Minus 8 days til the concert
Ok. We’re in single digits to the concert now. I’m feeling pretty confident about my part but I still have a lot I want to work on. Mostly I want, ok NEED, to take in the A Clarinet I’m borrowing from the orchestra to the repair shop. It is extremely stuffy and the Wagner, although not technically very challenging, takes so much energy to play!
It’s times like this I kick myself for not buying an A clarinet in college or using my tax refund to buy one. Oh well, c’est la vie.
So I thought I would share my preparation checklist with you for this concert. Each concert checklist is different since there are obviously different pieces that require different practice and listening techniques to prepare.
Confession time: I love bullet journaling. I find it very therapeutic and so I put my concert preparation checklist in my bullet journal, with some fun stickers because who doesn’t like fun stickers!
My checklist goes like this:
ASAP! To Do’s – Do these right now, preferably yesterday.
Call Windsmith in Philomath and schedule repair for A clarinet before the concert.
Daily To Do’s – Do these every day, without fail.
Listen to the pieces – YouTube Playlist
Work in listening to my morning routine. I like to listen to upcoming concert music while I get ready in the morning, like while in the shower, doing my hair, or putting on make-up.
Practice marked passages – slow and at tempo
Early on in the rehearsal process I mark passages that I find challenging and those are the ones that I focus on until they are perfect.
The Week Before the Performance To Do’s – Do these the week leading up to the performance .
Daily To Do’s
Starting Day 5 – Add slow passages, beginning and ends (listen for intonation and tone)
I like to do this so I know everything and am not surprised at any part of the piece. I find that slow passages, the beginning and ends sometimes get skipped over in favor of harder passages.
Double down on marked passages if still having issues
Starting Day 4 – Start run throughs daily until day of performance.
Now this concert checklist is sometimes different depending on the concert. If it’s a pops concert there might not be a lot of marked passage work, but maybe more run throughs. If it’s a pit orchestra gig there won’t be any full run throughs at home but more marked passage work.
I hope that you found this post interesting and helpful.
As always, aim high and keep practicing!
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