Build a Realistic Calendar
Work backward
- Place the official deadline and any prescreen submission date first. Reserve earlier milestones for repertoire stabilization, recordings and mock auditions.
Separate practice modes
- Allocate time to slow technical repair, interpretive work, complete performance, sight-reading and recovery. A single full-speed run-through does not replace targeted work.
Protect a buffer
- Avoid scheduling final recordings or essential accompanist rehearsals at the last possible moment. Build in time for technical problems and fatigue.
Use a weekly review
- Identify one passage that improved, one that remains unreliable and the exact exercise that will address it next week.
Other chapters: Read the Actual Requirements · Choose and Document Repertoire · Practice for Accuracy · Develop Your Interpretation · Train Sight-Reading · Strengthen Ear and Theory · Improvise and Collaborate · Make a Prescreen Recording · Prepare for the Interview · Run a Mock Audition · Plan the Audition Day · Use Feedback Well · Your Instrument or Pathway · Worksheets and Rubrics
These exercises are independent practice, not official audition materials, and they do not guarantee admission. Always follow the institution's current published requirements. Requirements differ between schools and change each year. Check the school's current published list.
Open the Audition Preparation Handbook →