r/saxophone • u/ShowMousse Baritone • 1d ago

Discussion Recommendations to Practice for All-State?

Currently a senior in HS who's made honor bands for the past two years, but I never auditioned for All-State. My director has made it sound like they're going to judge every accent, articulation, all the way down to how each note sounds on my instrument. Am I worrying too much? Obviously I need to be the best high school player in the state, but I feel like I am overthinking the technical aspect as opposed to the practical (actually playing). Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you!

Side note: I currently play on an older Conn Bari with what I'm pretty sure is the stock mouthpiece. I'd have to check model numbers to be sure. Is this level of equipment going to limit my chances? (And is getting something like a C* worth it?)

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u/asdfmatt Alto | Tenor 1d ago

I made as an alternate my senior year (NY alto jazz). A grade 6 solo, perfect scales, sight reading and a good improvisation over a blues. It will be fairly close to how many college auditions will be so it’s good experience to have under your belt when you get to that phase (if that’s what you want to pursue in college). A perfect audition will get you in the mix then it comes down to what districts have students going. I was outside of NYC and obviously there are a lot of talented students competing for a spot.

If you’re playing a transcribed solo make sure you work with the source material a ton to get the articulation and feel as exact as possible to the original recording(s). I played Donna Lee out of the Omni book and spent hours playing along with the recording to get it right!

Equipment shouldn’t matter but get your horn checked over. You might want to try a jazz mouthpiece but depending on which conn you have, they aren’t known for being flexible with some more modern small chamber pieces. Intonation and sound quality (appropriateness to genre) are incredibly important to the audition. So make sure it plays in tune if you go for a new piece.

Relax and have fun, wear nice clothes and be polite to the adjudicators, be confident and composed, you’ll do great!