University audition and competition preparation

What the preparation covers

• ✓ Choosing the programme, based on each school's or competition's exact requirements and on what the student plays most convincingly.
• ✓ Memorisation, treated as a skill of its own rather than as a by-product of repetition.
• ✓ Tone, dynamics and musical direction, which is what separates two candidates playing the same notes.
• ✓ Walking on stage: entrance, setting up, tuning in front of a jury, the silence before the first note.
• ✓ Stage nerves, handled through repeated mock auditions rather than general advice.
• ✓ Recording the pre-screening videos.
• ✓ Theory and ear training, where the school tests them.

A realistic timeline

Six to nine months before the date is the comfortable window. Three months is still workable if the technique is already in place. The rule that matters: the programme should be learned and memorised about six weeks before the audition. Those last six weeks are not for learning notes, they are for making the performance consistent day after day, including on a cold February morning in an unfamiliar hall.

Montreal schools

McGill, the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal and the Université de Montréal each have their own repertoire requirements, theory tests and audition culture. Mark did his Bachelor's at McGill and his Master's at the Conservatoire, so he knows both paths from the inside.

Competitions

Competitions are organised by age and level, often with a set piece. They are useful well beyond the result: they give a date, a hall and an audience, which structures a year of work better than any practice plan.

Pre-screening videos

Most auditions now start with a video submission. Framing, room sound, the number of takes and the choice of final take are all part of the work: a good performance badly captured is eliminated before it is ever heard.