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Abstract
This audition workbook for orchestral percussionists generates practice strategies and succinct exercises for addressing the technical and musical challenges found in the most popular orchestral percussion audition excerpts. The workbook component of this research exists to invite students and professionals into the creative process, encouraging them to design their own practice regimen from the exercises, ideas, and blank templates provided in this document. This research serves to be fully accessible and adaptable for the needs of the individual musician by offering a step-by-step process for designing short exercises to practice and prepare audition repertoire. The lecture recital component of this research includes the performance of twenty-four orchestral audition excerpts. These pieces have been identified as “the most popular audition excerpts” through the quantitative compilation of eighty-eight audition repertoire lists from professional symphony orchestras from the past five decades. The performance and analysis of each of these pieces is also accompanied by a discussion of the technical and musical challenges that contribute to its regular appearance on professional auditions. The average performance tempo for all twenty-four passages has also been determined by clocking the tempos of ten to twenty professional recordings for each piece. The detailed surveys of professional audition lists and professional performances of this research can serve as a pedagogical tool for curriculum development or as a practice strategy for audition preparation. It is by conscious intention that this entire study is modular and adaptable for the needs of the reader. As the audition scene changes and adapts to our changing world, it is my hope that the ideas outlined in this study and workbook can evolve with the changing needs of musicians.