With trimester 3 fast approaching, students have begun choosing classes for the school year of 2026. One of these classes is the band program’s Wind Symphony. Wind Symphony is an audition-only class where students must play an array of scales, perform an etude, and sight-read music for instructors to evaluate. But auditions can be a daunting process, and the stress of playing in front of a judge can be overwhelming, even if they are a teacher you’ve known for years. Band students take time to share their strategies and experience managing stress during auditions.

“I played in front of my parents a lot, and I was using different breathing techniques, stuff like that to see what would help,” freshman alto saxophonist Lucy Johnson said. “If I didn’t practice as much as I did, the audition would have been a lot worse,” 

While some students spent weeks perfecting scales, conditioning, and practicing the required song, other auditioners were not as prepared, preferring to ignore the upcoming audition deadline and find other uses of their time.

“I completely procrastinated it and basically sight-read it the day of,” junior baritone saxophonist Chase Messersmith said. “It was not a good decision.”

Students approached audition practice in a multitude of ways. While some rushed to quickly read over the requirements the day of, others spent months perfecting their arpeggios, not willing to risk the possibility of failure.

“I practiced a lot since the day that I heard about it, so since August,” Johnson said. “I’ve been practicing the scales and songs that you need to know.”

Students’ strategies largely differed. While some prepared rigorously to ease the stress of an audition, others were not too worried about the outcome. Staying in a concert band wasn’t a point of conflict for them.

“If I didn’t make it, it wasn’t that big of a deal, I wasn’t stressed about this audition. I was pretty confident and my audition went splendid,” sophomore bassoonist Julianne Sounart said.

Although stress varied from student to student, they agreed that in-school practice time would have been helpful. Sounart mentions that she didn’t get much time to practice in school, and wishes she had more time. Another auditioner agreed that more in-class practice time would have been beneficial.

“[Mrs. Roberts] wanted us to practice at home, but I think she could have given us a little class time to practice,” Messersmith said.

Band members commented on the direct impact that practice time had on anxiety levels. They found that the more they practiced, the more prepared they felt. Johnson noted that her hours of practice made her much more relaxed for her audition. One auditioner suspected that more practice would have eased their audition tension.

“I figure if I would have practiced more, I would have felt much more confident and ready to play,” Messersmith said. “I was really stressed because I had not practiced prior.”