How do I prepare for a seating or chair audition?
Treat the chair test like a real audition: drill your excerpt to over-security, make your opening your most confident playing, and rehearse it under pressure so nerves do not undo it. Most students lose chairs not from inability but from rushing and shaky openings when someone is listening. Record a cold run-through to hear what the director will hear.
Seating auditions are placement, not pass-or-fail, so play to communicate rather than to defend. Know the excerpt cold, including the tempo you will start at, and simulate the pressure of playing in front of the director beforehand. The students who move up are the ones whose calm-room sound survives the nerves.
Common questions
- What matters most in a chair test?
- A secure opening, steady tempo, and clean intonation under pressure. Control beats flash.
- How early should I start?
- Enough time to make the excerpt automatic, then spend the final days on pressure run-throughs, not new notes.