Performance (Instrumental and Vocal)
What to know
Performance questions blend technique, terminology, and score reading. For instrumentalists, review tone production, embouchure, articulation (legato, staccato, accents), intonation tendencies, alternate fingerings, and instrument transposition. For vocalists, know breath support, registers, passaggio, diction and IPA, and Fach categories. All candidates should understand balance and blend, tuning systems, resonance, and basic acoustics. Practice methodology matters: slow practice, chunking, metronome work, recording, and realistic warm-ups.
Traps
Transposition is the most common trap. An instrument “in F” sounds a perfect fifth lower than written; “in B-flat” sounds a major second lower; “in E-flat” sounds a major sixth lower. Read the direction carefully - questions may ask for written pitch given sounding pitch or vice versa. Another trap is confusing “breathing from the diaphragm” with anatomical reality: the diaphragm contracts involuntarily; singers control exhalation with abdominal and intercostal muscles. Also distinguish vibrato from tremolo and range from tessitura.
Rule of thumb
For transposing instruments, convert with the interval named by the instrument's key. Example: a written C4 for horn in F sounds F3, a perfect fifth below. To write for horn so that it sounds C4, notate G4.