I’m really looking forward to making music with you in the spring. Even though the first two weeks of spring classes are remote, our plan is to complete auditions through submitted videos before classes begin, assign players to bands, then begin rehearsing the week of January 25 (even though those first two weeks will be fully remote for all).

If you would like to audition for the Jazz Ensemble, see audition specifics below. If you are going to be fully remote for the spring, Greg Evans’s jazz ensemble will be fully remote. Please also complete an audition as indicated below, but be sure to indicate your remote status when you send the video.

All the materials you’ll need to prepare your audition video are in this linked Dropbox folder for you to download:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b8xnquy6kbomwq4/AADutFYsIwVmC-kUjKs711Psa?dl=0

Please use “WeTransfer.com” to submit contiguous, unedited videos of your auditions to me at my email address (mtitlebaum@ithaca.edu) no later than Thursday, January 21 at noon. When you submit it, in the “Message” field, be absolutely sure to indicate whether you will be in person or remote in the spring.

Below are the specifics for how to prepare your audition video. You may notice that my tune “Now, Out of Here” bears something of resemblance to the standard song “Out of Nowhere.” To help you prepare, I encourage you to listen to many different recordings of “Out of Nowhere.” A few years ago I put a bunch of recordings into this folder, but I encourage you to do your own research, too.

• Download the play-along “Now Out of Here - PLAYALONG - All winds.mp3”
• Download the PDF for your instrumental transposition (note that there are two Bb versions, one for trumpet, another one for tenor sax)
• For your audition video, use the play-along and play the melody of “Now Out of Here” for one chorus (partially in unison with piano), improvise one chorus (if you improvise) then play the melody final chorus (again, partially with piano). If you don’t improvise, you can just play the one chorus of melody.

• Download the play-along “Now Out of Here - PLAYALONG - bassists.mp3”
• Download the bass clef PDF
• For your audition video, use the play-along and walk one chorus of the changes, improvise one chorus solo, then play the head unison with sax/piano for the last chorus.

• Download the play-along “Now Out of Here - PLAYALONG – Pianists and guitarists.mp3”

• Download the treble clef PDF
• For your audition video, use the play-along and comp one chorus of the changes, improvise one chorus solo, then play the head unison with sax/piano for the last chorus.

You do something a little different:

• You’ll play Mike’s chart “Drums - Too Many Things page 1.pdf.” Then, also demonstrate the following styles:
• 16 bars fast swing
• 32 bars medium swing, soloing as if trading 4s with an imagined soloist
• 16 bars slow swing with brushes, trading 4s with an imagined soloist
• 16 bars bossa nova
• 16 bars samba

If you have not improvised before but are interested in participating:

Simply fill out the form linked below. No audition video is required:

https://ithacaedu.formstack.com/forms/ithaca_college_fall_2020_jazz_audition

If you would like to audition for advanced section/work:

To record your audition video, you will presumably need two devices: One to play the accompaniment track aloud (not using headphones or earbuds – we need to be able to hear the musical context while you play) and another device to capture video, from probably 5 or 6 feet away.

If you are knowledgeable in overdubbing and video production technology, and you wish to use headphones instead of using the accompaniment track playing aloud in the room, this would be permissible but you must ensure the audio portion of the submitted video has a balance of your playing with the accompaniment track. We need to be able to hear the musical context while you play.

Once you have recorded your video and completed the sign-up form above, submit your audition video to Mike via the web service "WeTransfer.com" to "mtitlebaum@ithaca.edu" with the message "Jazz Ensemble Audition Video from [your name]."