generic band joke

Conductor: *puts on the metronome*

Everyone: ….. oh no

Conductor: *turns off the metronome*

did you

say something?

Hi!  Most schools won’t require you to memorize your music, but I would recommend that you have it memorized anyways, even if you have the music in front of you.  It ensures that you’ve really internalized the music, rather than just reading it off the page, which is really important when you’re in a performance situation like an audition or a recital.

Ideally, pieces written for A clarinet should be played on A clarinet for college auditions; most clarinetists majoring in music are expected to own one since there’s so much repertoire written for it.  If you can possibly rent/borrow one for the auditions, that would be best.  Otherwise, I’d recommend contacting the professors to see if they’re ok with you playing it on Bb.

Worst case scenario, you play it in Bb at the audition and the professor ask you if you own an A clarinet/why you don’t own one.  If you play well enough, it probably won’t matter too much.