How to Prepare for PMEA Auditions: A Trumpet Player’s Guide
By Chad Winkler, Trumpet — Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Every fall, hundreds of student musicians across western Pennsylvania begin preparing for PMEA auditions — the gateway to Honors Band, District Band, Regionals, and eventually All-State. As a trumpet player in the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and a private teacher here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, I’ve helped many students walk into that audition room prepared and confident, including students who went on to earn first chair at the district, regional, and state levels.
Below is what I tell every student who wants to make one of these ensembles.
Start earlier than you think you need to.
The single biggest difference between students who make the cut and those who don’t is not talent; it’s runway. PMEA Honors Band auditions come early in the fall, and District Band auditions follow in the winter. If you wait until the audition music is “close” in your preparation, you are unfortunately already behind. Give yourself a minimum of six to eight weeks with the actual audition material, and use the end of the summer to build fundamentals so the excerpts from the solo land on a solid foundation.
Know exactly what the judges are listening for.
PMEA auditions are scored on specific criteria, and each one is preparable:
Tone quality. This is the first thing a judge hears and the hardest thing to fake. Your sound is your identity on the trumpet, and you must sound good. As the great Duke Ellington used to say, “If it sounds good, it is good.” A dedicated warmup routine, daily long tones and lip slurs, even just 10-15 focused minutes, do more for your audition score than an extra hour of running the solo over and over again.
Scales. Judges can tell within two or three notes whether scales are a daily habit or a last-minute cram. Practice them slowly with a metronome and a drone, in the full required range, until they’re boring. Boring is good, because boring means it’s reliable.
The prepared solo piece. Don’t just learn the notes; learn the style. Is it a lyrical solo? Are there technical moments that you know will be on the audition? Are you singing when you play? Are you story-telling? Are there technical moments, either with articulation or fast fingers, that keep getting away from you? Clarity and precision beats speed every time. Judges reward a slightly slower, clean performance over a fast, sloppy one. And as I like to say in my studio, “Rhythm is not optional.”
Sight-reading. The most neglected skill and often the tiebreaker. Read something new every single day — easy etudes out of the back of the Arban book, hymns from a hymnal, both lines from duet books, band method books, anything. Two minutes a day for eight weeks is over a hundred reps before your audition.
Practice performing, not just playing.
There’s a big difference between playing the solo well in your bedroom and playing it well when it counts. In the last two to three weeks before the audition, simulate the real thing: play the full audition sequence (scales, solo, sight-reading) start to finish, no stopping, for anyone who will listen. Parents, band directors, grandparents, your dog even! Record yourself on your phone and listen back honestly. Nerves shrink every time you rehearse the pressure, not just the notes. You have to practice performing. Make sure you don’t stop to practice or “fix” something when you’re simulating the audition. The video recording never lies, so you’ll be able to know the spots you have to work after listening.
The week of the audition.
Taper, don’t cram. Light, fundamentals-focused practice. By this time, you should have a warmup routine that you know works for you. Sleep, believe it or not, matters more than one more run-through. Pack your music, a pencil, and a water bottle the night before. Arrive early enough to warm up properly; a rushed warm-up is the fastest way to sabotage months of preparation.
How private lessons fit in.
A good teacher does two things a practice room can’t: catch the habits you can’t hear yourself, and know what the judges at these specific auditions are listening for. My students prepare the actual PMEA audition material in their lessons each summer and fall. We work the solos in their entirety, drill the scales, and run mock auditions so that the real audition feels as comfortable as possible and the student plays their very best.
If your student is aiming for PMEA Honors Band, District Band, or even All-State, or just wants to become a stronger, more confident player, I’d love to help. I teach middle and high school trumpet students one-on-one at my studio in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, and fall registration is open now.
Visit www.pittsburghtrumpetlessons.com or reach out at chadwinkler@gmail.com. Let’s get to work!
Chad Winkler has been a member of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra trumpet section since 2006. He teaches privately in the South Hills of Pittsburgh and directs the annual Pittsburgh Trumpet Camp each June.
