Lesson 90: Performance Preparation, Part 5 — Audition and Complete Recital

Choose and prepare an audition piece — the single work that represents you to a panel.
Perform the complete recital programme built in Lesson 86, applying everything from Lessons 87–89.

The end of the curriculum is the beginning of the work.

This is the last lesson. The capstone: a single audition piece prepared to panel standard, plus the complete recital programme from Lesson 86, performed and recorded.

The audition piece

Canonical — pick something the panel already knows; obscure works give them no reference.
Plays to your strengths — slow movement for breath control, fast for articulation; never expose a weakness to demonstrate range.
In your hands — performed more than once, not freshly learned.

Suggested audition pieces from this curriculum:

Handel HWV 360, first or second movement (Lessons 61–62).
Handel HWV 362, Larghetto (Lesson 76).
Telemann TWV 41:F2, complete (Lessons 64–66).
Van Eyck, Doen Daphne theme + first variation (Lesson 71).

The complete recital

Lesson 87: choreograph entry, bow, tuning, transitions, exit.
Lesson 88: pre-performance routine; mental rehearsal the day before.
Lesson 89: record it — placement, room, takes.

A complete dress rehearsal in performance conditions, recorded, is enough for the capstone; an audience is the next step.

Listening back to the recital

Day one: listen straight through; no stopping, no notes.
Day two: listen with notes — three things to do differently, three to be proud of.
Day three: articulate the next thing to work on.

Beyond the curriculum

Wider repertoire — Bach, Vivaldi's other concerti, Sammartini, the Telemann fantasias, consort music with other players.
Performance — find an audience; the skill improves only with use.
Teaching — one student; the fastest way to improve your own playing.
A different period or instrument — renaissance flute, Baroque flute, cornetto.
Composition — write a piece for recorder.

Now play these

The complete program from Lesson 86, plus your audition piece in front of a friend if possible.

When you have recorded a complete recital programme, listened back through the three-day discipline above, and articulated the next thing you want to work on — you have finished this curriculum. There is no Lesson 91. From here, choose your own direction.