Orchestral Excerpt Course
For Viola
Syllabus
By Carolyn Broe
This Orchestral Excerpt Course is designed as a two semester undergraduate study in four sections on how to perform orchestral works at auditions. The four sections will include: Section One: Introduction to Orchestral Excerpts, Baroque and Classical Techniques; Section Two: Early and Middle Romantic Music Literature; Section Three: Late Romantic Literature; and Section Four: 20th Century Literature. The orchestral excerpts will be both chronological and progressive from simple to complex. Emphasis will be on stylistic content, bowing, fingerings and difficult rhythms. There will be a mid-term and a finale exam given in the form of a mock audition for each semester.
Semester I
Introduction to Orchestral Excerpts
How to Audition (week one)
Recommended books:
The five volumes of Orchestral Excerpts from the Symphonic Repertoire for Viola published by International (some may be temporarily out of print due to copyright laws).
20th Century Orchestral Excerpts by Leonard Mogill
Richard Wagner Orchestral Excerpts published by International
Richard Strauss Orchestral Excerpts published by Peters
Green Bowing Book
Hand outs on major orchestral audition lists
Hand out on top orchestral excerpts asked by major orchestras
Homework assignment on bowing terms.
Quiz on bowing terms
Baroque Techniques (week two)
Detache, string crossings, uneven 5ths, and phrasing.
J.S. Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, first movement
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, first and third movements
Six Cello Suites, selected movements (student’s choice)
Classical Techniques (week three)
Spiccato vs staccato, leggiero passages, phrasing, practicing rapid 16th note passages, and upper position string crossings
Mozart Overtures- (week three)
Overture "Marriage of Figaro" key passages
Overture "Magic Flute" key passages
Mozart Symphonies - (week four and five)
No. 35 "Haffner" - Key passages (leggiero strokes, fast light detache)
No. 36 "Linz" - Allegro (fast spiccato stroke)
No. 40 "G Minor" - Key passages (string crossings, phrasing)
No. 41 "Jupiter" - Key passages (Alternating 3 & 4 Note patterns, alternating legato/spiccato)
Mozart Concertante in Eb major - (week six)
Movements one and three
Beethoven - (week seven)
Spiccato, staccato, rhythms, string crossings
Symphonies
No. 3 - third movement
No. 5 - second movement
Review and Midterm -(Week eight)
Mock Audition
Section Two: Early Romantic Literature (Weeks 9-16)
Beethoven Symphonies (week nine)
Chromatic scales, rapid detache, spiccato
No. 7 Key Passages
No. 8 Key Passages
No. 9 Key Passages
Beethoven Overtures (week ten)
Leonore No. 3 - Key Passages
Coriolan - Key Passages
Prometheus - Key Passages
Weber (week eleven)
Overtures "Euryanthe" - Key Passages
Schubert
Arpeggione - First Movement
Smetana
Overture "The Bartered Bride" Key Passages
Rossini
Overture "Barber of Seville"
Overture "La Gazza Ladra
Brahms (week twelve)
Long bows, double sharps, tone production
Symphonies
No. 1 First Movement
No. 2 First Movement
No. 3 First Movement
No. 4 Third Movement
Academic Festival Overture- Key Passages
Haydn Variations- Key Passages
Dvorak
Symphony "New World"- First Movement
Carnival Overture- Key Passages
Berlioz - (week thirteen)
Symphony "Fantastique"
Overture "Roman Carnival"
Harold in Italy
Borodin
Symphony No. 2 Key Passages
Polovetzian Dances from "Prince Igor"
Mendelssohn (week fourteen)
Spiccato, rapid detache with wrist, accidentals
Overture "Midsummer Night’s Dream" - Key Passages
Overture "Fingal’s Cave" - Key Passages
Symphonies
No. 3 "Scotch" Third Movement
No. 4 "Italian" - Key Passages
Tchaikovsky (week fifteen)
Symphonies
No. 4 - Second Movement
No. 5 - Third Movement
Overture to "Francesca da Rimini" - Key Passages
Capriccio Italien - First Movement
Final Exam - (Week Sixteen)
Mock Audition
Semester II
Orchestral Excerpts Course
For Viola
By Carolyn Broe
Semester I is a prerequisite to taking Semester II of the Orchestral Excerpts Course
Section Three: The Late Romantics (weeks 1-7)
Bruckner - (week one)
Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 9 - First Movement
Liszt
Les Preludes - Key Passages
Piano Concertos 1 & 2
Mahler - (week two)
Symphony No. 1 - First Movement
Symphony No. 4 - First Movement
Richard Wagner - (weeks 3-4)
Overture to Die Meistersinger - Key Passages
Overture to Rienzi - Key Passages
Overture to Lohengrin - Key Passages
Overture to Tannhauser - Key Passages
Richard Strauss - ( weeks 5-7)
Tone Poems
Don Juan - (week five)
Eine Heldenleiben - (week six)
Don Quixote- (week seven)
Review and Midterm - (week eight)
Mock Audition
Section Four: Twentieth Century Literature - (weeks 9-16)
Barber - (week nine)
Overture for the School for Scandal -Key Passages
Bernstein
Overture to Candide - Key Passages
Copland (week ten)
Rodeo Ballet Suite - Hoedown
Debussy
Nocturnes - First Movement
Iberia - Solo and Soli Passages
De Falla - (week eleven)
The Three Cornered Hat
Enesco
Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1
Hindemith - (week twelve)
Trauer Musik
Prokofieff - (week thirteen)
Symphony No. 5 - Fourth Movement
Classical Symphony - First Movement
Ravel - (week fourteen)
Daphnis and Chloe, Suite II - Key Passages, solo
Shostakovich
Symphony No. 5 Soli viola passage
Stravinsky - (week fifteen)
Firebird
Le Sacre du Printemps
Vaughan Williams
Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
Final Exam - (week sixteen) Mock Audition
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