Ah, finals week. Finals week for the majority of the common man means cramming late nights in the library, creating study guides and praying that you ace each cumulative exam. For music majors, though, finals week means juries. For those of you who don’t know, juries generally refer to when music majors present their studied repertoire from that semester to a panel of faculty, who in turn, evaluate their progress and performance. Depending on each sort of music major and instrument concentration, juries come with different requirements. For me personally, my jury means having seven pieces, in four languages, ready to sing at the drop of a pin. I’ve also got to know everything there is to know about the composer, lyricist, text, and so on. While this may seem like an “easy A” to those of you who don’t understand music majors, think again. This is deeper than one semester of cumulative work. Technique is built over time. We are constantly practicing to achieve perfection. In some music schools, juries are a time when students are either passed through to their second half of study or cut from the program all together. Bottom line, juries are intense, so I’ve created a list of a few things for my fellow music majors to remember during juries.
1. If you haven’t practiced, practice now.
First of all, shame on you for knowing that you haven’t practiced enough. Now is the time though, to really hunker down and dig into your repertoire. Learn your piece front to back. Be prepared for anything that could be asked of you during juries.
2. Break down each piece.
Don’t just fly through difficult passages. Create exercises to help you. You are intelligent enough to be a music major. Now, push yourself to be an even better one.
3. Juries aren’t the end of the world.
Well, if you’re in a cut program, it might be the end of the world. But you can’t think of it like that. This is your chance to receive very honest critiques by professors other than (or in addition to) your studio teachers.
4. While you want your performance to be polished, this is about your progress.
Progress takes time, practice and focus. You aren’t supposed to sound like you could walk into Carnegie Hall and be paid to perform tomorrow.
5. Rehearse. With. Your. Accompanist.
If you are lucky enough to be in a program where your accompanist fees are covered, take advantage of every minute. Remember than your performance is not only evaluated on your own development, but also how well you can communicate with an accompanist. If you’ve got to pay your accompanist, pay him/her for as much rehearsal time as you need.
6. Dress Well to Test Well
This can be applied to things other than juries, but in general, present yourself in a way you’re proud of. This doesn’t mean dropping big bucks on a new dress or suit. Rather, show your personality (respectively) in your clothing choices and this will help you feel more all-around polished.
7. Breathe, and Have Fun
Be proud of your work. Take your critiques to heart and really think about how much more you can grow because of how your jury has gone this year. Relax, take a deep breath and perform to the best of your God-given talents.
