Chick Corea's "Spain" for one of my audition pieces.

[JazzStylistics]

Hi everyone,
i'm Umar, a jazz piano student from London.

In October/November I will be going through several auditions for specialist jazz colleges in and around London, including Trinity College of Music. Now, for each I have to play with the trio/quartet they give me - 2 songs. I would like to play Spain, though my tutor thinks I play it very well, he said something about other people may not like me doing that song or that it has to be played in a certain way? Am I missing something?

I am prepared to do whatever it takes to play the song as it should. It's not something that I have taken personally, he said it has nothing to do with how I played it, it's just perhaps the auditioners wouldn't want one to play that song?

Hope you guys can help, thanks a lot.

Umar.

[Peterdubya]

If you play it the way YOU want to play it, and you play your tail off on it, I can't imagine why anyone would object.

It has become sort of a 'college jazz band song' meaning that lots of college bands do it, maybe that's what he was thinking. I think I've even heard a marching band do it....

But if you have put your stamp on it..... go!!!

[Ron Thorne]

First of all, welcome, Umar.

Originally Posted by Peterdubya

If you play it the way YOU want to play it, and you play your tail off on it, I can't imagine why anyone would object.

That's exactly what I was thinking, Peter.

Sure, Spain gets played frequently and is associated as a Chick Corea trademark of sorts, but it's still a cool tune with great melodic/harmonic/rhythmic interest and difficulty.

Remember that this is a jazz audition, so you're expected to bring your own "juices", so to speak.

I'm listening to the Enrico Pieranunzi Trio from their Live In Paris set, and Disc 2 opens with Someday My Prince Will Come, followed by What Is This Thing Called Love and Jitterbug Waltz, as I type this. In each case, all three musicians brought their own flavor into the mix, within the arrangement outlined by Enrico, which was also his own.

Have fun, and best of luck!

[cookie]

Spain has quite a different form from your average 32 bar song form. He may be talking about how the form of that song can get slaughtered if people aren't really familiar with it.

Is this a recorded audition? If so, great! You can rehearse and come up with a nice cohesive arrangement and you will be able to hit that rhythmic unison figure (the one people often clap with) nice and tight and easy. If it's a live audition and you'll have to play with folks you don't know, you'll want to make sure you have *very* clean, well-laid-out and easy-to-read charts.

If you are going to do "Spain", I suggest that one of your other audition pieces really should be a swinging type of tune. Auditors will want to hear how you treat the swing eighth (is it easy and flowing in the pocket? or do you have a tendency to be herky jerky or rush or drag or whatever? Those will be the things they listen for).

Good luck and I hope this is helpful.

[JazzStylistics]

Hi cookie,
thanks for your message. Fortunatley, playing live is not the problem for me, it's something I have practised as a trio for a long time. Additionally, I had an audition at the same college last year, for a one year course I have taken, with people I never knew... I had 15 minutes to practise the 2 songs and it went well. I had to give them each a chart. The only problem I have with this particular tune is probably improvising. This is something that is not usually a problem for me, but for this song I end up doing licks and running through scales with little melodic interest - I usually go for the lyrical, sweet melody kind of improv. It's something that I think will come with practise and coming to know the inside and outside of the tune! I listened to this when I was really young along with 'Misty' and made me start playing jazz; something I will be exploring for a very long time! The swing piece I am still deciding - perhaps The Way You Look Tonight or Satin Doll. Any suggestion?

Thank you.