Upward and Onward
Some ideas from Mercedes Smith on how to attain success with your goals.
The NFA Young Artist competition is regarded as the most competitive in the United States. Tell us a little about why you decided to enter it and how you were able to balance your practice while fulfilling your professional obligations.
I think the best way to improve is to constantly have big projects in the works that have deadlines. Since the summer is a time when there generally isn't too much going on I thought it would be great to have the Young Artist Competition to work toward over the summer. My summer ended up being busier than usual. I played ballet through June, had one week off, and then played the musical Wicked every night for four weeks in July. I had two weeks off after Wicked before the NFA convention with no work scheduled and that was really helpful.
Competitions require intense commitment to performing full pieces, while auditions require exact execution of small passages at a time in the excerpts asked for. Do you have any advice for people who are practicing with either of these goals in mind?
Even though there is a big difference between solo repertoire and excerpts I don't feel that I really prepare any differently in terms of how I practice. The key is to just be in the best shape possible. In preparing for a solo competition I try to keep the big picture in mind and to remember also that ensemble with the piano and stage presence is very important. For auditions it is essential to make sure the character of each excerpt is clear right from the beginning since each one is so short.
Do you have any rituals on the night before or day of a big performance or competitive situation that help you get focussed?
Often for competitions and auditions you have to be ready to play in the morning (sometimes very early) or a least by noon, so I think the most important thing is in the week or so leading up to the event, to make sure that you are able to get yourself warmed up and ready to play your best in the morning hours. This involves getting to sleep at a decent hour and getting used to waking up a little earlier than usual. As for the day of an event it's pretty important to eat as well as you can. I have a hard time eating when I am really stressed out, but I find that fruit is something I can stomach well. I usually have to force-feed myself carbs and protein, but it is imperative to eat and not be hungry -- auditions especially can run for many hours longer than you planned so I always have bananas and protein bars with me.
The most crucial thing is how I actually warm up the day of the event. I will not play ANY fast passages up to tempo and I will almost always play with a metronome. Especially at orchestra auditions, you will hear the person in the room next to you frantically running thru Firebird or Peter and the Wolf at an insanely fast tempo. Do not be tempted to do this! For example with Peter and the Wolf I will practice it with my metronome slowly (maybe around 70) then I might take it up to a more moderate tempo (around 100) but I won't practice it faster than that. If I'm worried that I might not be able to hit the right tempo during the audition I'll put my metronome on the performance tempo and THINK through the excerpt without my flute. This goes for any technical passage, whether it be Carnival of the Animals or parts of Dutilleux Sonatine. As far as sound and tone I try to stay extra relaxed in my body. The key the day of an event is to practice calmly and methodically and to not overdo anything; when in doubt put your flute down and think through it. Again, you can be stuck in the warm-up room for hours and it is not worth exhausting yourself before your audition. If you have prepared properly you will be fine.
Trying to practice for both a competition and an audition at the same time requires you to be in tip-top shape on a rather large amount of music. Can you share with us some of the practice techniques you used to try to approach all of your music efficiently so that you would be prepared and in peak performance mode for the days of your accomplishments?
Once I knew I was going to do the competition I made a master schedule for myself so I knew I would be able to learn all the repertoire in time. I gave myself 12 weeks to prepare for the competition. The first four weeks were spent on just the preliminary round repertoire (memorizing Density, Kokopeli, and CPE a minor), the commissioned work, and Berio. I had learned Berio before, but it's still a huge project, so I during those first four weeks I spent one week on each of the four pages. I took week 5 off for vacation, but still did a little practice here and there. After that I put the prelim rep away and focused on Martinu and the commissioned work for several weeks (while still reviewing Berio and the prelim rep sometimes.) When I'd get bored with that I'd spend a few days practicing the remaining repertoire that I felt most comfortable with: Muthel, Dutilleux, and Saint-Saens. I only practiced 2 hours a day or less while I was doing the Wicked run which lasted a month. About 3 weeks before the competition I didn't do any of the NFA repertoire and only practiced the Pacific Symphony excerpts for a week. The final two weeks before the competition I really worked hard to try and get through most of the NFA repertoire about every two days.
One other thing I have to comment on is that I would never recommend to anyone that they take an orchestra audition one week after a major competition. For me, I knew the repertoire list for the Pacific Symphony audition extremely well -- in fact the list was almost identical to one that I had prepared only a few months before. I knew that I was going to be in top shape at the competition so in my mind it seemed possible, if I used my time very carefully, to prepare for the audition in just one week.
A word about practicing and how much to practice: About two years ago I was preparing for a major orchestra audition. There was a huge amount of repertoire to learn and I didn't have a realistic plan for how I was going to succeed. My only thought was, "spend as much time as possible practicing." I gave up my social life and was probably practicing 4-5 hours a day and I was playing my job at the time too. I was exhausted and the audition ended up being a disaster. After that I decided that I needed to change what I was doing because I was working too hard and not seeing the results I wanted. It was at this point that I made a very important decision: I resolved to not practice more than 3 hours day. I usually practice 90 minutes in the morning, and 90 minutes in the afternoon, and usually I play a show at night. I'll often spend a fourth hour each day either listening to recordings of myself and taking notes to come up with a plan for the next day's practice or listening to professional recordings of the music I am working on. I find that having a 3 hour time limit on my daily practice has greatly improved my efficiency. If something isn't going well, I don't get bogged down, I have to move on to the next thing. If I am truly off work (for example the week between NFA and the Pacific audition) I might go as far as 3.5 hours practice in a day, but it is extremely rare that I will break my rule.
You have had a lot of success so far in your life. Do you have words of wisdom or advice for students who are considering becoming professional musicians, or on the verge of entering their professional lives?
I do feel very lucky and am extremely grateful for the success I have had, but it is worth pointing out that for all the success there has also been some failure. Looking back, I have taken 17 orchestra auditions and have only won 3 of them. Granted, I won my first two in a row, but that left 14 losses in a row after that. So at times it has felt very difficult. At the majority of those auditions I at least advanced past the preliminary round, so I knew that sometimes I was doing something right. I would say the most important part of succeeding is resilience. If you cannot handle a lot of failure then you should seriously consider another profession. Orchestra auditions are a very tough road and competitions can be just as unpredictable.
For any students out there I would say that the most important time to do your serious practice is during your high school and early college years. If you slack off then, it will be really hard to succeed later. I credit all my good finger technique to long hours of scale practice when I was a teenager. I also think being open to change is crucial -even radical change. Sometimes you realize that you cannot improve an aspect of your playing unless you take a huge step back and start again from square one. I think this happened to me several times -once with articulation and again with tone. I feel like I make sound in a very different way than I did even two years ago and certainly much different than when I was in college. I wouldn't be surprised if I continue to make changes in the future as well. To any student out there: if there is any question in your mind about whether you want to be a professional flutist then you probably shouldn't be one. If you truly love music and cannot imagine yourself doing anything else then go for your dreams -- you won't regret it!
Lastly, your success is a testament to your ability to set big goals and achieve them. What are your ultimate goals with your instrument?
Well, it's hard to concretely say exactly what my future goals are. As a student I certainly never expected to play ballet and opera for seven years and that has turned out to be a richly rewarding experience. I am now very excited about having my first job playing for a symphony orchestra. Ultimately I want to live in a great city, play a diverse array of repertoire, and work with great musicians who inspire me. I am blessed to be on that path!
The Houston Flute Club thanks Mercedes for sharing her thoughts with us, and we all wish her great success in her new endeavors!!!
Mercedes Smith has been the principal flutist of the Houston Grand Opera and Houston Ballet Orchestras for the past 7 years. She was the First Place winner of the 2010 National Flute Association's Young Artist Competition in Anaheim, CA during August, and went on to win the audition for Principal Flutist of the Pacific Symphony one week after the competition. We asked Mercedes a few questions to help inspire others who have big goals in their future.
Can you tell us a little about your background and what inspired you to want to be a professional flutist?
I don't come from a family of musicians, but my mother can play a little piano and viola, so I sort of grew up with music in the house. She would often play broadway show tunes and old songs from classic movies. I'm not sure how I gravitated toward the flute in middle school band, but I did and once I found out I was good at it I just never stopped because I loved it so much.
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