Step 1: read the requirements twice

Every program publishes what it wants: number of pieces, styles, memorization, scales, sight-reading, an ear test. Print it. Half of the students who audition badly simply did not prepare what was asked. If anything is unclear, email the program; they answer.

Step 2: choose the right piece

The audition panel is not impressed by difficulty. They are impressed by control: a clean sound, steady rhythm, real dynamics, a piece that ends the way it started. Choose repertoire one level below the hardest thing you can play. If the program asks for contrasting pieces, make them genuinely different: one lyrical, one rhythmic.

For singers, the key matters as much as the song. A song in the wrong key exposes every weakness. Josefa, a composer and arranger, sets songs in the key that shows a voice at its best.

Step 3: the timeline

  • Weeks 1 to 3: learn the notes accurately and slowly. Fix fingering and breathing now; they are almost impossible to change later.
  • Weeks 4 to 6: bring it up to tempo in sections. Add dynamics and phrasing. Start memorizing if required.
  • Weeks 7 to 9: run the whole piece daily. Record yourself and listen back. Work the technical tests: scales, arpeggios, sight-reading five minutes a day.
  • Weeks 10 to 12: performance runs. Play or sing for family, for friends, for the teacher's other students. Practice the walk-in, the greeting, the breath before the first note.

Step 4: sight-reading and ear tests

These separate the prepared from the talented. Sight-reading improves only with daily short doses: five minutes of new, easy material every day, always counting out loud first. Ear tests (clapping back a rhythm, singing back a melody, naming intervals) are trained the same way and are part of every lesson in Josefa's studio.

Step 5: the performance itself

  • Arrive early, warmed up, with the music in a folder even if you play from memory.
  • Walk in, greet the panel, say your name and your piece clearly.
  • Take one full breath before you start. Set the tempo in your head first.
  • If you make a mistake, keep going. The panel is listening for recovery, not perfection.
  • Finish, pause, and say thank you. Nerves are normal and the panel knows it.

How Josefa prepares students

She has prepared students for school auditions, choirs, church solos, recitals, competitions and recordings for more than 45 years. Preparation includes choosing the repertoire, the technical work, mock auditions in the studio and, when useful, a custom arrangement or accompaniment at the right level. Lessons are in English or Spanish, at her studio in West Miami-Dade or online.

Have an audition coming up?

Send Josefa the program's requirements and the date, and she will tell you what a realistic plan looks like.

Message Josefa on WhatsApp

Quick answers

How early should we start preparing?

Eight to twelve weeks for a well-prepared audition. If you have less time, contact Josefa anyway: a focused plan for three or four weeks is still far better than practicing at random.

Should the piece be memorized?

Only if the program requires it. If it does, memorize early, by week six, so the last month is spent performing rather than remembering.

Can Josefa help choose the piece?

Yes. Choosing the right piece for the student, the program and the time available is the most important decision of the whole process, and it is where most auditions are won or lost.