Even with the advantage of having a set of drums to practice on that match those at the audition, further difficulties exist. It should not be expected the drums will have gauges. If they do have gauges, there is no guarantee they will be set correctly. Even if someone has taken the time to set the gauges before the audition, through the course of the audition, adjustments to the fine tuner by different candidates will render them inaccurate. Knowing gauges can not be relied upon for accurate pedaling, a strategy must be conceived for dealing with what might otherwise be a shot in the dark. Like a trombone, a kinesthetic sense of interval must be developed. Practicing scales and intervals will help this process greatly. It is important to realize, though, if a drum is not set in its proper range the amount of pedal movement for an interval will change. Slight compensations will need to be made. If a drum has been moved way out of its range due to overuse of the fine tuner, it will be necessary for the candidate to adjust the fine tuner to bring the drum back into its proper range.
Adjusting to the liveness of a hall is important on any instrument. When dealing with this aspect on timpani there are several different courses of action that can be taken. If playing in a particularly dry hall, the candidate might consider using one-degree softer mallets than what they might use in a more live hall. The reverse is true for very live halls. The use of muffles might also be considered when playing in live halls for very articulate passages. An instance where this might come in handy is in the seventh movement of Enigma Variations. Attaching an adhesive to a muffle and placing it dead center on the lowest drum will help control the amount of sound produced on this large drum.
There is a certain degree of logistics involved when taking a percussion audition. This can be especially true if the audition is happening in a different town than you are based. Some of the things to consider when planning out the logistics of an audition are what equipment should be brought and how will that equipment be transported both long and short distances. Most percussion audition lists will include excerpts for snare drum, xylophone, glockenspiel, tambourine, triangle, and cymbals. This means that in addition to having a wide array of mallets, the candidate will have to bring some of his/her own instruments. This can present a major difficulty when traveling on airplanes, especially with heightened security.
It is almost certain that at every percussion audition a candidate will always want to bring his/her own snare drum. There are different kinds of cases a percussionist can get for a drum. Having a hard travel case is a good idea whenever taking your drum on an airplane. Make sure to have it well padded on the inside with foam or polystyrene. Sometimes it is possible to carry a drum on if you can find a spot in the first-class closet at the front of the plane. This is better than checking the drum because it eliminates the risk of having lost luggage. It is not ideal to check a drum at baggage, but it is not always possible to carry it on. A lot of the new x-ray machines are not even big enough to allow a six and a half-inch drum in its case to pass through for inspection. In general a six and a half-inch drum in a hard case will not fit in the overhead compartment either. If having all of your equipment with you in the cabin is a must I suggest using a five and a half-inch drum with a circular case rather than a square case. These tend to have a better chance of clearing the x-ray machine and fitting into tighter spaces.
