One of my graduate school professors shared his strategy for preparing for auditions. Before setting foot on stage, he would listen to 20 recordings of every piece he prepared for the audition. This inspired me to commit to the same level of preparation for my own auditions. Although I had already listened to some of the pieces on the audition lists dozens of times, I decided to begin again and follow through on his challenge. The experience was transformative beyond words. Below I will share what I learned along with my personal favorite recording of each piece. As a side note, you may notice that 119 recordings is not divisible by 20. Although I did listen to 20 recordings of each and every piece, the final recording I heard was terrible. Instead of ending on a sour note, I just left the final recording out of the count! Without further ado – What I learned Listening to 119 Recordings. Live recordings are magical. An irresistible energy permeates liv