Posted on March 16, 2005 at 9:11 pm

Welcome! (Don’t be confused by the date. I’m really writing this on March 17, 2008.)

If you’ve made it to this page, it’s because you’re auditioning this Saturday for the all-teen band of “13”. We’re all very excited to meet you at Carroll’s (you can find the address and other information about Carroll Music by clicking that word there), and to put together a truly smokin’ band. Remember that sign-in time on Saturday is at 9 am, and we expect to start playing at 10.

These are the five musicians we are looking to hire:

1) Keyboard – must be conversant with rock and contemporary styles (i.e., not just a classical player) – has to be able to read music as well as improvise over chord changes. Experience with Hammond organ a plus.
2) Guitar 1 – lead electric guitar player, several exposed solos – has to have at least a rudimentary ability to read music as well as substantial skills as a soloist and ensemble player.
3) Guitar 2 – plays rhythm electric as well as solo acoustic guitar – must read music and be comfortable in ensemble situations (i.e., have played in a rock band or jazz band).
4) Bass – electric bass guitar (no upright necessary), must read music, play and improvise in all contemporary styles.
5) Drums – needs exceptional and experienced rock and r&b drummer, must read music well, also plays additional percussion (tambourine, shakers); experience with electronic drums a plus.

So if you’re a violinst, saxophonist, bassoonist, zoomoozophonist or anything other than the instruments listed above, we’re not going to hear you play on Saturday. The instrumentation for the band is set.

If you read this document and you still have some serious musical questions about the auditions, you can email me at jason@jasonrobertbrown.com. If you have a non-musical question, you should contact the casting director, Mark Simon, by calling his office: 212-302-9540.

Now, scroll down to find the requirements for your individual instrument and download the relevant music. (If, for some reason, the pdf’s don’t look right on your screen, try enlarging the page size first. If they still don’t print out correctly, email me and we’ll send the music to you directly.)

KEYBOARD

The keyboard chair plays synthesizer all night, mainly doing Hammond B-3 sounds, but occasionally doing piano, harpsichord, harp, and pads. On Saturday, a keyboard will be set up for you.
First, you’ll have to play B-3 style. All musicians will be playing together the “13 Band Audition” excerpt. The sheet music is available for download right here. It’s not traditional “piano music,” and in that respect, it’s like a lot of the score: slash marks mean you should improvise your part according to the chords written above. To get a sense of what you should be playing, you can listen to the mp3 of the band from Los Angeles, which is available right here.

After we work through the first excerpt, we’ll send some of the players home and keep working with some other ones. If you’re picked to stick around, you’ll be expected to play the “Get Me What I Need” excerpt, which you can download here. There’s no recording available of this excerpt, deliberately; this is so we can find out how well you read and interpret actual sheet music. You will be playing measures 125 through 154. The metronome marking for this section is approximately quarter note=152. Again, this will all be on B-3.

Finally, any keyboardist who makes it all the way through will have to play this excerpt from “Tell Her,” which you can download right here. The metronome marking for this section is approximately quarter note=76.

Good luck and we’ll see you Saturday!

GUITAR 1 & 2

Both guitarists will audition on electric. Bring your guitars and any pedals you want to bring. Anyone who is a great acoustic player should bring their acoustic as well, and we’ll hear that separately.
All musicians will be playing together the “13 Band Audition” excerpt. The sheet music is available for download right here. It’s not traditional “guitar music,” and in that respect, it’s like a lot of the score: slash marks mean you should improvise your part according to the chords written above. To get a sense of what you should be playing, you can listen to the mp3 of the band from Los Angeles, which is available right here.

As you can see, a big chunk of the excerpt is devoted to a long rock guitar solo. The lead guitarist for this show will have to play several solos in the course of the evening, so we’re going to want to hear how inventive, musical, and dramatic you are. Some guitarists are lead players and some aren’t, and we need both kinds; but if you want to be the lead guitarist, bring your A-game. This solo should blow us away.

After we work through that first excerpt, we’ll send some of the players home and keep working with some other ones. If you’re picked to stick around, you’ll be expected to play the “Get Me What I Need” excerpt, which the lead guitarists can download here and the rhythm guitarists can download here. You should probably look over both of them if you have the opportunity. There’s no recording available of this excerpt, deliberately; this is so we can find out how well you read and interpret actual sheet music. You will be playing measures 125 through 154. The metronome marking for this section is approximately quarter note=152. Again, this will all be on electric.

As I said above, once we get through these excerpts, we’ll listen to some acoustic playing. Good luck to you all and we’ll see you Saturday!

BASS

All bassists will audition on electric; there’s no upright playing in this show. Bring your bass and any pedals you want to bring.
All musicians will be playing together the “13 Band Audition” excerpt. The sheet music is available for download right here. It’s not traditional “guitar music,” and in that respect, it’s like a lot of the score: slash marks mean you should improvise your part according to the chords written above. To get a sense of what you should be playing, you can listen to the mp3 of the band from Los Angeles, which is available right here.

After we work through that first excerpt, we’ll send some of the players home and keep working with some other ones. If you’re picked to stick around, you’ll be expected to play the “Get Me What I Need” excerpt, which you can download here. There’s no recording available of this excerpt, deliberately; this is so we can find out how well you read and interpret actual sheet music. You will be playing measures 125 through 154. The metronome marking for this section is approximately quarter note=152.

Good luck to you all and we’ll see you on Saturday!

DRUMS

All drummers will audition on a live drum set that we’ll have set up for you on Saturday. Bring all your sticks and brushes and mallets. (If you would like, you can bring your cymbals – we may ask if we can use your cymbals for the day if the ones at Carroll’s don’t sound great. You can feel free to say no and we won’t be mad.)
All musicians will be playing together the “13 Band Audition” excerpt. The sheet music is available for download right here. It’s not traditional “sheet music,” and in that respect, it’s like a lot of the score: slash marks mean you should “comp” your part in the suggested style. To get a sense of what you should be playing, you can listen to the mp3 of the band from Los Angeles, which is available right here.

After we work through that first excerpt, we’ll send some of the players home and keep working with some other ones. If you’re picked to stick around, you’ll be expected to play the “Get Me What I Need” excerpt, which you can download here. There’s no recording available of this excerpt, deliberately; this is so we can find out how well you read and interpret actual sheet music. You will be playing measures 125 through 154.The metronome marking for this section is approximately quarter note=152.

After we get through all the musicians, we’ll talk to the remaining ones about what percussion experience they have. Don’t worry if all you do is trapset playing, that’s fine.

Good luck to you all and we’ll see you on Saturday!