Whelp, I auditioned today. Woke up around 9:00 or so, got some breakfast and warmed up this morning (and it was a good warmup too, felt reeel good). Then my brother and I just sat around the room for a little bit, then we ate some lunch. Then we came back to the room and headed off to the First Presbyterian Church. I checked in and got more number to play and then I sat somewhere away from everybody just so I didn't have to hear people talk about their music classes or what school they go to (and they did). Naw, I just opened up the Good Book and starting reading some passages.
All morning and before the audition, my brother noticed I wasn't talking much, and I wasn't. I was thinking about the music I was to play, singing it through my head, and just trying to be focused on the task at hand. And even when I got there I wanted to be by myself to just stay focused. And I felt good going into the warm-up time right before the audition. It was interesting, once I was able to warm-up at the church I felt so much more relaxed when I started playing hymns. I was real glad that that happened. Whelp I still had the music going through my head 'n all, and I found out what excerpts they were specifically going to ask so I started looking over them much. I didn't play through them much, just motioning the slide positions 'n all. Then they called me again, and right before I went in to audition, I went to another room to warm-up. Then the moment came.....The audition room was the main sanctuary of the presbyterian church. And Holy Toledo was it big. It had this HUGE pipe organ in the back. It was awesome!!!
They have a screen setup so you don't see the judges, which doesn't make it as nerve-racking in my mind. The excerpts asked were (only will matter to musicians):
Mozart--Requiem "Tuba Mirum"
Berlioz--Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
Rossini--La Gazza Ladra Overture
Saint-Saens--Symphony No. 3
Wagner--Ride of the Valkyries
I started playing the Mozart piece (which if some may remember I played the solo for a symphony of the lakes concert), and boy was that a real treat to play it in the big sanctuary, and it sounded goooood. Then I played the berlioz, then the rossini and someone said "thank you." So I walked out, and the Monitor said the Mozart sounded really nice. So the results got announced a little while after, and I didn't make it and no one from that hour advanced. I didn't know if it was all six excerpts had to be played or if they cut short to save time. But I found out later that if they cut you short basically you won't advance.
So to wrap things up, I played three of the six excerpts, got to learn somewhat how the audition process works, and got to play the Mozart Requiem solo in a very big sanctuary. I was probably the youngest guy there, at least from what I could tell (saw many people with facial hair so I knew I was younger). Am I upset or mad? Ain't one bit, it was a great first experience. Still much more practicing to do, and work to do, but I am very glad I was able to have this great opportunity.
Thank you so much for the support and prayers. You don't know how appreciative I am of all of you supporting me. It means a lot. My brother gave me the idea to have a continuous blog going on about my journey to an orchestra so that is why the title changed.
God is good and I am excited to see what he's gonna do with me and the 'ole trombone:-)
From J-man (Psalm 31:14-15)
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