Hello All,
Today was a good day with the trombone. I practiced the alto quite a bit, and then just when I was getting ready to practice the tenor, my trombone teacher, Dr. Kraft, asked me if I would be going to rehearsal or doing anything. I wasn't; Just told him that I was gonna practice. He asked if I'd like to play some duets and excerpts. I said sure cuz we hadn't played duets for a long time. His reason was he didn't want to do work. I laughed inside :)
So for the next two hours I got to sit next to my teacher and play some great duets and excerpts. And it wasn't even my lesson. One of the advantages of Grace School of Music is the small trombone "studio." And with having your teacher as the assistant dean, you always seem him in the office. It doesn't always happen like that (like I said it had been a while), but you take advantage of those opportunities when you can.
Yep today was a good day :)
J-man (Psalm 115:1)
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Mock Audition
Hello All,
Well this past monday, I had my mock audition. And I have to tell ya I was getting anxious on Monday. It was exciting though, my first time to play these excerpts for some different ears...some non-trombone ears I might add.
My three "judges" were Mr. Marvin Perry, Principal Trumpet of the Indianapolis Symphony; Dr. Patrick Kavanaugh, Artistic Director of the Masterworks Festival, Conductor of the Symphony of the Lakes, and Dean of the Grace School of Music; and lastly, Mr. Gert Kumi, a graduate of Julliard and director of the strings program at Grace.
I made copies of all the excerpts I was to play, laid out some repertoire lists and blank sheets of paper for comments. I let them ask anything to desired from the list that they would like to hear. All in all, they listened to about six excerpts, wrote some comments, and then talked for the rest of the time about each excerpt or general comments about the audition. I won't go into details about what they said or wrote (why would I want to give info to other competitors!!) but it was all very very helpful in the sense that it was from ears that are not brass players (minus one) let alone trombone players. It was from a musician's standpoint.
Afterwards me and Mr. Perry talked about auditions and what he looks for specifically. What a great opportunity it was on Monday to do that. And thank you to them all for the help and support.
Now a little less than one month to go!! :)
From
J-man (Psalm 115:1)
Well this past monday, I had my mock audition. And I have to tell ya I was getting anxious on Monday. It was exciting though, my first time to play these excerpts for some different ears...some non-trombone ears I might add.
My three "judges" were Mr. Marvin Perry, Principal Trumpet of the Indianapolis Symphony; Dr. Patrick Kavanaugh, Artistic Director of the Masterworks Festival, Conductor of the Symphony of the Lakes, and Dean of the Grace School of Music; and lastly, Mr. Gert Kumi, a graduate of Julliard and director of the strings program at Grace.
I made copies of all the excerpts I was to play, laid out some repertoire lists and blank sheets of paper for comments. I let them ask anything to desired from the list that they would like to hear. All in all, they listened to about six excerpts, wrote some comments, and then talked for the rest of the time about each excerpt or general comments about the audition. I won't go into details about what they said or wrote (why would I want to give info to other competitors!!) but it was all very very helpful in the sense that it was from ears that are not brass players (minus one) let alone trombone players. It was from a musician's standpoint.
Afterwards me and Mr. Perry talked about auditions and what he looks for specifically. What a great opportunity it was on Monday to do that. And thank you to them all for the help and support.
Now a little less than one month to go!! :)
From
J-man (Psalm 115:1)
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Resurrection Sunday
Hello All,
As you all know this is a blog about my journey as a trombonist. However, the driving force behind my trombone playing is my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Today is a day of celebration a day of joy and renewed hope. All week I have been reminded of Christ's love for what He did for me personally. Whether it was attending Steve Fee's concert/worship experience at Grace, watching the Passion of the Christ for the first time, watching Francis Chan's video "Just Stop and Think," or merely taking a walk thinking about Christ. This week has been life changing for me. For the past month I have been reading Crazy Love, a book basically asking Christians to rethink about their lives and love for Christ. It is a book for everybody to read.
It is so amazing to think how the God of the Universe would love me. After watching the Passion my thought was that Christ is my Savior. He is my Lord. How can I not give back to him the Love that showed for me by dying on the cross then conquering death through His resurrection. It is amazing to think, how He loves me so.
And to think that nothing else compares to His love for me. No trombone job could bring more joy to me than KNOWING that the God of the Universe loves much so much, and that I will be spending eternity in Heaven. Because of His love and what he did for me, I must love Him and serve Him!
From
J-man (John 3:16)
As you all know this is a blog about my journey as a trombonist. However, the driving force behind my trombone playing is my Savior, Jesus Christ.
Today is a day of celebration a day of joy and renewed hope. All week I have been reminded of Christ's love for what He did for me personally. Whether it was attending Steve Fee's concert/worship experience at Grace, watching the Passion of the Christ for the first time, watching Francis Chan's video "Just Stop and Think," or merely taking a walk thinking about Christ. This week has been life changing for me. For the past month I have been reading Crazy Love, a book basically asking Christians to rethink about their lives and love for Christ. It is a book for everybody to read.
It is so amazing to think how the God of the Universe would love me. After watching the Passion my thought was that Christ is my Savior. He is my Lord. How can I not give back to him the Love that showed for me by dying on the cross then conquering death through His resurrection. It is amazing to think, how He loves me so.
And to think that nothing else compares to His love for me. No trombone job could bring more joy to me than KNOWING that the God of the Universe loves much so much, and that I will be spending eternity in Heaven. Because of His love and what he did for me, I must love Him and serve Him!
From
J-man (John 3:16)
Monday, April 6, 2009
Two Week Notice
Hello All,
I apologize that it's been over a month that I haven't written on here. Don't worry there have been some big things going on in the trombone world. Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C. was absolutely great during Spring Break.
God has been doing some great things in my life with this summer and what he has planned for me. But the purpose of this blog is to give some cool news. For a variety of reasons, I won't be attending the New York Phil Audition in June (yes, trombone world, one less person to worry about). Instead I'm going to an audition in Birmingham for the Alabama Symphony's 2nd trombone position.
What's really great is in two weeks, I'm going to be having a mock audition in front of some faculty from my school such as my trombone teacher (former 2nd trombone of the D.C. National Symphony), our trumpet teacher (principal trumpet of the Indianapolis Symphony), string professor (graduate of Julliard and soloist), and our Dean of School of Music.
I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to prep and get some critique from current professionals before I go to the real deal. It will be good practice. and I'm looking forward to it :)
I'll let ya know how it goes!
From
J-man (Proverbs 16:9)
I apologize that it's been over a month that I haven't written on here. Don't worry there have been some big things going on in the trombone world. Eastern Trombone Workshop in Washington D.C. was absolutely great during Spring Break.
God has been doing some great things in my life with this summer and what he has planned for me. But the purpose of this blog is to give some cool news. For a variety of reasons, I won't be attending the New York Phil Audition in June (yes, trombone world, one less person to worry about). Instead I'm going to an audition in Birmingham for the Alabama Symphony's 2nd trombone position.
What's really great is in two weeks, I'm going to be having a mock audition in front of some faculty from my school such as my trombone teacher (former 2nd trombone of the D.C. National Symphony), our trumpet teacher (principal trumpet of the Indianapolis Symphony), string professor (graduate of Julliard and soloist), and our Dean of School of Music.
I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to prep and get some critique from current professionals before I go to the real deal. It will be good practice. and I'm looking forward to it :)
I'll let ya know how it goes!
From
J-man (Proverbs 16:9)
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