Graduate School Update

Hello all,
Just wanted to update everybody on where I am applying to graduate school for Fall 2010 (which is QUICKLY approaching!!). After briefly looking at info from over 18 schools I narrowed it all down to 5 schools:

Northwestern University
Carnegie Mellon University
Duquesne University
Depaul University
University of Maryland

All have great teachers and good programs. Then as I started getting into the process of applying, I realized that I would not be able to afford the fees for all five schools plus traveling to all the audition sites. So then I narrowed it down to three.

University of Maryland
Carnegie Mellon University
Northwestern University

Why these three schools? Maryland has a great trombone faculty (trombone section of the National Symphony and Baltimore Symphony), plus my current teacher used to be on that faculty, and our Dean of the School of Music has his Master's and Doctorate from there. It is also in a central location along the East Coast for opportunities to play in gigs and is not far from Philadelphia or New York and other large cities. Plus, so many concert opportunities in D.C., with the NSO, and the military bands.

Why CMU? I have had a great opportunity to have a few personal lessons with Pete Sullivan, and find him to be a great teacher. Plus, the Pittsburgh Symphony is no slouch of an orchestra (sometimes I think they don't get enough recognition for how well they sound). And Pittsburgh is just a great city!

And finally why Northwestern? Well you have a great trombone faculty (members of the Chicago Symphony). It's Chicago so there are many great concert opportunities and chances to perform. Not much needs to be said about Northwestern...it's that good of a school!

All in all, I picked these schools primarily for their teachers, in that they are still performing in major symphony orchestras. They are in large cities (much larger than Warsaw, Indiana), and all three have great academic reputations. So we will see where the Lord takes me now. A lot will happen in the next few months, and I will keep you posted. Please pray for me, and that God would give me wisdom about where to go. I would greatly appreciate it :)

Back to the applications!!

From
J-man (Hebrews 13:21)

Coming off a High (and MWF part 2)

Hello All,

Well it's been a week since I said goodbye to the Masterworks Festival. Quite a busy four weeks of my life, but oh so worth it. I had the great opportunity to play some great repertoire...the following:

week 1: Brahms--3rd symphony; Respighi--pines of rome
week 2: Sibelius--2nd symphony
week 3: Ravel--Daphnis et Chloe Suite No. 2
week 4: Berlioz--Le Corsaire; Mahler--1st Symphony

The last week was quite intense with some heavy duty playing (Mahler....*sigh*) but what an incredible concert. So incredible we gave an encore! AND by the way, my girlfriend came to hear the final concert--Mahler and girlfriend in the same weekend equals EXTREME joy! :):) Quick story, so we're playing along in the last movement about to end the concert after a great night, and my very last note...very last note of Masterworks (high A for those who care), I totally clammed. Wow was I depressed. Talk about ending on a bad note! After three standing ovations, the conductor turns around and asks the orchestra if we want to play again. Almost everybody was shaking their heads "no!"....except me and a trumpet guy. Fortunately (and thankfully), we played the very last part of the final movement again, and boy did I nail that last note. Yes it did make me feel better.

All in all, though it was an amazing festival and I got to play some good trombone music, it was so much worthwhile on a spiritual level. I learned so much spiritually from fellow musicians about the Holy Spirit and my personal relationship with Him, that I can literally say the festival changed my life for that reason. God placed me in an incredible Bible Study with two amazing Bible Study leaders. Wow! we learned so much from each other and oftentimes we went past our time limit. But there were so many times, you could tell the Holy Spirit was working in our lives. And the best part too is these are musicians who are desiring to please their Audience of One--Christ. And this festival was not a second rate because it is a "Christian" music festival. In my mind, Masterworks is an intense ARTS festival that is training Christians to be excellent musicians but in a way that is honoring to God and God only. Soli Deo Gloria! It was so so neat to meet and talk with professionals who took to heart the phrase, "A Christian who happens to be a professional artist."

But what is exciting now is that even though masterworks festival has ended, Lord-willing, what has been learned musically and spiritually is being taken out across the country and literally the globe to share with others the Joy of serving an amazing God. What makes it difficult is that we are not surrounded around those people all the time. BUT we are surrounded by the Holy Spirit :) and with his Power, I'm praying that He will keep that desire and fire to look to Him for guidance and strength as well as a desire to please and honor MY audience of One! :)

From
J-man (Hebrews 13:21)

Masterworks Festival 2009 Part 1

Hello All,
This summer has been so much good for me in many MANY ways :) :) One way is allowing me to attend the Masterworks Festival in Indiana. This music festival is amazing for one reason: They are an intense music "camp" traing men and women to be Christian artists in their respected fields.
A great aspect of this is the Bible Studies they split you into for the four weeks you are at the festival. My leaders are both truly amazing people and are husband and wife duo. It's so neat to have them because right now we are talking about Christ and his relationships with Holy Spirit and the Father, and they have given examples in their marriage that deal with what we are talking about. It is truly a God-thing that I am in their group :)
Even though the festival is heavily devoted to training Christian artists, it is also an intense music camp. This week I have the privilege of playing in the Festival Orchestra and we are playing some great literature: Brahms 3rd Symphony and Respighi's Pines of Rome as well as Weber Bassoon Concerto. Yes I'm very excited!!
I have a lot to learn and will talk more about it later. But for now, I must go get ready for my lesson! :)

From
J-man (I John 4:16-18)

A Christian who happens to be a Trombonist

Hello All,

A while back, my dad had emailed me a link to an article written by Douglas Yeo, bass trombonist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Doug is one of the finest Christians I know and is a great bass trombonist as well. I finally read the article today on his website and was just amazed. He is one of the few men I know of who literally acts out the phrase, "A Christian who happens to be a trombone player." Reading this article was absolutely inspiring and motivational, and I wanted to share it with you all.

"Look for the Ancient Paths"

Please Enjoy! :)

From
J-man (Psalm 115:1)

Alabama and the Day After (part 2)

Hello All,
They did not advance me, which I already knew; HOWEVER, they did advance me the guy in front of me who I heard play. So immediately, I wrote down what he did in his audition that I remembered that I didn't do; it was good what he did I remember and what HE did is why he advanced.

All in all, it was a quick day. I wish I could have done better, but I'm not going to let that get to me. Sometimes you have those days. And when you do, you learn from what you do and just keep running. Either way advance or not, I'm still going to practice :)

I was able to also run into a friend of mine who I had played with in the Florida All-State bands back in HS. We have been in contact via Facebook, and after his audition, we went to a place and caught up with each other. He advanced to the next round (actually all the way to the finals!), so he still had much to do; however, I was glad we were able to talk. I was really happy for him with how far he progressed during the day. He is studying at New England Conservatory, and he is such a great player--heard him play over spring break--but he is even a better person. Just a really good guy.

So today, the day after, it's back to the "trombone lab". Back to work harder, and really work out things that can be done better--back to the drawing board. It was a great learning experience. Walking away from it, the best thing was I wasn't nervous or jittery about the whole thing. I owe a lot to my Father up above for giving me peace the night before and day of, but I also owe a lot to a very special friend of mine from college, who supported me the past entire week. Always praying for me and giving me encouragement to do my best and to "do it for God." Their encouragement just meant the world to me, and it made things much easier and calmer, and I thank them for it.

Whelp time to go practice. I just love the trombone, and it's always my prayer that I would honor God and give Him that 1st place that He deserves with my trombone--whether it's 5 or 50 auditions before I land that first position may it always be:

Soli Deo Gloria :)

From
J-man (Ps. 115:1)

Alabama and the Day After (part 1)

Hello All,
Well I haven't done so hot in keeping everybody updated, but yesterday was the Alabama Symphony audition, down in Birmingham. I got there Sunday night, spent the night in a hotel, and then woke up for the audition the next day. I have to admit, I felt really calm the entire time, was really confident about myself, and knew it was going to be a good day.

I arrived at the audition site on the campus of Univ. of Alabama Birmingham around 10ish. Thankfully, when I woke up I was able to warm-up in an old exercise room at my hotel. I had a good warm-up and was good to go. Once I got to the audition site, they gave me another warm-up room with the audition list. It was the standard list: Mozart Requiem, Berlioz Hungarian March, Ravel Bolero, and Wagner Ride of the Valkyries. Apparently they were going through the candidates pretty quick.

I touched the beginning of each excerpt then just studied them. A couple days before I was reading some articles on audition prep and the one thing that was common in the articles was just remember to have world-class breathing the entire time...and to take your time.

After I was in my warm-up room, they called me up and it was my turn to go. I was able to hear the guy in front of me, and he sounded really good. I liked it. Then my turn came up. I played a few notes then started. Tuba Mirum was good. Berlioz was fair--had a bad start to the beginning. Bolero had a real nice start, which I was happy about. Then they said "thank you" after the third one. Then I left the room.

It wasn't the greatest performance, but sometimes you have those days. Once I got back to the waiting room, I immediately wrote down some critiques since they were fresh. A little while later, they came in and announced who moved on.

(read part 2)

J-Man (Psalm 115:1)