Hey blogmeisters. I just got back from Pittsburgh today; I didn't get out of the prelims, but I learned a lot from taking this audition. They asked an excerpt that I hadn't banked on them asking, and it caught me off guard. Worst of all, I didn't have it copied into my practice book for this audition, so I couldn't practice it in the warm-up room before I had to play. I think it would have made a difference if I had had the music for that excerpt with me. Ah well. You practice, you spend money and energy and sweat and time on auditions, and you learn. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, recover emotionally and mentally, and then start practicing for the next audition (in my case, it's in late April).
The biggest thing I learned is that if they ask the whole part to something, like Till for instance, bring the whole damn part with you. You have to pick and choose what you practice because there's no way you can have everything they ask downpat; they requested we know a hell of a list of excerpts for this audition and there were a few new ones that I didn't know. One of them, the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony, was a total bitch and a half and took me forever to learn. And I didn't even get to play it. No one from my group advanced out of the preliminary round.
Oh well. I'm glad I took the audition. It gave me something to work toward, something to practice for. I had to learn two new excerpts that I had never played before, and really polished and fixed several other excerpts that I knew needed lots of work. All of that work is still mine, I still gained all of that added excellence from the practicing. It is an investment and while it didn't help me win this audition, it will definitely help me in the next one. That's how it goes!
Tomorrow we start rehearsals for the Brahms Festival - Brahms is known for his gorgeous horn writing and it should be a fun few weeks ahead.
Lots of love from your tired traveler,
Darcy
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3 comments:
Hey Darce,
You have a very healthy, positive way of looking at this experience. Yay you! I admire that. I'm glad you got a lot out of it and I'm sure you did your best.
Glad to see you back a-blogging. How was the rest of the Pittsburgh experience? (other people there, did you like the scene there, etc.)
Well, Milwaukee is still very lucky to have you.
I always try to look at auditions as: "If you don't try, you'll never know. And if you don't get it, you got the experience - and it just wasn't meant to be."
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