All-State Audition Preparation
This past weekend, I presented at the South Texas Brass Symposium. Part of the event was a clinic for high… Read More »All-State Audition Preparation
Auditions
Be Prepared
The motto for most scouting organizations worldwide is some variant of “Be Prepared.” Boy scouts were never my thing, but… Read More »Be Prepared
Runner-up
A lot of times, we advertise our successes, but try to hide our failures. This is natural, of course, since… Read More »Runner-up
Control in an audition
It’s been said over and over: you can only control your own performance, not how the other applicants at an audition… Read More »Control in an audition
Audition postmortem
When I was in college, I spent embarrassing amounts of time and money taking auditions. I didn’t even hesitate purchasing… Read More »Audition postmortem
Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony
The Springfield Symphony closed out its season this spring with Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony. Of course, this piece contains one of the… Read More »Saint-Saëns: Organ Symphony
The Metropolitan Opera audition process
While most audition processes are similar, I think it is the slight differences that give each audition — and each… Read More »The Metropolitan Opera audition process
A tale of two auditions
Doug Rosenthal was working on his degree at Northwestern when I was there working on my master’s. Since then, he… Read More »A tale of two auditions
Tapering
The audition I’m preparing for is about a week away, which means it’s time for me to taper my practice schedule.… Read More »Tapering
Good enough
How good is good enough? I think the simple fact that I’m asking the question implies the answer that there… Read More »Good enough
Mock auditions
When preparing for auditions, the best possible exercise is playing mock auditions for other people. Do everything you can to… Read More »Mock auditions
From the other side of the screen
While I talk about audition preparation from the candidate’s perspective here, Dave Bilger (principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra) is… Read More »From the other side of the screen