I am feeling really lazy tonight. All attempts at practicing today were extremely unsuccessful. I also spent a large portion of time trying to listen to excerpts that were buried deep within long operas and ballets, and ultimately decided I just need the scores.
This weekend I took an audition in Orlando, FL. It went OK. I felt really prepared with the music, actually. And I had a couple reeds I liked, but not as many as I should have. When I got to FL, the reeds seemed OK. But then the next morning, they were different, and as a result I played the audition on a sub-par reed, so although I didn't mess anything up, I felt like I couldn't just PLAY the way I can when I have a good reed. So I didn't advance, which was disappointing. But I'm now more motivated to try and get to auditions two days in advance whenever possible. And, my friend Jamie WON the audition, so, YAY Jamie!!!
I just started a new job, teaching middle school wind ensemble at a private school nearby. The kids are fun, I think it will be enjoyable. I'm also hoping to start SAT tutoring soon. I have to complete some more training first. SATs are different than when I took them, it makes me feel old. 2400? 1600 isn't even a good score anymore!
I'm trying to stay motivated with a great deal of difficulty today. I think I might try to go to the beach tomorrow and get my mind off everything to refresh myself, because trying to be productive all the time seems to actually be making me less productive.
Also, as a sidenote, boys are dumb. OK, maybe not all of them, but lately for me and two of my close friends, boys have really not been acting at all kindly or intelligently. Boo hiss. OK, rant over. I hope I haven't offended the male population too much.
And now, I've scheduled a lesson with Allan on Friday, so that should definitely keep my spirits up and help me work better!
2 comments:
I'm finding YouTube helpful for opera excerpts. The sound might not be great, and sometimes neither is the playing, but it gives me an aria or excerpt and I just like seeing what is going on as well as hearing.
Of course I don't have to worry about auditions, so there's that.
When we auditioned oboists for our opera orchestra it was pretty clear to me that there were some players who didn't know how the excerpt really fit into the music. One thing that is good to know are the little spots where we traditionally take a ritard or stretch something just a bit with the singer. But of course perhaps some orchestras don't like to hear that ... I wouldn't know for sure!
Ramble ramble ...
I do hope you can make the reeds work in other parts of the country; what a pain to have to deal with that on top of everything else.
i took your advice and looked up some stuff on youtube--it was helpful to have a "second opinion" recording to listen to, and to see the visuals of what's happening. very different from regular orchestral excerpts. so thanks :) yeah i really don't want to feel like an idiot about how the music actually goes when i get to the audition!
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