I've recently taken a couple of auditions here in Wisconsin. One was for the Green Bay Symphony, where they had both the 4th horn position and utility horn position open. I unfortunately didn't make it past the first round. The 4 that did I got to hear through the stage door, and I could definitely see why they made it through. I felt like I had the music down pretty good, with some great help from my teacher on musical and stylistic aspects. But, I chipped to many notes, and the panel didn't let me finish my audition. You can know the excerpts well and have all the style points down, but audition panels still don't like to hear missed notes. You can't go into an audition missing notes! That's what I learned from this audition. I'm not saying you need to have 100% note accuracy, but you'd better have 99.99% accuracy! Realistically, it's okay to miss a note here or there, but averaging 3 fracks per excerpt will not get you far, no matter how well you nail the style or get all the details. So...how do I plan on make my auditions (and performances) more frackless? Well, by practicing more, of course! This school year was not a good year for me in terms of practice. I was lucky to get more than 1 hour of individual time on the horn every day, and the goal for me is 3-4 hours.
But that's hard, especially for someone like me who has a wife and son to provide for and spend time with. I can't compete at auditions with guys and girls who are able to practice 4+ hours a day. That's why I'm leaving myself open to a career other than full-time playing, although it would be really great to. It has been my dream to play in a full-time orchestra, but I just don't think I'll ever get there. Obtaining a university job s
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Sean A. BrownAn up-to-date overview of my music career Archives
February 2024
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