I got a job!!

I did it! I finally have a clarinet job! Its not what I had planned or had anticipated. I had always envisioned myself playing in an orchestra or a D.C. band (or the Coast Guard band!!). But over the course of the last year, I have discovered that it doesn't matter who I'm playing for or what I'm playing. I just want to play. It took a whole year of working 40 hours a week in a non-musical job for me to realize how important music was in my life. I was starting to get depressed about my life and musical career. I just wasn't going anywhere, and I felt like I was doomed to be working 8-5 in an office forever. I was getting frustrated with auditions and the fact that I wasn't winning any of them. I was also getting frustrated that I couldn't get enough students to earn a full time income (or at least enough make more than I make at the U of R). To do this I needed to have 10-20 students per week. That entails only 10 hours of teaching per week. That sounded nice so I did a lot of advertising around the entire Rochester area, but only got one student out of it. Suck. So I was pretty down on myself. Then enter the Navy and my best friend Nina!! She's the one who made me aware of this opportunity. And I decided it had to be fate and pursued it fully! And I figured, playing marches and patriotic music is WAY better than answering the phone and scheduling MRI and CT scans all day. LOL!

Now fast forward 2 1/2 months to now, and last night I rocked my official audition! It was a much different audition than I'm used to, or what most classical musicians are used to! I played for a retired Navy bandmaster who also played trombone for the D.C. band for a period of time who lives in the Rochester area. There was no screen, no excerpts, and it was only him listening to me play. He invited me to his home in Hilton, NY to play my audition. His house was right on the lake! It was very beautiful. Anyway, he had everything set up in a large empty room (he said they were just finishing up their addition, and this was to be their new master suite), with hardwood floors. Can we say...LIVE?! Holy cow, I think my reverb lasted 5 minutes LOL. It took

some time to get used to, he had me start with the Weber 2, 3rd movement, but after about 5 measures I had to stop and start over...the reverb was shocking! In my audition experiences, I have learned that there is nothing wrong with stopping and starting over if you are sucking from the very beginning - as long as you play it 100 times better the 2nd time. I'm glad I did, because

I played it so much better the 2nd take. I played the entire movement, and I started to really enjoy the acoustics of the room. It was just so shocking at first because I practice in such a dead space. He had me play the last page again (all the crazy sextuplets, clarinetists know what I'm talking about!!), because he wanted to watch my fingers, LOL! Trombone players!

Next he had me play scales (I had also prepared the Copland Concerto, but I don't think he was

interested in that. Fine by me! I looove that piece, but it wasn't quite as solid as the Weber). He had me play major scales in a weird pattern, I played it ok, but he stopped me halfway through because he thought I was thinking about it too much. He also said that it was probably unfair for him to ask me to do that, since I wasn't a jazz person. Ha! Anyway, he then asked me to play a whole bunch of minor scales in various versions, which I totally owned. All that practicing paid off. Screw you G# melodic minor, take that!!!!!

Next portion was the sight reading. He gave me a packet of music, and asked me to play selections from it. It started out really easy, but then got harder as we progressed, ending with several marches. The marches were the normal tiny scores that were hard to read, which presented quite a challenge. But I think I did alright. At the end, he told me I was a "good" sight

reader, but not quite a "great" sight reader. What he meant by that is that I usually get it right the 2nd time, but not necessarily the 1st time. Well I could have told him that!! Well regardless, it was good enough for him to offer me a job!

I just want to mention that I played the audition on a Rico reed!!! Never thought that would ever happen, but I have fallen in love with the Rico Grand Concert Select Thick Blanks, 5 strength. Sorry Vandoren, its not economical when only ONE out of all 10 in a box plays well. It doesn't matter if that reed plays like gold, I still would rather have more reeds that play audition quality. So basically this is how I feel about the reed situation:

So now I will be working with my recruiter to get all the paperwork done to get enlisted. And hopefully in a few months (or less) I will be going off to boot camp! (gulp) But I'm just happy that I am finally going to have a career in music. And I will finally be getting out of Rochester! Now I just have to break the news to my bosses...not sure how that's going to go!

update...again

Well since its been over two months since I posted anything, I figured I probably should updatefor the few who may read this. Its been a busy couple months, both with non-clarinet related activities and clarinet related ones.

I have been in full force pursuing this Navy opportunity, and my audition is coming up very soon...like this week! I've met with the recruiter and gotten the paperwork process started. One thing's for sure - its going to be a pain! Once I pass my audition (cross your fingers!), I will have to go for a full physical and testing at a facility in Buffalo. Once that is over, hopefully we can get everything cleared and get a date to go to boot camp, which may not be for awhile. But if I can go sooner, the better! I want to get that part over with! The hardest part of this whole thing will be those two months. After boot camp, I will have to go to the Armed Forces Music School in Virginia for 6 months (!) That's a long time. And especially because I could probably teach a lot of the classes I'll have to take. I'm not trying to be braggy or conceited, but I do have a Masters degree from Eastman...I'm hoping I can test out.....maybe?? Not sure if that's a possibility yet. Regardless, I'll have to go for some length of time. The Masters degree is not all for nothing though - I qualify for the maximum starting pay grade, E-3, which will be nice (much more than I'm making now!). After that - hopefully I will be assigned to the Southwest Navy Band in San Diego! (cross your fingers with that too!!)

So after all is said and done, it may be almost a year before I get out to a band. I'm ok with that, because I will be playing my clarinet and getting paid for it, which is a whole lot better that what I'm doing now. I consider myself lucky to have the good job I have, but I have to remind myself that I don't want to be a secretary, I want to be a clarinetist!!

I'm going to try to update more often, even if it is only a little bit. Promise!!

rediculous

I hate it when I get excited about an audition, and then I discover I can't take it. For instance, I just found out about a second/Eb audition in Boise, ID. I was like sweet! Time to get back in to the audition game. But then I discovered a plane ticket to Boise would cost me $500. FAIL.

Also, a couple weeks back I sent in my resume for the Central City Opera audition in May, and not even six hours after I emailed my resume, I got this response:

Dear Sandy,

Thank you for your interest in Central City Opera. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, it is impossible to hear all applicants. After reviewing your resume it has been decided not to extend an audition invitation to you.

Wishing you the very best in your future musical endeavors,

Mr. xxxxxxxx, Orchestra Manager and Assistant to the Music Director

Seems a little too fast of a response for me to believe that anyone actually looked at my resume. Whatever, they don't know what they are missing out on!

Speaking of downers, I applied for an audition with the LA Chamber Orchestra. Here is the list (if you can believe it):

1st movement exposition from the Mozart Clarinet Concerto K. 622 Entire
2nd movement of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto K. 622

Beethoven Symphony No. 4, op. 60 , II. Complete, IV. measures 297 - 300
Beethoven Symphony No. 6, op. 68 I. measures 474 – 492, II. measures 69 – 77, III. measures 114 – 133
Beethoven Symphony No. 8, op. 93: III. trio
Brahms Serenade No. 1 in D, op. 11: I. measures 12 – 23 and measure 550 – end, II. measures 9 – 28, III. measures 7 – 16
Copland Appalachian Spring (13 instrument version): 5 measures after # 6 – 2 measures after # 9, from # 17 – 3 measures after # 18, from # 23 - # 28, from # 38 – 1 measure before 42, pickup to # 55 – 3 measures before 57
Haydn Symphony No. 99 in E flat : complete
Mendelssohn A Midsummer Night’s Dream: scherzo
Mendelssohn Symphony No. 3, op. 56: II. complete
Mozart Symphony No. 39, K. 543: III. Complete, IV. complete
Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2, op. 27: II. 6 measures before # 46 - #47
Schubert Symphony No. 3 in D: I. measure 10 – 36, pickup to measure 178 – measure 186, II. measure 37 to measure 69
Strauss Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: No. 4. # 42 - # 44, pickup to # 48 – 5 measures after # 51, No. 8. beginning to # 61, # 64 - end

2nd CL Brahms Serenade No. 1 in D, op. 11: I. measures 550 – end, II. measures 9 – 28, III. measures 9 – 16
2nd CL Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture: measure 206 – 217
2nd CL Ravel Rhapsodie Espagnole: cadenza
2nd CL Strauss Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme: No. 4. # 42 - #44, No. 8. beginning – measure , # 64 – end
2nd CL Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 5, op. 64: I. beginning to measure 37

E-Flat Copland Music for the Theatre: I. complete, II. complete
E-Flat Ravel Piano Concerto in G: complete
E-Flat Ravel Bolero: solo

Bass CL Schoenberg Chamber Symphony No. 1: 2 measures after #28 – 2 measures before #31, #34 – 1 measure before #35, 1 measure after #62 - #63, 1 measure before #78 - #79, 1 beat before #91 - #92, 2 measures after #101 – 2 measures before #102, 2 measures after #105 – downbeat of #106
Bass CL Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1, op. 99: II. # 23 – 13th measure of # 24, III. # 26 – 8th measure of # 26
Bass CL Stravinsky The Rite of Spring: #11 - #13, #48 - #49, #140 - #142

2nd CL Mozart Divertimento for 2 clarinets and bassoon K. 229
Beethoven Quintet in E flat for Piano and Winds, op. 16, I. complete, II. complete

Keep in mind this is a chamber orchestra with only 14 performances a year. I'm not sure the job would be worth all the effort that would need to be put in for the audition, but that's my opinion. The main reason that I'm not taking the audition is because of the bass clarinet stuff - don't have one, and don't have time to learn the exerpts even if I did have one. I was a little bummed.

I also recently applied for the Cleveland Opera audition, and I can't take that one for the same reason: bass clarinet excerpts are required! Boo for that. Makes me wish that I could afford to buy a bass! I was extremely bummed when I discovered I would not be able to take this audition, mostly because it would be an easy one to take. Cleveland is only a four hour drive away from Rochester!

I'm still hoping for a good audition to come along soon, I'm definitely feeling the itch to get back in the game. And who knows, maybe that Navy thing from my previous post will work out!