Mendelssohn vs. Me, round 3: rusty!
….in which she begins to develop a neurosis about her hair as it appears from the side. Sigh. I really should just flat iron my hair every day to avoid these calamities. God help me if Nathan or Frankie at Vidal ever sees this. They would call me and heat-style it through the phone! Ok, more Mendy, this time with some Schroeder thrown in to make sure I’m correcting my problems globally. Read More
Mendelssohn vs. Me, round 2: punchy tuner edition
Let’s do this. Read More
Mendelssohn vs. Me, round 1
Here I am, risking a little bit of my pride to show you the practice process behind what will become a very good Mendelssohn excerpt at some point. I figure that part of the strength of this blog is a willingness to lift up the rock and show you the un-pretty stuff underneath. And while I know some of my esteemed colleagues don’t struggle with the issues I’m working on here, I know that many more absolutely do. I have waited outside studios... Read More
The Audition.
This is what my life has been like recently. Everything always happens at once, but of course the audition has been the focus of my efforts. So last week, I did it. After practicing for months, chronicling my process, I woke up early and made my way down to the hall to see how my travails would fare under some serious scrutiny. I was not too nervous, and when Candidate 11 (me) was called onto stage, I felt pretty comfortable. Oh yay! La Mer! Ba... Read More
Spice for the recipe
In the baseball game of Audition vs Emily, the pitcher is kicking the dirt on the mound, leaning forward to consult the catcher’s sign, and has risen up: coiled and ready to pounce. Less than a week till the audition, and it’s been quite a blustery few days in the ballpark. I went to play for a colleague on Monday evening. I had envisioned something of a conversational session where I ran certain trouble spots or perhaps double... Read More
Oniony practice
There are many ways in which practice, especially as a rumored professional, evokes the oniony images. First off, it makes you cry. ha. What I’m after today are the peeling layers, ever-emergent, even at this stage. With a few weeks left before the audition, I have uncovered reassuring and familiar competencies to be sure. But I have also discovered a new layer of work to be done, courtesy of my new-fangled bionic arm. The Big Three (Haydn... Read More
Auditioning, "Oops" edition.
The audition pieces are chosen for very specific reasons. They want to see you hold down a sense of time when rushing is what feels good, they want to see huge flexibility in dynamic range, tone quality and color, intonation, and of course: chops. When I start to work on something that is intended to be played at lightning speed, I have a goal of not missing any notes the first bunch of passes through. I don’t want to learn the thing wrong!... Read More
Auditioning
I’m taking some auditions around town in a month or two, so that means more than ever, routine and repetition rule my life. I love it: the sense of purpose and direction, the hours that seem to disappear, the wondering what passers-by must think about the disembodied strains of Don Juan escaping from under my door, despite a practice mute. DJ is an acquired taste, but the part played alone has a really weird sound to it, like a series of showy... Read More
