(no subject)
Ahoy, ahoy, campers. I hope everything have been going well for all of you, as I assure you it has been for me as well. My MSU Marching Band audition is in exactly one week and suprisingly enough, at this moment I'm not nervous. I was able to play my audition music today for 
smbhooah and got valuable feedback and suggestions of things to work on. While I have a bit more work to do to improve on the things he pointed out, I'm confident that that should be no problem to do in the week I have remaining. It's taken quite a bit these past few days to get it through my head that even though the MSU Marching Band is incredibly important to me, it's just a marching band. Having said that, it is really fairly counter productive for me to pull massive amounts of hair out over small details in my playing. As smbhooah pointed out today (and it was something that brought me quite a bit of comfort), even though the band's audition process is competative, it's also designed to let decent high schooler's in. I think I'm at about the level of a decent high schooler, but it's hard to say. However, win or loose, I can still be quite proud of myself. I started playing my horn again in about Februaryish after not touching the damn thing for more than 30 minutes since Spring of 2004. I've gone from barely being able to make a simple octave jump to being able to do everything I ever was able to do and more. My tone is the best it has ever been and my technique...well, it's getting there. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have put in a LOT of hard work for this audition, which may make rejection sting a bit more, but it will also make acceptance taste oh, so sweet. This past year has really been a good one for me. I really have to kind of pat myself on the back for a minute when I stand back and look at all I've done this year. I set my sights on a goal (a couple of them) and worked my tail off to make those goals a reality. So far, one down, one and a half to go. My time to be nervous about this audition is over. What's going to happen will happen. It's time to shine now, and show off what I've done. I'm ready. Bring it!
I went down to South Bend today and met up with smbhooah at Woodwinds and Brasswinds, a ginormous music store. I've been using the same mouthpiece since my junior year of high school and I thought it was about time for a change. The mouthpiece I bought is a little big for my horn, but it makes me sound so much better. Seriously, when I play with that thing, it almost feels like the mouthpiece is doing half the work for me. I'm pretty sure that Jesus hand crafted this mouthpiece, because it is divine.
I start my new job at Community Mental Health on Monday. Hooray jobs! I'll be pulling down 10$ an hour as a scanning clerk, so I'll be making some phat ca$h mon3yz this summer for bling. It sucks that 95% of what I'm going to be making this summer is going to be spent souly on keeping me off the street in the fall, but I guess it's better to be a starving artist than a wealthy hobo. I don't know, though...hobo's are pretty cool....
My neighbor's dog keeps barking and their cat keeps peeing on my window. If this keeps up, their dog will be getting a newspaper to the chops and their cat will be getting a long ride out to the country and a hamburger patty soaked in anti-freeze. I am merciful and just, but I am quick to anger when my window is dishonored.
smbhooah and got valuable feedback and suggestions of things to work on. While I have a bit more work to do to improve on the things he pointed out, I'm confident that that should be no problem to do in the week I have remaining. It's taken quite a bit these past few days to get it through my head that even though the MSU Marching Band is incredibly important to me, it's just a marching band. Having said that, it is really fairly counter productive for me to pull massive amounts of hair out over small details in my playing. As smbhooah pointed out today (and it was something that brought me quite a bit of comfort), even though the band's audition process is competative, it's also designed to let decent high schooler's in. I think I'm at about the level of a decent high schooler, but it's hard to say. However, win or loose, I can still be quite proud of myself. I started playing my horn again in about Februaryish after not touching the damn thing for more than 30 minutes since Spring of 2004. I've gone from barely being able to make a simple octave jump to being able to do everything I ever was able to do and more. My tone is the best it has ever been and my technique...well, it's getting there. I have the satisfaction of knowing that I have put in a LOT of hard work for this audition, which may make rejection sting a bit more, but it will also make acceptance taste oh, so sweet. This past year has really been a good one for me. I really have to kind of pat myself on the back for a minute when I stand back and look at all I've done this year. I set my sights on a goal (a couple of them) and worked my tail off to make those goals a reality. So far, one down, one and a half to go. My time to be nervous about this audition is over. What's going to happen will happen. It's time to shine now, and show off what I've done. I'm ready. Bring it!
I went down to South Bend today and met up with smbhooah at Woodwinds and Brasswinds, a ginormous music store. I've been using the same mouthpiece since my junior year of high school and I thought it was about time for a change. The mouthpiece I bought is a little big for my horn, but it makes me sound so much better. Seriously, when I play with that thing, it almost feels like the mouthpiece is doing half the work for me. I'm pretty sure that Jesus hand crafted this mouthpiece, because it is divine.
I start my new job at Community Mental Health on Monday. Hooray jobs! I'll be pulling down 10$ an hour as a scanning clerk, so I'll be making some phat ca$h mon3yz this summer for bling. It sucks that 95% of what I'm going to be making this summer is going to be spent souly on keeping me off the street in the fall, but I guess it's better to be a starving artist than a wealthy hobo. I don't know, though...hobo's are pretty cool....
My neighbor's dog keeps barking and their cat keeps peeing on my window. If this keeps up, their dog will be getting a newspaper to the chops and their cat will be getting a long ride out to the country and a hamburger patty soaked in anti-freeze. I am merciful and just, but I am quick to anger when my window is dishonored.