RCBB update

[greatmediocrity]

Bernie Black, cornetist and concertmaster, and apparently personnel manager of the River City Brass Band, e-mailed me back today and said that the audition committee and Denis Colwell screened my resume and decided not to extend an invitation to audition

Comments

[greatmediocrity]

Nah, no demo. I can't afford to have one made. It wouldn't have helped for this band in any case, because they weren't accepting tapes or anything like that, just resumes.

I mean, okay, it's the only remaining professional brass band in the US, so I wasn't expecting them to be lax about who they invite to audition, but I have played with one of the guys who plays baritone horn with them, and while he's good, he isn't mind-blowing. The main difference between him and me is that he took lessons in college from the guy who's the euphonium section leader (who is, by the way, absolutely world-class, so I'm not bashing him at all).

It all just comes down to the fact that I'm pissed that I've sunk probably 3 times the money into my instruments and God only knows how much more money into lessons and classes than most of the brass players I play with have, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in any of those sections whose degree was based on performance and not education (with the possible exception of the aforementioned b-horn guy) and no offense to them because I realize that they're just in it for the fun, but it shows, and I'm really not sure how much longer I can put up with this stuff.