PMF audition
So I just got back from Boston where I auditioned for the Pacific Music Festival. Jenn and Inhyung came along and auditioned too, so we made a nice day of it. It's great to be only a little over 2 hours away from Boston, 1.5 hours from New York, and 4 hours from Vermont. SO great.
The audition itself went okay. I was ironically most unhappy with how my Mozart went, seeing how it is the technically least-demanding of all I had to play. The (easy) runs weren't very clean. Very weird. I think it had to do with nerves, and mostly getting used to sitting down and playing for strangers. After the Mozart things got easier. I was asked to play Shostakovich 9 next (the fast movement), and aside from playing the beginning 'piano' parts louder than I wanted, it went pretty well. The runs were clean (even that really pesky one!) and I made it all the way through in the one breath. Holler. They asked for Beethoven 8 next, and I remember kind of rushing throughout it. And the first high 'g' bit being a little too soft. As in I hope it wasn't just me who heard those 4 notes or so. Oh well. Then the bass excerpts were heard. Well, just the Stravinsky excerpts. And those went SWIMMINGLY. Couldn't believe it. Even the pesky 'piano' part that doesn't like to sound even.
The festival takes only 4 or so clarinets out of probably 1,000 who audition for it worldwide. It takes place in Japan and is about 4 weeks long over the summer. I won't get my hopes too high, because c'mon...4 clarinets?! But it was free to apply for, free travel and tuition/room/board if I get in, and fairly cheap to travel to audition for as it was split three ways. Traveling with my friends was a blast, as well as eating Mexican food, drinking a Sam Adams Winter Ale, and stocking up on some DELISH stuff from Trader Joe's on the way out of town (pumpkin seeds, little whole grain chocolate chip cookies, a $6 six-pack of wheat beer, $3 White Zin, Jarlsberg cheese, and whole-grain crackers). Mmmmm.
The frosty on the way home didn't hurt, either :0)
The audition itself went okay. I was ironically most unhappy with how my Mozart went, seeing how it is the technically least-demanding of all I had to play. The (easy) runs weren't very clean. Very weird. I think it had to do with nerves, and mostly getting used to sitting down and playing for strangers. After the Mozart things got easier. I was asked to play Shostakovich 9 next (the fast movement), and aside from playing the beginning 'piano' parts louder than I wanted, it went pretty well. The runs were clean (even that really pesky one!) and I made it all the way through in the one breath. Holler. They asked for Beethoven 8 next, and I remember kind of rushing throughout it. And the first high 'g' bit being a little too soft. As in I hope it wasn't just me who heard those 4 notes or so. Oh well. Then the bass excerpts were heard. Well, just the Stravinsky excerpts. And those went SWIMMINGLY. Couldn't believe it. Even the pesky 'piano' part that doesn't like to sound even.
The festival takes only 4 or so clarinets out of probably 1,000 who audition for it worldwide. It takes place in Japan and is about 4 weeks long over the summer. I won't get my hopes too high, because c'mon...4 clarinets?! But it was free to apply for, free travel and tuition/room/board if I get in, and fairly cheap to travel to audition for as it was split three ways. Traveling with my friends was a blast, as well as eating Mexican food, drinking a Sam Adams Winter Ale, and stocking up on some DELISH stuff from Trader Joe's on the way out of town (pumpkin seeds, little whole grain chocolate chip cookies, a $6 six-pack of wheat beer, $3 White Zin, Jarlsberg cheese, and whole-grain crackers). Mmmmm.
The frosty on the way home didn't hurt, either :0)