And continuing on to the third part of my warm-up routine! Articulation is an important fundamental every clarinetist needs to become proficient at. For this part of my routine, I actually do a couple different things. I usually switch it up when I get bored with doing one or the other. For the first routine, […]
Author: sandyclarinet
After achieving my dream of graduating from Eastman with my MM degree in 2009, I chose to not to go back to school for a doctorate (which is what many musicians do after their masters degree) and decided to go for it and pursue a full time performance job. After over a year of working an office "day job" and auditioning like crazy, I have won a job with the U.S. Navy fleet bands and will be shipping out in May 2011. But my auditioning adventures are not over, there is a position open in the premiere Navy Band in Washington D.C.! I will be auditioning for that position in January 2011.
Here I document my successes, my failures, and my overall thoughts on life.
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Mostly ranting…
Of course, when I decide that I want to practice more, that’s when things get busy! I have rehearsal nearly every day for the woodwind quintet that I am in at work because we’re going on the road to South Carolina in a couple weeks to play a concert with the brass quintet. We are […]
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Resolutions…or something like that?
I’m going to be honest here. New year resolutions kind of annoy me. I don’t think we need to wait for a new year to make good changes in our lives, and most people don’t stick to it anyway. If we want to change, change NOW! Anyways, with that said… I have one thing that […]
Last week I had the pleasure of traveling to Chicago and attending the Midwest Clinic to play a concert with the Virginia Wind Symphony. I have never been to the conference, and playing there was on my bucket list, for sure. The conference is mostly geared towards the music educator/band director type, which I am […]
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My daily routine, part two: scales!
I’ve always hated practicing scales with a passion. They are just so boring! But unfortunately for me, they are a necessary evil for woodwind playing. So it has become the part of my routine that takes the most time. Its like exercise, I hate it at the moment, but after I’m done, I feel great and I’m glad […]
I can’t tell you how important it is to have a daily routine. Three years ago, after I graduated from Eastman and started working a 9-5 desk job, I created a daily routine (not just a warm-up, although it is used as such.) to keep my playing in check. I knew I wanted clarinet to […]
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Advancement Exam
This past Thursday morning marked my very first Navy advancement exam. What is that, you ask? Well, in the Navy, the main way junior enlisted personnel get promoted is through exams on their specific job. The tests for E-4 through E-6 happen twice a year, and the test to make Chief (E-7) happens once a […]
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Three concerts in three days
This week was crazy. We had wind ensemble concerts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday! Its been a long time since I’ve had that many real performances in a row (I don’t consider our military ceremony gigs real performances). And to make it even better, we played the Mendelssohn Concertpiece on the Wednesday night concert. […]
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Galway video
I don’t often post twice in one day (actually, almost never!), but I’m feeling particularly saucy today. I ran across this video of Sir James Galway giving a masterclass. The particular topic of this video is practicing scales. I tried his approach a little bit before wind ensemble rehearsal (on clarinet), and I think I’m […]
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The realities of humidity
As many know, the area of Virginia that I live in is crazy humid in the summer. Like, walking outside feels like swimming through hot soup. Anyways, a few weeks back I decided to practice my A clarinet. I put the instrument together like normal, including putting the upper and lower joints together. I twisted […]
Sandy Herrera, Clarinet 