So here we are again at the end of one year and the start of another. I can’t help looking back at 2019 and reflecting on what I accomplished this year. 2019 was a year of transition for me and my family and trying to adjust to a new home thousands of miles away from […]
Category: excerpts
I think today is day 48, actually. And I didn’t practice today because I was scheduled to get a filling at dental, and I didn’t want to try to play after having local anesthetic. So I’m not doing so great at this challenge, but… …its official, I’m taking the D.C. audition in November (uh, next […]
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Clarinet Challenge 2.0
Well, unfortunately, the end of the challenge kind of fizzled out for me. I just ran out of time and had no motivation to finish it out. But it’s OK though, I learned a lot about audition preparation over the last 14 weeks despite being unable to finish it out. If you’ve been reading my blog […]
Finally I have a bit of time and I thought I would post about my Navy Band audition nearly three (!) months ago. If you don’t feel like reading a lot today, here’s is the long story short…I felt extremely prepared, and I probably played the best I’ve ever played in an audition for a […]
Phase 2 is complete! Wow, the last four weeks certainly went by fast. In fact, it feels like I just started this whole process just the other day, but it was 8 weeks ago! Anyway, back then I really wasn’t sure what I would focus on in “phase 3”, other than a two week “taper”. […]
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Phase 1…complete!
So here’s an update on my audition preparation. Yesterday was the last day of “phase 1”, aka the woodshedding phase. I am happy to report that I have everything pretty much under my fingers. “Pretty much” being the key words here…some excerpts are certainly not clean (*cough* Dance of the Hours *cough*), and the Rossini […]
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Audition prep
Finally, there’s an opening in the Navy band in DC! I’m trying not to be too overzealous about it…I have to win it first. Since the last few auditions haven’t really worked out that great I’m determined to approach this audition in a new way. One of my colleagues (who is actually going up to […]
So lets see…its been almost three years since I’ve taken any kind of audition. Wow that’s crazy! Time has flown by since I’ve been in the Navy. Tomorrow I’m headed to Washington, D.C. once again to be one of the probably hundred clarinetists to take the President’s Own audition. This time is going to be quite […]
As of my last post, my schedule was pretty ridiculous…I was not looking forward to being so busy. Well, since my last post, our awesome congress decided to let the government shut down. Luckily, we are still being paid, but there’s no money for gas for our vehicles to get to gigs! So we are […]
Wow this week has been busy! I feel like I’m back in school…well, minus the homework. I started rehearsals again with the Virginia Wind Symphony, had craziness and gigs galore at work, and to top it all off I had my audition with the principal clarinetist of the Virginia Symphony, Patti Carlson. The highlight of […]
Sandy Herrera, Clarinet 