i hope your summer is going fabulously! i've been busy developing a clinic on the subject of audition preparation, and i'm delivering it 4 times in various parts of the world. the first class, for the wonderful students of the boston university tanglewood institute (BUTI) percussion department, was absolutely phenomenal.
if you're anywhere near the three remaining locations, please come and say hello! bring your audition preparation questions and i'll give you everything i've got.
6/28: tanglewood (done!)
7/08: south africa
i'm currently smack in the middle of my amazing festival in south africa called the stellenbosch international chamber music festival. my class will be in fismer hall at the music conservatory of the university of stellenbosch from 3-4:30pm, south africa standard time.
this will be my 3rd time (!) teaching at the juilliard summer percussion seminar. the class is from 3-5pm, eastern time, in room 309 at the juilliard school.
i'm so honored and excited to join the indiana percussion academy and workshop this year for the first time ever. my class will be from 10am-12pm.
note: if you are interested in coming to this, please email me and i'll do my best. :-)
hope to see you there!
preparing for an audition?
here's the free 5-step guide to preparing for an audition. (and slow practice doesn't appear once.)
for any instrument.
imprecise rhythm is something that can get you cut from an audition IMMEDIATELY (regardless of your instrument). and great rhythm is something that an audition committee can sense, both consciously and subconsciously. hearing someone play in the pocket just feels good.
well, i have a few tricks up my sleeve to straighten out my rhythm, and today i'm sharing one of the most effective strategies.
things i do on audition day:
warm up by playing on the hotel pillow,
watch vast amounts of tv shows on my phone, and
never drink coffee.
when i was in detroit in february i got to interview three great DSO musicians on how they approach audition day. pretty fascinating to see how their approaches are so different from each other.
i’m endlessly fascinated with how musicians practice (as you know). so i was fortunate to talk to augustin hadelich, international violin soloist, about how he gets ready to play a different concerto with a different orchestra every week.
one way that i keep myself sane is to make a practice schedule and keep it up to date. you can use paper and pencil, a word document, evernote, or a wall. in today’s video i explain how to get it set up.
i’ve been getting lots of messages from people having trouble finding motivation or direction now that they’re at home all day. i’ve been dealing with the same issues, but i’m finally out of the funk.
so i made a video about how to get motivated and set practice goals (during coronapause). check it out.
this is an interview with nathan hughes, principal oboist of the metropolitan opera and faculty at juilliard. he has to practice and make reeds… every day. anyone who wonders how to balance the artistry and the project management of being a musician should watch this.
some days i’ll feel good about my playing. but some days i'll walk into the opera pit and question whether i really deserve to be there.
i’ll think <with an extremely fred savage from the wonder years voice>, “i wonder how i ended up here. oh well, i guess i’ll pretend to be a professional musician and play the triangle again today.”
it’s called imposter syndrome.
but just because you experience imposter syndrome doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. problems are figureoutable. anything you’re lacking as a musician is something that can be analyzed, addressed, and eventually solved.
in today’s video i’d like to tell you about my experience with imposter syndrome, and how i’ve worked to overcome it.
i've worked with hundreds of musicians on audition preparation. and nothing - NOTHING - has been as effective and life-changing as when they start self-recording the right way.