here we go! (read to the end, there's a surprise)

just returned from chip valley rehearsal followed by some 'old man ball' at the hastings house. if you haven't played, it's a great game. colin and i took the first two games versus phil and ryan. not able to cope with losing at their own game, they challenged us to a third and we lost. teams were then switched up with phil and i taking down colin and ryan with a dramatic rebound shot that passed ryan's by a mere inch, thrown by yours truly. a good time was had by all.

chip valley rehearsal was good. tenor felt great today. maybe because i warmed up before hand? also maybe because i'm endurance has shot way up from grad school preparations. if i can get a grip on that mendelssohn wedding march i'll actually feel like i made the right decision by playing principal for the season. I still can't believe we're performing that on ANOTHER concert....c'mon, it's ceremony music, not concert music. i'm sure nobu has a good reason though. the low brass, i thought, sounded pretty good tonight as well. our intonation is starting to lock in, mostly because i'm learning where to place 3rd and 5th degree chord tones. we don't see much of that in the bass bone parts. if you don't know what i'm talking about...it's okay. i don't know what i'm talking about half the time either.

tomorrow begins my journey to my first grad school audition at the eastman school of music. colin and i are going to drive to fon du lac tomorrow so we can be only an hour away from the milwaukee airport on thursday morning. we'll fly in on thursday, walk to the school, get aclamated (sp?) to our surroundings, and then play great auditions on friday. we both did mock auditions for studio class yesterday and they went fairly well. for those who are interested, which i'm sure very few of you are, i'm playing the hidas meditation for bass trombone as my solo, exceprts from berlioz hungarian march, haydn creation, and the sarabande from bach cello suite no. 5. i think these selections do a really good job of showing off my strengths, but the audition as a whole is quite a marathon for me. i'd be fine if i could take even a minute between the solo and the excerpts, but i guess i'll just stall as long as i can to catch my breath. everyone tells me that they can't tell that i'm tired by the end of it, but i know they're just being supportive (which i sincerely appreciate!). the other thing i feel good about is the fact that i've been through this process before and i can already mentally picture how it will all happen. go positive thinking!

if this is getting long winded, it's because i have a ton of crap on my mind and i'm trying to get it all out before i go to bed. sleeping is difficult lately with the pressure of auditions on the horizon.

but...the one last thing i gotta say is that i'm extremely thankful for the backing i have here in eau claire. i can honestly say that i'm not going into this audition trying to win it by myself and for myself. i'm pretty sure if i tried to do this all on my own, i'd fail miserably. instead, i have a teacher who knows what it takes to get in, and a studio who is eager to see how i fair. for some, that may be cause for more pressure, but for me, it relieves some of the pressure. somehow i just have this feeling that i'm part of a team trying to get me into grad school instead of trying to do it by myself. i feel extremely lucky to be even given the opportunity to go do this. i'm prepared because i've worked hard. i'm focused because i've attacked my pieces from every angle possible and nothing can throw me off. i played well last year at eastman and i think by showing up again, at my level of preparation, there will be no doubt about how much i want this. i know they want to hear me play well too. all of these things are going to make for a great audition.

well, you must be bored by now. so here's something mildly entertaining as a reward for stickin' in there. it's appropriately titled "flaming trombones." i don't remember where i got it, but i found it sitting on my desktop. enjoy.
http://www.jamesyardley.com/video/winning_the_audition.wmv

keep your stick on the ice,
james