These are my hands. Kelsey (my daughter) painted them. So I suppose they are kind of her hands as well.
But, really, they look just like my hands. A friend saw the picture and knew immediately they were mine. I liked that!
I just thought I’d share the picture with you, in case you’ve never wandered into The Library and checked out Kelsey’s art!
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Yep. I just posted some more oboe auditions that are coming up, including New York Philharmonic’s Principal Oboe Audition. (I don’t have the repertoire for that one, so if anyone else does I sure would love to have it emailed to me.) Visit Professional Orchestra Auditions to see the long list.
I’m guessing a lot of people are practicing hard these days. There sure are a lot of openings.
Auditions are fairly ridiculous things, if you ask me. Each player (and most who audition are excellent) has about 5 minutes to shine. It’s not at all like playing a performance with an orchestra, because you have none of the support we all love so much. No comfort of colleagues who will be (silently) cheering you on. No accompaniment that makes the solo work so much easier (you have to hear all of that in your head). No conductor (to drive you nuts but also to help keep the tempo steady — sometimes, anyway!). No audience to be seen, since the majority of auditions are behind a screen. No feedback whatsoever. So everything about an audition is unnatural. I despise them from either side of the screen. But that’s what we have to live with. Sigh.
I would much prefer having a few people sit in the orchestra and see who is the best fit. But, alas, some would consider that unfair. So we can’t do that.
But enough of what I think! I’m not taking these auditions so why should I get grumpy about it all? For those of you who are considering entering the competition, check out the nice long list and turn in those resumés!
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