Blank Slate

I recently hit a bump in the road.  I was turned down from an audition, which is a first for me.  It threw me for a loop last week because I was feeling really prepared (this never happens for me!) and I was honestly looking forward to doing the audition.  Auditions are a tricky matter with me since I get really nervous (yes we all do).  So I constantly feel like I under represent myself as a musician and oboist.  I've taken on two approaches to solving this issues.  One, I am making an effort to perform, or "mock" audition, as many times as possible in front of others to get their feed back.  Being put on the spot with others around to do my best gives me practice at having to be on in the moment, instead of alone in my practice room with out any one to critique me.  Second, I am practicing being able to play the pieces without warming them up.  For me that means I still practice the parts that I struggle with.  But at the beginning of each practice session I start with the audition repertoire cold.  I play through it all as if it was an audition, just like if I had been sitting in a waiting area for the past 15 minutes.  This all seems rather obvious, but saying it out loud and actually doing it is half of the battle.  So last week was a bit of a bummer for me, but here is to moving on to the next challenge.

This week I am starting new.  I started with a day of tying blanks so I have a fresh set to work on this week :)

New blanks for a new week