MYA Audition

Two weeks ago during spring break I auditioned for MYA's Concert Orchestra. The pieces I auditioned on were the third movement of Five Bagatellas by Finzi and the first movement of Stamitz's third clarinet concerto. When I arrived at MYA, I went into a practice room. I was nervious. When I was warming up, I played too fast, and I messed up notes that I don't normally mess up. When I found out Mr. Pearson ( my orchestra's conductor) was the one recording my audition I was relieved. I like Mr. Pearson. He is friendly and energetic, and he makes everyone feel comfortable. Still, the same group of judges would look at my audition tape, even if the person recording me was someone I didn't know or someone who made me nervous.

Three of my siblings were auditioning around the same time as I was. My sisters played first. My sister Eowyn was auditioning on horn, and afterwards Mr. Pearson told me that she had done very well.

I went back to the practice room, and I kept practicing, better than before but still not as good as I normally play. After my other sister Rowena auditioned on cello, and my older brother Ari finished auditioning on viola, it was my turn. I started to feel really nervous again. I stared at the music stand, outside of the office that listed all of the people auditioning that day and their grade in school. My grade was listed as 78. I think my mom made a mistake. I laughed about my mom, and that made some of my nevousness go away. Mr. Pearson said that it was time, and I went in and started my audition. I played my scales really well, and I was surprised because I thought I wouldn't do very well, because I didn't do well in the practice room. I've memorized all of my major scales for 2 or 3 octaves, and I play them every day. Still, auditions make easy things seem hard. Then I played my orchestral excerpts, and I played the Finzi. Finally it was time for my hardest picece the Stamitz concerto. The piece seemed to drag on and onl, but I did really well.

After the audition I went home thinking I had done my best. If I make the Concert Orchestra, that will be great. I will be very excited. But if I don't, that's okay too. I like playing in my current orchestra, and there's always next year. If I've learned anything about auditions this year, it's that you never can tell what the judges will think.