slimzim
@jameszimmermann
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Bread and Clarinet || Father of 3 Girls || Homeschooler || Catholic || 10x Certified Salesforce Developer || Content © Me
Nashville, TN
Joined March 2009
Gonna audition for Principal Clarinet of the Knoxville Symphony on September 15th, good opportunity for me to get back in the game. Will take me all 7 weeks to get into competitive shape, I'll post my progress along the way, show you all how it works. Should be fun. Wish me luck!
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Kell is correct that “futile movement should be avoided” when tonguing, and admits that while it’s easy in principle, it’s difficult in actuality because of the small “margin of safety.” Clarinet is a game of millimeters, takes a lifetime to master. And it’s never perfect.
Working out my tongue with No. 1 from “17 Staccato Studies” by Reginald Kell, the best book on the subject. Players who articulate well go far in auditions, father than those with great sounds who can’t tongue. If you’ve got both, you’re golden. Gotta be clear to be a contender.
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Working out my tongue with No. 1 from “17 Staccato Studies” by Reginald Kell, the best book on the subject. Players who articulate well go far in auditions, father than those with great sounds who can’t tongue. If you’ve got both, you’re golden. Gotta be clear to be a contender.
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50 days out, need to assess my reed rotation. Some are old and need to be retired, some are good for session work, others for practicing. Reeds have a break-in period and a finite lifespan, managing this is a vital part of the preparation process. More of an art than a science.
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Priest did sermon on Lord's Prayer today, explained how Greek word for "daily" epiousios could be translated as "supersubstantial" based on its morphological parts "epi" meaning "over" and "ouisa" meaning "substance", makes "Gm daily bread" seem a little more powerful doesn't it.
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13yo requested “Phyllo Pie” for birthday dinner, takes awhile to make but always a hit, whole family loves it. Summery dish with a crispy crust.
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A good audition list gives the candidates a chance to succeed, a bad list full of landmines and short on lyricism eliminates soulful players and selects for audition jocks. No one wants a roboplayer in the orchestra. Knoxville’s list is very good. Excited to get to work on it.
@jameszimmermann I looked over the list before I read your comment and I was about to type the same exact thing. I talk a lot about auditions with my colleagues in the trumpet section. Also with former students who now run their own sections. This is a good list. It’s all standard rep.
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The Saltarello from Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony No. 4 is the hardest excerpt on the list. The “Italian” was famously used in “Breaking Away” (1979), here’s the passage Knoxville is asking:
@jameszimmermann Which do you find most challenging?.
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Not all men talk about their love for their kids, some put it into music like Joris Voorn did here on “Ringo”. Comes to mind on milestone days like today (middle daughter’s 13th), the poignancy of Ringo’s slow-motion step, perfectly captured paternal emotion
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RT @cimmerian_v: “Honey, the random guy we’re golfing with walked up to the first tee with a speaker blasting Antonin Dvořák’s “Allegro con….
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In the ~30 orchestral auditions I’ve taken, “possible sight reading” has been listed almost every time, but I’ve never been asked to do it. Sight reading is not really a required skill for orchestral musicians, but for studio musicians, it’s tops.
@jameszimmermann "Possible sight reading".
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Here's "The List" for the Knoxville audition, all standard except "Negro Folk Symphony" which I've never heard. There's been a recent push for this kind of thing on audition lists for the sake of equity. No problem, I can learn 10 new bars. The rest I've performed numerous times.
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Middle daughter turns 13 today, my chillest kid. Looked like this the day she was born. No matter how you raise them, your kids arrive with certain qualities that make them who they are. Call it genetics, God’s gifts, predestination, whatever you want, it’s amazing to see.
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I rail against "all at once" food delivery at restaurants by refusing to order my entree until I've had a drink and an appetizer if I'm having one. You have to tell the server "no, I don't want you to put my order in now" which can tick them off but a nice tip smooths it over.
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Next step in the audition process is to accept their invitation and mail a $50 deposit check which they'll give me back on the day of audition, standard way to discourage last-minute cancelations by candidates. Dropping this in the mail tomorrow to make it official.
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First step in the orchestral audition process is sending a resume, after which you either get invited, rejected, or asked to make a tape if they're not sure. Candidates often list every gig they've ever done, but I kept mine short. I applied yesterday, Knoxville invited me today.
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Institutions exerting mind control over employees happens at lower levels too, like orchestras. That's the message I've tried to spread: Not just the story of getting fired from an orchestra, but the tremendous power of ideology over artists once it becomes institutionalized.
This just goes to show you the immense power of controlling deep state institutions and the media. You can craft any narrative at all. Something to keep in mind when you hear people whine about attacking judges, firing bureaucrats and going hard on universities. If you don’t do.
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D-major.
Every musical key has a distinct personality. G-major is sunny, D-minor terrifying, B-major royal, Db-major rich. Most distinct of all is D-major, the key of magnificent power. Nothing competes with the indomitable strength of D-major.
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