Auditions - and the ramifications

I have been playing violin and viola with the Claremont Concert Orchestra at Scripps College for, oh, about 15 or so years. All this time Michael Lamkin has been our conductor. In May, Michael conducted his last performance before his well-deserved retirement. We will miss him terribly.

A new era dawns, a new conductor arrives. We are excited to meet and work with David Cubek starting in a few weeks. Because he does not know us yet, he would like to listen to each of us play. We have to prepare three excerpts from the upcoming concert music (Dvorak and Tchaikovsky) and a piece of our choice to play for him.

Today I got the music and started practicing the viola parts. It dawned on me that this could be a good thing. I will practice these sections a little bit every day for the next two weeks, be really nervous at the audition, but when it comes time to play at our first rehearsal, I will 1) be in playing shape since I'll have practiced every day 2) know the music, or at least parts of it. I will listen to the music beforehand and be well-prepared for that first rehearsal.