Saturday, January 24, 2009

I wasn't invited to a DMA audition at Indiana, so I won't ever move back to Bloomington. What a shame... I practice as much as I do because I feel as if I have something to prove to myself, and auditioning at Indiana was going to be a part of that process. At the very least, I wanted to show my old professors in Bloomington how hard I have worked since 2005.

I really wish Indiana had had someone in their doctoral multiple woodwinds program while I was there, because I'd like to know exactly what their expectations are. I thought I was ready...

Scratch that, I KNOW I was ready. I sent them a CD with graduate level repertoire on four instruments. If they don't want me back, that's their choice.

A fresh start in a new city might be the best thing for me... People that do doctorates in Bloomington tend to stay there for a long time after graduating, if they ever finish.

.....

I now have three schools that I would really like to end up at, and two more that I applied to but don't think I could ever afford to attend, even with an assistantship.

The first of the three is a dream school that I've always wanted to go to. I could only go there if I had an assistantship, which probably won't happen, so I'm not exactly getting my hopes up.

The other two schools both have outstanding programs; one is a conducting audition, and the other is a multiple woodwinds audition. I'm optimistic that I'll be accepted to both because of the preparation I've put in. The big question is whether I want to pursue conducting to round out my musicianship, or become a true multiple woodwind specialist. I'm pretty sure that I can continue my development as a woodwind specialist even if I go to the conducting school, but I'm also pretty confident that I can take conducting lessons at the woodwinds school..

It's also a difficult decision because one of the schools is close to home, and the other one is nearly two thousand miles from my family, which I haven't really seen in almost a decade.

Regardless of what happens with these auditions, I'm going to keep intensely preparing for them for the next month. Once they're over... who knows..

Ibert - 2
Feld - 2

Tomasi - 14
McAllister - 14

Lauba - 21
Albright - 21

Ticks to go: 74
Days until the first audition: 14
Ticks needed per day: 5.28