In Which Ryan Has Audition Thoughts
December 2023 | 4:12
Koopa says he is not a chonker; it is tummy floof, and if he received all the tummy skritches he has asked for then he wouldn't need a diet like the vet says.
What's Been Happening
This month falls right in the heart of DCI audition season, along with a ton of travel, a district jazz festival, and a nice Thanksgiving and birthday at home. The net result is a shorter update until next time when I'm hopefully done sending audition feedback.
May your masks smell pleasant and your packages arrive without incident,
Ryan
Chart O' The Month
This coming month I'll get to a play a few shows with the Billy Wolfe Composers' Octet, a super fun and creative group that I haven't gotten to play with in far too long. Beyond the personal enjoyment, it's extremely invigorating from a musical perspective to be around and play with such creative cats while playing such interesting music. Shameless plug; we'll be doing shows in mid-December in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Chicago so reach out for details or apparently just listen for weird sounds in a Midwestern metropolis that starts with C.
This chart is one of my contributions to the book, and my favorite thing about it is how open-ended it is. As a composer I tend to over-write if anything, so having this as a successful piece that is more essay prompt than movie script feels gratifying. The original inspiration is a vocal exercise I heard on an NPR program on the way back from a gig, where auctioneers count by tens in rhythm starting with ten and gradually get faster to develop linguistic clarity and dexterity. It was stuck in my head for at least a week, so I finally relented and decided to get it stuck in everyone else's (sorry).
Look, Nature!
Believe it or not, I took this picture at Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens on Oahu. I was trying to figure out how to take a panoramic photo and by the time I got it my wife was a speck in the distance, which was definitely artistic intent and not a commentary on how slow I am figuring out camera settings.
Education Notes
As we're in audition season, both for DCI and for colleges, it's worth sharing that the single most common (and frustrating) mistake I hear is a lack of preparation. There's definitely a fair amount of irony given how I always approached auditions as a student, but there is a distinct and audible difference between a lack of skill or development on audition materials, and a lack of familiarity.
So, two things. First, apologies to everyone in my past who tried to get me to understand that before age 43, but at least you have now succeeded despite my best efforts to avoid that knowledge.
Second, I go back to something I've said many times in that good audition materials tell the listener something regardless of how they are performed. As a way to try and explain it to my younger self; if there's a lack of familiarity with them, that either says that whatever the audition is for is not a priority, or that the performer lacks the maturity and experience to understand how to approach the materials. Neither is going to be a great result.