Auditions are over, auditions are over....
This has been a well-rehearsed phrase in our house since Markie Boy created his epic parking lot video after finishing his final audition back in 2011 (at the University of Michigan, no less). Johannah has been chomping at the bit over this past school year to reach the point where she could sing in her own rendition. It finally came to pass.
Final audition for Johannah was appropriately held at the University of Michigan. This is no coincidence, seeing as Michigan is pretty much the holy grail of schools in our family, and all music kids want to get in as much audition experience as possible before auditioning there. True to form, we were in Ann Arbor for less than 18 hours (no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't seem possible to stay there for any extended period of time which just KILLS me).
I had a last minute MRI scheduled for the afternoon, followed up with an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. You know how you just have to take the appointments you are given?
We drove in Thursday night, and according to several people, it was a good thing that we hadn't appeared any earlier. There had been some kind of crazy storm involving snow, rain and even lightning for most of the day! By the time we drove in around 11 p.m., the roads were just covered in solid ice. We hit the pillows instantly and didn't really want to wake up in the morning.
We drove the 20 minutes to the music school the next morning where Johannah picked up her registration materials. Turns out that she didn't need to be there for another 90 minutes--her music ed orientation session began then--so we left the school, drove back to the mall and tried to find a pair of shoes that I have been looking for for a while now. We didn't find the shoes, so we hopped in the car and drove the 20 minutes back to the school.
When leaving the school, Hannah ran into a violist that she knew from Interlochen. He had sat several chairs in front of her in WYSO. As soon as we passed him, Johannah let out a huge sigh of relief, thankful that she wasn't auditioning for a performance degree. She could see the competition, and she knew that there was no way she would be getting a free ride to the school if she had taken that route.
The orientation session was great. There were only three kids in it (plus parents), and I think that attendance is indicative of the program itself. There are 700 kids in the music school, and only 100 of them are going into music education. Score. Johannah needs a smaller environment, and seeing that Michigan is ginormous, it's good to see something that reduces the size of the school. The program must be pretty good, seeing as they have 100% job placement after graduation. The director seemed nice, and he reconfirmed with Johannah that he would see her in her audition.
Wait, what?
Yep, for some strange reason, he wasn't attending any other auditions. Just Johannah's. I still can't explain this.
So, we had another two and a half hours before the audition began. Dared we leave again? You bet.
We were planning on heading to Zingerman's deli after the audition for a celebration, but what better way to pass some of the time? We were surprised to find that the deli has been completely renovated. New counters, new seating areas. While it was certainly easier to find a seat, part of the fun at Zingerman's in the past was finding a seat :-) I'm sure we'll get used to it. We ordered our sandwiches (size "small" please....seeing as a "large" will feed a small army), and more importantly, we ordered our pop. Homemade Zingerman's pop from the fountain machine. There's nothing better. Hannah got root beer, and I got birch beer. Hmmmmm, I can still taste it.
We left with enough time to battle the car-eating sized potholes, and returned, once again, to the school. Finding a practice room was like finding a pot of gold--basically impossible. We counted our blessings when we found one that was the size of a shoe box. Hannah warmed up, I read the newspaper (in true audition parent fashion), forwarded an interesting side bar to Ethan (to make sure he's staying abreast of current events in his PolySci classes), and we left for the viola studio.
Thankfully, Hannie was the first of about 20 people to audition that day. Yes, there are several days of auditions, full of performance majors (Hannah is auditioning as a performance major at the other schools where she is applying, but she's applying as a music education major at Michigan). Again, she was thankful that she had been steered into this program by the viola professor at Michigan back in October.
The two Michigan viola professors were in her audition, along with the music ed director. Hannah remembers the three notes she played incorrectly, versus the 497 that she played well (the curse of being a musician). I never listen intently outside the audition rooms, but the little I heard sounded good. Actually, I was far more interested in hearing the horn auditionees down the hall--a hall that is half the size of a football field! I remembered why Mark could never sit outside the door before an audition--you can hear every single note a person is playing, and it can completely destroy your mental state before an audition. In fact, I could hear the horns down the length of that hall better than I could hear Johannah, and I was sitting directly outside her door :-)
We left immediately. There was no reason to stay. Everything was locked into place. We have talked to as many people as possible at every school. She has played every note as well as she could. We have taken tours, more tours, and then another tour. We have collected folders, pamphlets and business cards. It is all done. And the relief was obvious: Auditions are OVER!
We finally found the shoes that I've been looking for (preparing for our trip to Ireland next week), we stopped in Cherry Republic of course as well as MDen, and then had a small meal at "The Melting Pot". It was so fun, and neither of us really wanted to leave, but we still had the six hour drive home followed by an orchestra (NVS) rehearsal and concert the next day.
Johannah skipped The Melting Pot dessert and opted for the best cupcake shop on the planet. I mean, why not?
I have to say that Johannah was such a champ through this audition season. It's just so long, and unless you are a musician, you just can't appreciate the work and the stress that go into it. I liken it to the athletes in the Olympics--they train their whole lives for one small moment. It can go brilliantly and they can win a medal, or it can quickly turn into a disaster and you wonder if it was all worth it. The auditions aren't longer than a few minutes. Just a few minutes to show what you have been practicing for your whole life. In my heart, Johannah won a medal just surviving it all.
This has been a well-rehearsed phrase in our house since Markie Boy created his epic parking lot video after finishing his final audition back in 2011 (at the University of Michigan, no less). Johannah has been chomping at the bit over this past school year to reach the point where she could sing in her own rendition. It finally came to pass.
Final audition for Johannah was appropriately held at the University of Michigan. This is no coincidence, seeing as Michigan is pretty much the holy grail of schools in our family, and all music kids want to get in as much audition experience as possible before auditioning there. True to form, we were in Ann Arbor for less than 18 hours (no matter how hard I try, it just doesn't seem possible to stay there for any extended period of time which just KILLS me).I had a last minute MRI scheduled for the afternoon, followed up with an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. You know how you just have to take the appointments you are given?
We drove in Thursday night, and according to several people, it was a good thing that we hadn't appeared any earlier. There had been some kind of crazy storm involving snow, rain and even lightning for most of the day! By the time we drove in around 11 p.m., the roads were just covered in solid ice. We hit the pillows instantly and didn't really want to wake up in the morning.
We drove the 20 minutes to the music school the next morning where Johannah picked up her registration materials. Turns out that she didn't need to be there for another 90 minutes--her music ed orientation session began then--so we left the school, drove back to the mall and tried to find a pair of shoes that I have been looking for for a while now. We didn't find the shoes, so we hopped in the car and drove the 20 minutes back to the school.
When leaving the school, Hannah ran into a violist that she knew from Interlochen. He had sat several chairs in front of her in WYSO. As soon as we passed him, Johannah let out a huge sigh of relief, thankful that she wasn't auditioning for a performance degree. She could see the competition, and she knew that there was no way she would be getting a free ride to the school if she had taken that route.
The orientation session was great. There were only three kids in it (plus parents), and I think that attendance is indicative of the program itself. There are 700 kids in the music school, and only 100 of them are going into music education. Score. Johannah needs a smaller environment, and seeing that Michigan is ginormous, it's good to see something that reduces the size of the school. The program must be pretty good, seeing as they have 100% job placement after graduation. The director seemed nice, and he reconfirmed with Johannah that he would see her in her audition.
Wait, what?
Yep, for some strange reason, he wasn't attending any other auditions. Just Johannah's. I still can't explain this.
So, we had another two and a half hours before the audition began. Dared we leave again? You bet.
 |
| You can't deny it--she looks like a winner! |
We left with enough time to battle the car-eating sized potholes, and returned, once again, to the school. Finding a practice room was like finding a pot of gold--basically impossible. We counted our blessings when we found one that was the size of a shoe box. Hannah warmed up, I read the newspaper (in true audition parent fashion), forwarded an interesting side bar to Ethan (to make sure he's staying abreast of current events in his PolySci classes), and we left for the viola studio.
 |
| What I forwarded to Ethan. Of course, I should have known that he would know all of this, and would respond with a discussion that I couldn't continue... |
The two Michigan viola professors were in her audition, along with the music ed director. Hannah remembers the three notes she played incorrectly, versus the 497 that she played well (the curse of being a musician). I never listen intently outside the audition rooms, but the little I heard sounded good. Actually, I was far more interested in hearing the horn auditionees down the hall--a hall that is half the size of a football field! I remembered why Mark could never sit outside the door before an audition--you can hear every single note a person is playing, and it can completely destroy your mental state before an audition. In fact, I could hear the horns down the length of that hall better than I could hear Johannah, and I was sitting directly outside her door :-)
 |
| Yep, I excused myself over all the waiting hornists so that I could take this picture for Mark. This is the his horn professor's studio, and I have no doubt that Mark has all kinds of feelings from just seeing a picture of this door. |
We left immediately. There was no reason to stay. Everything was locked into place. We have talked to as many people as possible at every school. She has played every note as well as she could. We have taken tours, more tours, and then another tour. We have collected folders, pamphlets and business cards. It is all done. And the relief was obvious: Auditions are OVER!
I gave Hannah the option to go anywhere she wanted afterwards. We weren't particularly hungry, having only eaten at Zingerman's two hours earlier, but this wasn't a time to eat because we were hungry! She wanted to go shopping downtown on Main Street, and she decided it was a "Melting Pot" kind of day.
We finally found the shoes that I've been looking for (preparing for our trip to Ireland next week), we stopped in Cherry Republic of course as well as MDen, and then had a small meal at "The Melting Pot". It was so fun, and neither of us really wanted to leave, but we still had the six hour drive home followed by an orchestra (NVS) rehearsal and concert the next day.
Johannah skipped The Melting Pot dessert and opted for the best cupcake shop on the planet. I mean, why not?
I have to say that Johannah was such a champ through this audition season. It's just so long, and unless you are a musician, you just can't appreciate the work and the stress that go into it. I liken it to the athletes in the Olympics--they train their whole lives for one small moment. It can go brilliantly and they can win a medal, or it can quickly turn into a disaster and you wonder if it was all worth it. The auditions aren't longer than a few minutes. Just a few minutes to show what you have been practicing for your whole life. In my heart, Johannah won a medal just surviving it all.
Comments
Post a Comment