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Life Update

After going to a Medieval Faire being hosted in Manchester’s City Centre on the 26th, I went to a pub crawl hosted by the RNCMSU. Funnily enough, the group I was with for the event ditched it midway in favour of going to a nightclub instead, though I declined to join them due to feeling a bit fatigued.

On the 27th, I attended my first brass band concert, which was put on by the KNDS Fairey Band at the University of Manchester in celebration of British composer Philip Sparke’s 75th birthday. As such, the entire programme solely consisted of his music, though I have to admit that this was my first time hearing all of these pieces. This didn’t stop me from thoroughly enjoying them, especially since Sparke’s compositional style really shone through the chosen repertoire (which he personally helped to cultivate). However, with the hall the concert was performed in being rather small, such heavy brass instrumentation being blared at full strength inside it sounded a bit overwhelming. Now I really get why quite a lot of brass band shows are performed outdoors.

My second audition at the RNCM was for the BBC Philharmonic Professional Experience Scheme (similar to an unpaid internship for musicians) on the 28th. Unfortunately, mainly due to being extremely busy on the weekend and rather out of form for the last couple of days, I wasn’t able to make it past the first round, even though the material I played for the audition was condensed from the repertoire I had to prepare. This was also my first time playing with an RNCM accompanist, who rehearsed the assigned piece with me for all of ten minutes before the audition. My unfamiliarity with this method employed by the RNCM led me to be less prepared than I ought to be, but the audition and all the preparation I did for it was nevertheless an invaluable learning experience. At least the accompanist’s services were free.

Shortly after the audition, I had my first studio lesson (yes, I’ll be calling them studio lessons until the British term is stuck firmly in my head) with the rest of the RNCM trombones, where we played several trombone octet arrangements despite there being more than eight of us. Funnily enough, the arrangement of Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations we played was by Maximilien Brisson, a Canadian sackbut player who I had met several times before. Once studio finished, me and several other members went ot a nearby pub for a drink.

The 29th brought more bad news, as I learned that I didn’t make the cut for the Shostakovich 5 performance either. Despite these setbacks, both auditions were really valuable learning experiences for me, as I now know just how far the road ahead of me is at the RNCM. Still, I’ve got two whole years to improve myself while I’m here, and there’ll be plenty of auditions down the line to succeed at.

Auditions weren’t the only place where my luck ran out that day, as while I finally got a bass sackbut, it was after my first sackbut ensemble class due to scheduling, so I had to play on my modern trombone during said class. To make matters worse, it didn’t come with a mouthpiece, and I don’t have a small shank mouthpiece to use for now. At least I’m finally back in the early music business!