Audition #3 Done

My visit to Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio was pretty awesome. I arrived at about 2pm to warm up briefly and meet the professor, Dr. Ben Miles. Dr. Miles seems like a really good teacher and a good guy in general. After giving me a tour of the department's facilities and letting me listen to the Wind Symphony's rehearsal, he led me to the recital hall so that I could warm up more for the audition. The recital hall is basically a tiny lecture hall with a piano on the stage... for WSC students, think along the lines of the art room (19?), but a bit bigger, a raised stage, and theatre seating and lighting. My audition went very well, I played Hindemith 1 and 3, as well as Civilization 1 and 3. Immediately after the audition, Dr. Miles told me that I was basically 'in', but that assistantships would not be decided until today.

After the audition, I sat in with the Tuba/Euph studio as they rehearsed for their studio recital on the 15th. The ensemble played a Gabrielli piece that I recognized and John Stevens' The Liberation of Sisyphus, with grad student John Hardisky of the Air Force Band of Flight playing the crazy solo part. Like much of John Stevens' work, it was pretty fun to play.

After a quick supper at Penn Station (a really good sub shop), we had a lesson. Dr. Miles pushed me a bit, and gave me some great pointers for the Hindemith. After the lesson, we went and watched the Wind Symphony concert. They were sounded very good, and played pieces by Steven Bryant and John Mackey that I really enjoyed. All in all, this was a very pleasant visit, and I left feeling very excited about the possibility of studying there.