pmkt16

Hey Mr Laureano I am auditioning for a youth symphony, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, and was curious if you had any advice on the audition process and if you had any tips for the pieces I am playing. I am playing Pictures at an Exhibition, Petrouchka Ballerina Dance, Leonore Calls 2 and 3, as well as Grand Russian Fantasia. Anything at all would be appreciated. I will be playing everything on Bb trumpet as I do not have my C trumpet yet. My audition is scheduled for April 6th at 5:20.

Manny Laureano

PM,

In preparing you must practice your fundamental techniques until they permit you to play audition repertoire with ease. Practice octaves and other intervals until they are fluid, double and triple tonguing until you can do it without thinking, practice etudes with as great a variety of dynamics as you can.

Pictures has to have a buoyant, untroubled approach and your intonation beyond reproach. When you breathe, do so in time without losing tempo.

Petrushka should sound lively and light at the same time. When you breathe, do so in time without losing tempo.

Leonora is a fanfare and should show your best sound all the way through and solid intonation. It should sound vital and important not dull and academic.

The Fantasia is a solo that is characteristic of the Russian style. Sound Russian!

Good luck,

ML

Kevin Hilman

I was wondering Manny...could you tell us about your audition when you won your current position as Principle with the Minnesota Orchestra? What excerpts and or solos did you play? As you were playing the audition, were there things that you thought you could have done better or was it just a perfect audition?

Thanks,

Kevin

Manny Laureano

I searched around the board because I thought I had written about that before and I found it!

Here it is:I was born in a log cabin in Illinois...

Whoops, wrong history.


In 1981 I was playing in Seattle when the Boston symphony announced the first trumpet vacancy. Rolf Smedvig wanted to do much more with Empire so he said goodbye to Boston and devoted his energies to the quintet.

Charlie was playing in Minnesota at the same time.

I played a tape round in Boston alog with about 90 others, got asked to play semi finals and showed in Boston a few weeks later. They heard 10 of us and I got passed on to a final five which included among others, Tim Morrison, Ramon Parcells and myself.

It got down to me but I didn't do a good enough job convincing Ozawa and the committee so they asked me to play another final round with 4 other players that were to be invited. Among them was Charlie Schlueter. Charlie got the job and they held auditions in Minnesota. No one was chosen.

They heard about this kid in Seattle who had done well in Boston and I was invited along with John Raschella, Wilmer Wise, Larry Weeks, and John Aley to play three rounds in Minneapolis.

The 1st round was with the brass section only. The next day the 2nd was with the orchestra playing excerpts, and the 3rd (the same day) was a solo audition.

After the solo round I was informed I had won. John R., John A, and Wilmer have been my friends ever since so I won more than a job that day.

Larry Weeks died a tragic death in an air accident years later, I'm sorry to say. I'm sure many of you knew that.


That's the story, anyways. After 23 plus years it's still a great job and thank God for my good fortune everyday.

ML

That's the original post. To answer your other questions, I didn't play anything unusual that you wouldn't find on a typical, American principal trumpet audition. It went as well as I could have wanted it.

ML

MahlerBrass

Mr. Laureano brings up the notion of the 11 note phrase for Pictures in a masterclass he did that I have on CD, a really great way to think about it since most trumpet players play this excerpt rather stagnent.

__________________
Music isn't a career, it's a way of life.

Rimshot

I just gotta ask: how much better are you now than the guy who got the job 23 years ago? What gets "eaiser"? What gets harder, if anything?

sublmbadfish

Im also Auditioning at CYSO...aren't we only allowed 3 excepts??? Im playing (as of today) Mahler 5..opening, Pines of rome 2nd movement, and concerto for orchestra finale.

My solo piece will be 4 minutes worth of the arutunian (3 sections)


Whats your solo piece and where are you from...what school???

pmkt16

Grand Russian Fantasia is my solo. Yea, it's a cornet solo but I didn't know I was auditioning until recently so I'm just playing what I did for solo ensemble. Instead of learning something new and possibly butchering it I decided to play this which I KNOW I can drill. I'm from Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, Illinois. Northwest Suburbs.

Where are you from, school? and What time is your audition?

Manny Laureano

Rimshot,

Many things change for the better with the experience you gain if you keep your eyes and ears open. I'm a better, smarter player than when I was a kid. My life changed for the better when I met Arnold jacobs and Dave monette. The life work of both those fellows have made my life much easier. I can pretty much play anything I did when I was a kid except with greater understanding and a greater sense of context. Music affects me differently than it once did. I take it more to heart and I love it even more than I did when I was younger. It has greater meaning to me and I love more varieties of music. Nothing's harder... yet.

ML