Posted by Jay Bertolet on May 08, 2002 at 10:17:48:
In Reply to: Question for the Professionally employed posted by College Kid on May 08, 2002 at 00:13:58:
I think the others who have posted have offered you some excellent advice! All of them suggested things that have worked in the past for players. In addition to the good suggestions already offered, I would add the following:
Work as hard as you possibly can. Think of it as making a deposit in the bank. The more you deposit, the more you'll have. The longer you leave those "deposits" in the "bank", the more time they'll have to grow themselves.
Don't get discouraged by the magnitude of the task at hand. Understand that every professional player has to work long hours to get to the level of playing they achieve. This doesn't just happen overnight! Take it one skill at a time, in small steps, and watch the progress accumulate.
I applaud your initiative in setting your goals high. However, try to keep things in perspective. The very first audition I ever went to was for the tuba spot in the Pittsburgh Symphony. I was very green and very ambitious. I remember thinking, as I was driving into Pittsburgh, what a dirty city it was and why on earth would I ever want to live and work there. Of course, I didn't advance out of the prelim round and as I was driving home, I couldn't help but wonder how I was ever going to win my dream job when I couldn't even advance in an audition I wasn't particularly interested in. Do you see how skewed my thinking was? Always keep things in perspective and be aware that it may take some time for you to reach your ultimate goals.
Consider yourself lucky that you don't like how you sound. This is a huge gift! It gives you the opportunity to address very specific points in your playing, easily identified, to work on. I always found the progression of my playing skills to not be evenly distributed over time, nor in synchronization with my listening skills and critical ear. It really is an uneven ladder of progression, sometimes stuck at one level, sometimes progressing several steps in a short time period. As long as you can clearly hear a problem, you have a tangible target to work on. Focus your practice accordingly.
My opinion for what it's worth...