Mid State Band Audition

Gib and Chrissie got up at 5:45 a.m. so Gib could audition to be in the Mid-State band. We were told that this process could potentially take ALL day, and registration officially started at 8:50 a.m., but we were advised to arrive around 7 am. Since Gib and I were selling trees at the boy scout lot again today at noon, they wanted to get in near the front of the line. So off they went, loaded with food, drinks, a snare drum, sticks, books to read, and Gib's piece of music. They got there at 6:50 am, found the piece of paper on the wall that said Percussion Registration and there was NOBODY there! YAHOO! They're #1!!!!!! That meant no waiting to audition - which was estimated to take 10-15 minutes per person. So if you were #12, best case, you were waiting 2 hrs. 120 percussionists were expected to register. It was 15 minutes before anyone joined them. H was in 9th grade and turns out he went to Gib's middle school last year and made it in the Mid-State band which is quite an honor. So he asked Gib what his secondary focus is gonna be. Gib was SUPPOSED to bring his mallets and timpani music too. You have to audition on TWO instruments. A little panic and nerves, but Gib thought one of his buddies would be doing the timpani piece and he could borrow their sheet music and mallets. It was about an hour before they found any friends, turns out it is one of Gib's buddies from school who has an extra sheet of the timpani music. Along comes a 3rd band buddy, who is happy to lend his mallets.

They got registered, Gib got Ticket #1, and then they headed to the 3 auditioning rooms (you have to go from one to the other for fundamentals &sight reading, your first focus instrument and your secondary). Once there our friend came in handy again because he spotted the music on the wall by the door and noticed they had changed some things. Auditioning was CHAOTIC, getting to the room, breaking thru the line of 200 woodwind people waiting to get registered and then trying to hear your number called, battle you way thru with your snare drum, sticks, music, and stuff 3 TIMES thru three different doorways.

We won't know until they post results on the internet around 11 pm tonight. There were an awful lot of people auditioning for a handful of spots, but Gib had a good audition and he didn't make any major mistakes, so he felt great about that. Chrissie figured just the opportunity to audition has benefits all of its own and the experience is valuable. One thing he learned right off was to make sure you have EVERYTHING you need! And they learned the early bird is definitely rewarded. Last year, some people didn't audition until after 8 pm. Wow. Our neighbors who didn't want to get up early and carpool with them were #80 in line for clarinets. Ouch. Wonder if they're home yet? Gib and Chrissie got home at 10:00 a.m.