Audition Results Addendum
Around 9pm last night--which is well after I'd posted to DreamWidth and scheduled the usual post to LJ--I received a Universal audition results notice.
Sort of.
To sum it up, Universal is hiring through a third party. It's the same third party company that currently hires for their Mardi Gras band. The way this works is, the third party posts the audition notice, holds the audition, selects whom they'd like to use for the project, and submit that list of names/portfolios to Universal for review. Universal then selects whom THEY'D like to use from that list (if anyone.)
And only after that selection process is finished, are any of us actually offered contracts for the project, through the third party. Hopefully that makes some sense.
So what I got last night was an email essentially saying, "Congrats, we've selected you for review by Universal, and we think you've got really great odds of getting hired!"
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That's great!
I'm not complaining.
I am 40 years old, and have essentially never won an audition in my life unless you count the recorded audition for Candlelight (I sort of do count that actually.) So this is a new and exciting experience for me.
I am also ecstatic just to be in consideration. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be performing as a sub at Disney while also getting the opportunity to work at Universal. PLUS having another potential tour on the horizon. I don't mind admitting, this is more than I deserve and far more than I've ever expected all at once.
Regarding the "fly by the seat of your pants" nature of these auditions, the awkward wording in the second audition posting asking for "female presenting" trombonists, and the impression that these people kinda don't seem to know what they want yet...it's honestly a standard level of chaos for a brand new park and a brand new show. It's reminding me of Busch Gardens and the "Mix It Up!" show, actually. It was a brand new show when I was hired, and they were so desperate for a trombonist that they took me without an audition, paid me to drive all the way from California to Virginia, then I was thrown into preview night with absolutely no preparation whatsoever (thankfully I had taken it upon myself to memorize the music, but nothing could save me from choreography that I'd never been given.) I remember well how stressful it was to be thrown on stage and expected to follow the choreo of people who'd been rehearsing for weeks, in front of the entire creative team. I remember a lot of yelling and harsh words about how bad we looked (not my fault at all but it sure made me cringe) and the subsequent weeks of rushed rehearsals and drastic choreo and costume changes.
With a new show, there are a lot of creative voices trying to talk over one another, and one day one voice gets heard and implemented, and the next it's someone else so they scrap everything you learned yesterday. It's a weird and stressful process, and I feel for the third party company, for having to negotiate for us and for these potential performing jobs.
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Another great bit of news is that there are THREE female trombonists!
Myself, Andrea (who I mentioned in the recent post), and Mariah, a local trombonist just out of high school who's in a lot of local bands...notably, bands that play gaming/anime/nerd music. How freaking awesome!!
I am so excited to work with women trombonists! Theoretically they should take all three of us, two as full or part time and one as a sub. But they may have other options waiting in the wings, we'll see.
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We are scheduled for an all-day orientation on Friday, even though we won't be offered contracts/jobs by then. Interesting.
I'll be going to orientation, and theoretically by the weekend we're supposed to know whether I'll be hired at all...and then, whether I'm being offered full time, part time, or a sub contract.
Here goes nothin'.
Sort of.
To sum it up, Universal is hiring through a third party. It's the same third party company that currently hires for their Mardi Gras band. The way this works is, the third party posts the audition notice, holds the audition, selects whom they'd like to use for the project, and submit that list of names/portfolios to Universal for review. Universal then selects whom THEY'D like to use from that list (if anyone.)
And only after that selection process is finished, are any of us actually offered contracts for the project, through the third party. Hopefully that makes some sense.
So what I got last night was an email essentially saying, "Congrats, we've selected you for review by Universal, and we think you've got really great odds of getting hired!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
That's great!
I'm not complaining.
I am 40 years old, and have essentially never won an audition in my life unless you count the recorded audition for Candlelight (I sort of do count that actually.) So this is a new and exciting experience for me.
I am also ecstatic just to be in consideration. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I'd be performing as a sub at Disney while also getting the opportunity to work at Universal. PLUS having another potential tour on the horizon. I don't mind admitting, this is more than I deserve and far more than I've ever expected all at once.
Regarding the "fly by the seat of your pants" nature of these auditions, the awkward wording in the second audition posting asking for "female presenting" trombonists, and the impression that these people kinda don't seem to know what they want yet...it's honestly a standard level of chaos for a brand new park and a brand new show. It's reminding me of Busch Gardens and the "Mix It Up!" show, actually. It was a brand new show when I was hired, and they were so desperate for a trombonist that they took me without an audition, paid me to drive all the way from California to Virginia, then I was thrown into preview night with absolutely no preparation whatsoever (thankfully I had taken it upon myself to memorize the music, but nothing could save me from choreography that I'd never been given.) I remember well how stressful it was to be thrown on stage and expected to follow the choreo of people who'd been rehearsing for weeks, in front of the entire creative team. I remember a lot of yelling and harsh words about how bad we looked (not my fault at all but it sure made me cringe) and the subsequent weeks of rushed rehearsals and drastic choreo and costume changes.
With a new show, there are a lot of creative voices trying to talk over one another, and one day one voice gets heard and implemented, and the next it's someone else so they scrap everything you learned yesterday. It's a weird and stressful process, and I feel for the third party company, for having to negotiate for us and for these potential performing jobs.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Another great bit of news is that there are THREE female trombonists!
Myself, Andrea (who I mentioned in the recent post), and Mariah, a local trombonist just out of high school who's in a lot of local bands...notably, bands that play gaming/anime/nerd music. How freaking awesome!!
I am so excited to work with women trombonists! Theoretically they should take all three of us, two as full or part time and one as a sub. But they may have other options waiting in the wings, we'll see.
----------------------------------------------------------------
We are scheduled for an all-day orientation on Friday, even though we won't be offered contracts/jobs by then. Interesting.
I'll be going to orientation, and theoretically by the weekend we're supposed to know whether I'll be hired at all...and then, whether I'm being offered full time, part time, or a sub contract.
Here goes nothin'.
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Best of luck!
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