The Audition
On a bright, sunny afternoon in the middle of May, there was a big house in the middle of a big city. I lived there. It was a pretty good house, I would say. But that was the least of my worries.
I had been practicing for an important audition that I had for over 8 months!If I didn’t get the spot, not only would I be sad, I would be angry at myself for wasting all my time on that audition too. I was really nervous about the audition.I was also arguing with my older brother. “I WANT TO GO TO MY AUDITION!” I screamed. My brother calmly said, “No, I have a more important soccer tryout to go to, so we are going there first.
” “Um…no we are not.” “Um.
..no we are not,” my brother said as he mocked me. I tried coming up with a good comeback, but I couldn’t. We glared at each other for a good five minutes until we both screamed at the top of our lungs, “MAA!!””Calm down, both of you.
. I will go with you to your tryout, Jack, and Megan, you will go with Dad to the audition, fair?” “Oh, and Megan, Miguel is coming with you.” I groaned silently. Miguel was my little, annoying brother. For the most part, Miguel was okay, but sometimes he wouldn’t stop crying. But, I was happy I was going to my audition.
I looked at my older brother to see that he was grabbing his soccer ball.I waved to him and gave my mom a hug as we walked towards separate cars. The reason I was pestering my older brother so much was because my audition would tell everyone whether I was a good enough viola player. This orchestra was not just good, it was great! Meaning, I had to work REALLY HARD to get in. I was already sweating because of the sun, but now my forehead was like the dirt floor after it had just been raining.
I was dripping with sweat because of all my nervousness and anxiety. I was so worried that while holding my little brother’s hand, my grip tightened to a certain extent to where he started crying.Iwas in the car with my dad and little brother as we were driving to the audition.Icould feel my instrument bouncing against my leg.Iran my fingers through my hair and thought out loud to myself, ” Oh gosh, I better do well…” My dad heard that and switched on the radio in order to calm me down. ” You’ll be fine, Megan, the more you stress the worse you’ll do.
Calm down, ” “Also, do you really, really want to have this audition? I mean, you’re just 13 and most people in the orchestra are above 20!” “I looked at him in the eye and thought about it. I would love to join this orchestra, but I mean, Ihad other things to do. I was part of the school volleyball team and I loved volleyball, I didn’t want this to interrupt that. I had a long argument with myself and I thought about how I loved school as well. I also didn’t want this to ruin my grades and disrupt my school time. Getting into this orchestra would mean a lot.
I thought about it for a while then slowly nodded as I saw the building. I was sweating with nervousness as my dad pulled into the parking lot.Ipicked up my viola and walked towards the building. All of a sudden, a tall, blonde woman directed me to a lobby or waiting room to stay in while I waited for my turn to audition.Iwas in the waiting room with 6 other kids. The volunteers had told my dad to wait outside and told me thatI can practice ifI wanted.
At first it was really awkward to practice because everyone was too shy or embarrassed to do it in front of everyone. Then, after awhile, people started getting more comfortable with the environment and everyone started practicing. “Thomas, ” the volunteer called. A short, black-haired boy walked up to the front of the room, white with fear. He went inside the audition room and then the door slammed closed. A few minutes later the volunteer called, “Megan,”I stood up, looked at my dad, who mouthed, “Good luck,” andI walked into the audition room.
I picked up my instrument and slowly strolled towards the door. I tried making myself look as professional as possible. Before I went inside, I quickly re-tied my ponytail. I noticed my hand was wet with sweat, so I wiped my hand on my shirt. I made a small motion towards the door and stepped inside.
Apparently, the “wiping my hand on the shirt” didn’t work out, because I had a really tight grip on my viola, but it slipped out of my hand fell to the floor with a loud thud. I silently screamed as I picked it up. I heard a, “tsk, tsk, tsk..” coming from the other side of the room.
“Great..” I thought. I hadn’t even started playing andI had already made a bad impression on the conductor. I turned around to face the conductor. He was a short old man with blue eyes and white hair.
He had a thick Russian accent and I could tell that his english wasn’t very good. “Please, sit down,” he said. ” Let’s tune your viola,” I plucked each string a few times. He gave me an, “ok” nod and motioned me to start playing my piece. As I got my viola ready, the conductor took out his notebook and pencil.
When I started playing my piece, I noticed he was rapidly taking notes about me. However, I also noticed that he was humming along and tapping his foot to the beat of the song. I relaxed a little and pretended that I was at home practicing my piece When I finished, the conductor immediately pulled out a new book and asked me to play a piece I had never played before. I took a deep breath and started playing the song. I made a few mistakes, but overall I thought I did pretty well. After I finished, the conductor gotup, shook my hand and motioned me to the door.
I thanked him and walked out. In a flash, my dad came to the door and asked me how it went, and I told him the whole story. He laughed at some parts and told me not to worry. My brother apparently had been running around and had fallen down. Now, he had a huge cut on his leg. He was crying his head off and my dad decided that he would take us both out for ice cream.
We cheered and ran to the car. My brother, got chocolate, just as I thought he would and I got a new flavor, call Musical Madness. It was sour at first, but as I swallowed it, it became very sweet and was soon my new favorite flavor. I realized later that that flavor, sour then sweet, was the best way to tell someone how my audition went. Bad (Sour) at first, but slowly, got a whole lot better (Sweet).
