[Harp-L] Another Entrance Exam



A year has come and gone since the last time I wrote to this list, a
year in which I have studied hard. One year since I did the entrance
exam, got accepted to and thrown out of the conservatory all in one
afternoon. (Read the full story on my site http://www.tenhole.com )

Last year I wrote that I was going to go to school and be free from that
lingering wish to go to a conservatory and for the main part of the year
this was true. I was learning loads of new stuff. 
Things like writing and arranging polyphonic pieces. Arranging for the
piano. I had lots of fun and was so swamped with homework that the idea
of any other school being a "real school" was sort of ridiculous.

However as the end of the year drew closer and the entrance exams for
the conservatories were getting nearer I started to feel that itch
again. Friends in school had already signed up for the exams and my
teacher kept pushing me to do the same. When the piano player of my
school combo told me he was going to try I couldn't think of any excuses
why I wouldn't too.

The conservatory I was going to apply for asked that you send in a CD of
recent work so that a first selection could be made from the applicants.
I got together with a pianist with whom I regularly play to record a few
standards. We did "All of Me", "Softly" and "You Don't Know What Love
Is". I also added a demo I did for EHQ and the EHQ track "Tja Tja Plus"
(available on the site for download http://www.overblow.com/ehq ).

The online application form gave me a bit of a problem because the list
box in which I had to select the instrument I was going to play
obviously didn't include harmonica. Like last year I decided to pick
trumpet and hope for the best, luckily this time there was room to put
notes on the form and seeing that this time the form would be
accompanied by a CD any mistakes like last year were unlikely.

So the long wait began. Would I be invited to play, would my piano
player friend get invited to play? We kept mailing back and forth to
hear if the other had heard anything yet and a month passed before the
piano player got the message that he was invited. The next day I got an
email too.

"we would hereby like to invite you for your entrance exam Harmonica"

A fear gripped my heart, I was going to play in front of a committee
again. The four weeks I had to prepare flew by and before I knew it the
exams were there. My friend the piano player had his exam a couple of
days before me. He was accepted. This made me even more nervous, because
if he had been rejected it would not be a disgrace for me to be rejected
too. 

De last day before the exam I didn't play harmonica anymore I just did
breathing exercise in the hope that I could remain fairly calm when it
was time to play.

The morning of the exam, a beautiful sunny day.
The first test was taken in a computer room, I listening test.
Intervals, Chords and things like that. I had trained on things like
that the whole year but there and then I didn't do too well. Next the
written test: music theory. No problem what so ever. The third test was
a difficult one; solfege, singing scales, melodies and rhythms as they
are written. I did very bad on that.

The man who was testing looked at my results and said "well, the playing
is the most important part".

After 2 hours hanging around in the hallways of the conservatory, it was
my turn. I was introduced to the band I was going to play with and we
talked about the form of the pieces and how I would like to play them.
When I got out my harmonica the drummer said "you're not going to play
that are you?".

I said "yes I am" and I was glad to see that they seemed impressed
rather than skeptical as I had feared.

I set up my amplifier (and forgot to check the tone settings) and
counted off. We played "A Felicidade" and all went well, except that
halfway through the piece I suddenly got the idea that I had never
played this number before and didn't actually knew what the chords were.
Apparently all the hours of practicing paid of because even though I
could have sworn I didn't know the song I appeared to be playing it
without any problem. The only thing that went wrong was that instead of
playing through the whole theme after the solo, I somehow stopped right
in the middle of the theme instead of going to the C part I had mistaken
the end of the B part for end of the tune. The next song was my favorite
ballad; "You Don't Know What Love Is". I have played it a thousand times
and will play it many more times especially after playing it at the
exam. It went well.

The last tune was a fast one; "Blues For Alice", a terribly difficult
song to play on the c harp and I didn't feel that I did a very good job
of playing it. No great mistakes though and I managed to get some good
bebop lines in.

That was it, I had played fairly well and all I could do now was hope
that it was enough. I looked up to the table where the committee was
sitting and was relieved to see, as last year, only smiling faces.

I was asked to wait in the hallway while they discussed.
When I was called back the first thing the director said was; "You're
accepted". It didn't really register, we discussed who would teach me
and talked about the diatonic harmonica and how tones are produced on
it, what I could work on during the summer and when I left they told me
"see you in September". It still didn't register. The band members met
me in the hallway and congratulated me, the people that were to play
after me congratulated me and it still didn't register.

Dazed I found my way out into the street. Outside I started calling
people to tell them I was in. Slowly it started to sink in and when I
got my teacher on the phone I was on the verge of crying and while I
told him all the things that had gone wrong it dawned on me that it
didn't matter anymore what had gone wrong, I had been accepted to one of
the leading jazz schools of my country. And this time the director was
right there and he would not be calling to tell me that he really didn't
want a harmonica player in his school.

I am so thrilled that I keep on breaking out in short yelps of joy and
do little dances whenever I think nobody is watching. I keep on walking
about town trying to find people I haven't told about it yet so I can
once more tell the story.

I haven't worked out how I am going to pay for the whole thing and that
should keep me busy these summer months and I do need to have something
to do, because I just can't wait to start school :-)

Tinus

http://www.tenhole.com
http://www.overblow.com















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