I nailed the audition!!! My first-ever live performance is Nov. 14th

[Michael Bishop]

Hi guys,

There’s a local talent show scheduled here in Little Rock for musicians on November 14th, it’s an event that’s held every year. Some local friends I’ve made here in the music world has been encouraging me to audition for it and I’ve naturally had “reservations” about doing it–those thoughts that I have so much yet to learn, other players who are more experienced/better than me, etc.. (It’s only natural to feel that way). Some of my local friends made a point with me that kind of got me thinking–it can hurt you as a player if you spend too much time playing alone v.s. getting out there and playing with other musicians.

We were all given a 10 minute slot to audition and play. There were 6 other Saxophone players besides me, I was the last one scheduled to have a go at it. Before it was my turn to play, I decided that if I was going to “crash and burn” and make a fool of myself, then I would at least have fun doing it and that helped me to relax. The other guys were all playing Jazz and in the normal range of the Saxophone and stayed pretty much stationary. I know for a fact that I can’t seem get anyone “moving” when I play something jazzy like the other guys were…so I decided to take a “different” approach. When it came my turn, I asked them if I had to stay “right here” (meaning stationary) and they said “No, this is your time” Rather than stay on the small stage, I walked off the stage and they’re looking at me like “what are you doing?” I decided I was going to play right in front of their table and “Blow my Brains Out”. I wasn’t sure if they would “love me” for it or “hate me” for playing loud, Altissimo notes right in front of them because at home my 4 dogs “whine” and run away from me when I play something loud LOL…..it worked!!!
I’m kind of “in shock” right now because I can’t believe I got picked….I have so much yet to learn. I’m asking myself if this REALLY happened LOL But wow….it feels great! 🙂 All’s I can say to Johnny is…THANK YOU! 🙂

[Abe Sloan]

Great news! Good luck.

[john]

Right on Michael… looks like your performance was more entertaining than the guys playing jazz, I’m not surprised.

[Michael Bishop]

Thanks guys 🙂 I sure am surprised that I got picked and I will be surprised for some time; I’m kind of “numb” and I will be for a little while….I don’t understand how I could get picked over guys who have been playing so much longer than me?!? I’m a fan of some “select” jazz music on the Saxophone and those guys played it very well too. It was a little “intimidating” for me–not in the sense of trying to “compare” myself with others. But they’ve been playing for so much longer than me, I’ve only been playing for 2 years, so what do I know? It helped me to relax to just don’t worry about what I don’t know and just play what I do know–in any case the judges liked it. Especially when I played Altissimo notes, I played them as loud as I possibly could–and the louder I got the bigger the smile on 1 judges face 🙂 That put me at ease to say the least.
I’ve attempted to have a go at some Jazz music, and my wife says that, quote, “It’s just not ‘you’ and thinks that I should stick with Blues/Rock because she thinks it’s more “me” Maybe it clicked with the judges too?

[Author]

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