Audition at church

Sorry if this belongs in the OT (a.k.a the bar) forum than this one.....

After being absent from the musical scene for a while- I decided to send an email to the church I go to in response to their ad for music volunteer.

The first informal audition went ok...I am thankful for my hearing ability to play on the fly as the guy played a few songs from the CD player.

I think he likes what he heard so next week I'm gonna have the more formal audition to play a duet with him and see how it goes.

He told me that they'll be able to make a good use of my 'talent' if the Sunday service thing didn't work out (it's a pretty big church of 6000 people- biggest Presbyterian church in the West Coast).

Thought I'd share my excitement with you guys!

Jonas

That's Great! It lets you enjoy your music and share it with others.
DonM

Hi Jonas (KN_Fan): Considering the fact that you're so nobly volunteering your services for the good of your church (no $ compensation) this looks to be an opportunity for you to get your feet wet musically again, and to gain the confidence & experience of playing for a large (6,000 person) crowd. Who knows, your next gig might be a stadium packed concert. You'd better get PAID for that one though. - Scott

A few years ago I reluctantly applied for the church organist job at our local church. I met with the retiring man before he left and got his blessing - I played for about three more months. Then someone from the archdiocese came out and gave me an audition. I'm sure I failed - I couldn't read bass clef worth a plug nickel. For some reason the parish gave me a contract. I planned to stay for a couple of years while I searched for a teaching job (not music). August 15th will be my 34th anniversary as "music director."

Hi Cassp
It is interesting that you mentioned not reading bass well. Since I am a former B3 nightclubber,I always got by fine with the chord method. I tried out for choir director a few years ago and got it. Everyone thought I made the organ come alive. I have been with about five different churches over the years now,and the only thing I don't do is classical pieces. Of course I don't play at the Crystal Cathedral either.

Bernie

Same here Bernie. I think my accordion and commercial organ background has helped. People positively comment about phrasing and timing. Yeah, they seem to like the way I play too.

Well- not that I 'nobly' volunteered- more like they wouldn't pay me! LOL (j/k!!!)

So just an update: I never heard from the guy since the last time, so I emailed him..he was like "Oh so sorry- I couldn't pull up a small band for your audition next week, how about this...I'll give you our next songs packet and a CD for you to practice, skip this week and we'll just practice with the real band for the upcoming service"

So....instead of second/first week of September, I may be playing for last week for August instead...and this is the kicker...NO SYNTH..it's PURE ACOUSTIC...so what does this mean?? NO TRANSPOSE KEY!! I guess this is a good practice for me lol. I just found out that one of the music will be in C# and the other one is Eb...GREAT(sarcasm)

KN ... I'm sure you'll be great ... good way to get your 'chops' going ... "C#" ?!?!? ... funny thing ... I don't want to play in C# but don't mind playing in Db ?!? ... and I LOVE playing in Eb ... probably my favorite key ... Many (if not most) of the great old standards from the 'original' "fake book" (back in the mid - late 50's) were in Eb. ...
t.
t.

.... sorry ... double post ...
t.

[This message has been edited by tony mads usa (edited 08-18-2005).]

This is what I don't understand though...we can't the band play it in D or C instead? Heck it's only half step down or up? We do have to accompany a few singers but I highly doubt that they can't adjust their voice to reach certain notes.

Comments from the experts?

I agree ... perhaps they play whatever the original key is, possibly due to an inability/lack of desire to transpose???
Maybe you should ask, and if that's the reason, offer to transpose ...
t.

Tony- That was my FIRST suggestion!

That would've been a funny thing..."Oh man it's so hard to transpose the song to C scale..so we decided to just play it in C#!!"

I think they also tranposed the song to another key G# so the singer could sing it too or something...i don't know..kinda confusing for me.

I might just have to haul up my Triton Studio and play with that instead LOL.