How Conductor Auditions work 2

 In my previous post, I discussed various hats a Music Director wears.

So what do the Music Director Auditions look like? 

Major orchestras do not announce position openings. My guess is they consider guest conductors they invited in the last several years. Without much warning, they announce who the next Music Director is. 

Professional regional orchestras typically announce the position opening and solicit applications. These materials may include: resume, letter of interest, sample videos, and sample programs. After the committee reviews the materials, they may conduct a Zoom interview then narrow down to several Finalists.

Once you're a Finalist, you program a concert you will conduct. This is where you get to be creative! Conducting is absolutely my favorite part of the job, but programming is a close second. Every orchestra has their unique challenges, and you will have the opportunity to construct a striking program within the organization's available resources. Once the programming is set, you will communicate with the librarian, personnel manager, etc to make sure every logistical details are set. 

During your audition week, you will attend many events to meet donors, patrons, community partners, or visit a school or two. The search committee will observe if you are capable of connecting genuinely with all the constituents of the organization. While being professional, I think it's important to be authentic. It is hard to keep up a facade, and I would like the orchestra to choose me for who I am, and not who I pretend to be. 

The relationship between the Music Director and the orchestra is like a friendship. Through the rigorous vetting process, all finalists are capable of doing the job. I believe the most important factor of this relationship is if there is a chemistry that sparks excitement, joy, and trust. The committee tends to highly value this element during the selection process.

At a later date, I'll discuss how staff conductor auditions work. I hope 2025 brings you full of excitement, joy, challenges, and loads of fun.

How Conductor Auditions work 1

 Happy New Year!

A few weeks ago, I presented a class called "Orchestra Auditions: Procedure and Tips." During Q & A, several students asked how the conductor audition works, but we didn't have adequate time for a discussion. Since I am preparing for an audition/interview as the Music Director of West Valley Symphony in a few days, I thought I'd collect my thoughts on what it takes to prepare for an audition as a conductor.

There are several positions conductors can audition for. Early in the career, you may audition for a staff conductor position: Assistant, Associate, or Resident Conductor. These positions' job descriptions may include covering (i.e. be a back-up conductor for) the Music Director and Guest Conductors, and conducting Family/Education/Community concerts or other subscription concerts as assigned. Your main job is to be ready, conduct efficiently, and meet the needs of an organization. I will dive into the staff conductor audition at a later date.

The Music Director position is more involved. The MD wears many hats:

1. Artistic Leader: Set the artistic goal for the orchestra. This can come in the form of programming, the format of concert, composer you present, soloists your feature, and auditioning and selecting musicians.

2. Conductor: By far, the best part of the job- you rehearse and conduct works you programmed!

3. Ambassador of Arts/Performing Arts: You represent the organization and performing arts in the community you serve. The orchestra may be the only professional performing arts organization in the community. You may be a liaison between other cultural, educational, service, or arts organizations in the area. Being an engaging speaker/communicator is essential. 

4. Advocate for contemporary composers: I believe it is important to promote and present the music written by composers of our own generation. Without this advocacy, it is impossible to leave wonderful music our peers are creating for the next generations of musicians and audience. Making meaningful connections with composers you believe in is important to this process, and presenting the works in captivating ways is helpful. 

5. Manager: Although you will work with the Executive Director who manages the administrative side of the orchestra, you do work closely with the Personnel Manager (who ensures all the appropriate musicians are hired), Librarian (who prepares music), and Orchestra/Production Manager (who makes sure that stage is set up and equipments are present at rehearsals and concerts). They will need clear and timely communication and guidance to do their job effectively.

In my next post, I'll discuss what a Music Director audition may look like.

Cost/Time saving recipe #4: Pizza!

 Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful time with your loved ones today. I made tonkatsu, as one does. I'll share a recipe for that at some point in the future.

A few hours after tonkatsu lunch, my son asked if we can have pizza for dinner. I, of course, obliged.

I have been making my own dough for a while, because it's super easy.

I basically follow this recipe on Fine Cooking.

Ingredients: 

1.5 cups luke warm water

1/2 TBS yeast

1 TBS olive oil

1/2 TBS sugar

2 tsp salt

4-5 cups of flour

In a standing mixer, pour water, yeast and sugar. Let yeast grow for a few minutes. After yeast starts bubbling, add flour (4 cups to start), olive oil, and salt. 

Mix at low speed. Add more flour as needed. Once incorporated, make into a ball, cover with a towel and let it rise for 45min. (Recipe says 2 hours, but who has time for that?). 

After it rises, divide the dough into 4 small or 2 large pizzas.

Preheat oven to 425F.

Make sauce. 

Ingredient:

6 oz tomato paste

15 oz tomato sauce

2 TBS each of oregano and basil

1/2 tsp each of garlic and onion powder

1/2 TBS salt

1 tsp sugar

Mix vigorously. No need to heat anything, which is nice.

Roll out the dough to your preferred thickness, add sauce, and any toppings of your choice. 

I usually roll it out on parchment paper, so counter top doesn't need cleaning, and the loose flour won't fall into the oven and cause the fire alarm to go off. (<= spoken from experience.) Place the pizza with parchment paper on top of a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on your oven.

Pizza was eaten swiftly, so I didn't get a chance to take a good picture. 😅

You can portion off the dough and sauce and freeze them! Transfer them to fridge in the morning, and would be thawed out by the time you are ready to cook dinner. 

Buon appetito! 

Another cost/time saving recipes: Chicken!

 Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Today my students reminded me that I actually have a blog 😅

Here's another cost/time saving food prep idea. When I buy chicken breast from Costco (10-12 pounds?), I chop them up into bite sizes pieces, and marinade them.

Left: Salt, pepper, and sesame oil

Top Right: Salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, and sesame oil

Botton Right: Salt, pepper, oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, and olive oil

I portion them and freeze.

You can transfer it to fridge in the morning, and usually it's thawed by the time you're ready to cook dinner. It feels less daunting to cook up a meal when chopping/seasoning is already done. Serve with a salad and rice/pasta/bread, and you have a nice balanced meal!

We're almost at the end of the semester, so let's keep going strong.

Have a lovely Thanksgiving!

KD

Another cost/time saving recipe: #2 Chicken vegetable soup

 Hi friends,

Yesterday I shared my meat sauce recipe. Some of you might be wondering "WHAT DO YOU DO WITH ALL THE LEFTOVER CARROTS AND CELERY??"

Well, good question. You can always eat them as is 👍 Costco has great individual hummus. (BTW, I don't work for Costco nor they sponsor me here 😂) But when you come home exhausted, you're too tired to chew crunchy vegetables. #iykyk

This time, I made chicken and vegetable soup, using leftover Costco Rotisserie Chicken. This Rotisserie chicken is my son's FAVORITE food in the world, so we buy at least one a week. The leftover meat turns into soup or Japanese curry (more on this later).

Here's my rough attempt of my soup recipe:

1. Feed your son his favorite parts of the chicken, then take apart the leftovers and dice

2. Chop up carrots and celery (leftover from meat sauce)

3. Dump the carrots and celery in a giant pot, add chicken broth and simmer for 20 minutes

4. Add chicken and simmer for additional 10 minutes (or until you remember it's still cooking)

5. You can portion them off into freezer-safe containers, and freeze for the days you have zero motivation to cook.

I keep this soup pretty basic, so I can add flavoring depending on how I feel. Sometimes I add chili oil, curry powder, or "Italian" seasoning, so I don't get sick of it.

Also, I still had plenty of carrots and celery left, so I chopped them up and froze them in few batches. I'll use them in soups or curry later. 

Buon appetito!

Fall 2024, here we go! & Meat sauce recipe

 Hi friends,

Fall 2024 semester started this week! It's going to be a great semester.

I know some of you have started a new job, student teaching, grad school, etc., and I wanted to share some ideas to take care of ourselves. We get so busy worrying about our work, taking care of our family/pets, and forget to take care of our basic needs. Consider Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: 

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

from Simply Psychology

We need to make sure our physiological needs are met before we go up the pyramid. This includes food and sleep. As a night owl, I need to follow my own advice of getting enough sleep, but luckily I can function pretty well with 5+ hours of sleep. 

Food, on the other hand.... I'm an Asian mom, so food and feeding my family is very important to me. I do most of the cooking, and I wanted to share some ideas that save time, energy, and money.

I make a giant batch of meat sauce for pasta every few weeks to keep in the freezer.

I used 3 pounds of ground beef, half a bag of Costco baby carrots and celery sticks, and onion flakes.

1. mince carrot and celery in food processor

2. brown beef (drain any fat/liquid)

3. add celery, carrot, and onion flakes (I add enough to cover the pot), garlic or garlic powder

4. add 2 cans of tomato sauce and about 4 cups of chicken broth

5. simmer for 2 hours

6. add salt and pepper to taste

7. divide up the sauce per portion and freeze.

This time I made 6 batches of 3 portions = 18 servings! 

These come in handy when you have zero energy to make dinner. It has enough vegetables, so if you have no salad, it's ok! 

Buon appetito!

Lesson from my Dad #2: Don't take yourself too seriously

 Continuing with lessons I learned from my dad's life. Previous post can be found here: Lesson #1

Lesson #2: Don't take yourself too seriously

Ever since I remember, my dad would get excited and cheered "お！やったー” whenever we broke a plate or a glass by accident.  This might be why I am still careless, because I never lived with a fear of being scolded from accidentally breaking things. He taught us that it's ok to make mistakes- just celebrate!

My dad was a smart man and successful in his own right, but oftentimes people (myself included) undermined him. Being an agreeable man with thick Japanese accent in a Southern state didn't help either. He never took offense at people's behaviors towards him. If I got upset at someone's rude behavior or comments, my dad would say "かわいそうだと思え” (feel sorry for them)- meaning, they must be sad and/or angry to act that way. As I got older, I was able to think in a similar way.

Being an Asian female conductor in Southern states (TX, KY, TN), I've heard questionable comments from various constituents. I don't get offended now, because 1. if they didn't know their behavior was borderline offensive, well, bless your heart; or 2. if they meant to be rude, well, I feel sorry for ya.

The best thing about not taking myself too seriously is that I don't have to spend energy getting offended or being upset. This allows me to focus on what's really important, so I can get my work done. If a musician challenges me while I'm on the podium, I don't get frazzled. I can still focus on the music and my job as a conductor, instead of getting upset at the encounter. 

Now, this doesn't mean you don't stand up for yourself. Not taking yourself too seriously allows you to sort through small petty incidents so you can focus on what's more important. Also, do always stick up for the ones that depend on you, such as your students and family.

My dad was also goofy. At my wedding, right before we walked out, he said "I'm going to trip on purpose." He said he wanted to make people laugh so they relax. Luckily, he didn't, because I'm pretty sure my mom would've killed him, and let's face it, he was the most nervous person there.

I am also not afraid to be goofy or silly, if the situation requires lightness. I like to have fun, especially when we make music. I know that when we are having fun, we make better music. Being able to not take myself too seriously, I can use humor as a way to lighten up the environment. 

So next time you make a mistake, laugh it off! It's really going to be ok!

my dad pretending to be boiled in hot pot

Tune in again in the future for more lessons from my dad 😝