happy belated new year!!!!!!!!
yo.
i know we're already done with half of january, but let's talk about the new year for a minute.
2016 was a huge year for auditionhacker. we made a new website and became a multi-person team. in 2015 i birthed auditionhacker into the world on my own, and now it's a functional, sustainable platform to pump out useful stuff into the distant future.
cool.
now, what are we gonna do this year? apart from writing a tweet that went totally viral and traveling around california like a madman, i've been drawing up plans, making resolutions, and changing up how we're doing things a little bit.
first, i have two resolutions for 2017.
my first is to be more unfiltered. no more editing things out because i'm worried that my opinion might piss someone off. as my friend molly advised me, i "should spew more." you guys come to my website to hear my actual thoughts, right? so i'm gonna do things like use the word ass. :-o i'm also gonna try to be more honest about the type of percussion gear i use and the fact that playing castanets makes me want to die.
my second is to feature more cool people on the blog and in videos. i interviewed chris deviney of the philadelphia orchestra a couple months ago, and i just interviewed jake nissly (san francisco symphony) and matt howard (LA philharmonic) for upcoming videos. if you have any ideas on who you'd like me to feature and what questions/topics you have for them, please let me know!
for example:
"hey rob! can you ask ricardo morales (philadelphia orchestra) how he wins, like, every principal audition everywhere?"
or "can you ask mike werner (seattle symphony) to explain how to play the most amazing triple bounce roll a human being has ever played?"
here are my plans for 2017:
make more videos! videos rule. i want to keep pumping out videos about auditions and percussion that address your biggest struggles and serve you better as you progress through your musical training and education. i'm even taking a course on how to make my youtube channel better. please give me any feedback on my videos as they come out. it's always helpful and i would love to hear from you how they could be better!
make a new online course... for snare drum. (sorry non-percussionists...this is happening.) the idea is simple. you know suzuki for the violin? it brings you from beginner to high school level, basically. i want to make the same thing for snare drum, but from college to virtuoso. i want to teach you how to warm up, choose the best exercises, and basically create a system for practicing snare drum that leads directly to the highest echelons of technique and skill. i'll call it...the knopper method. or the snarehacker system. or something like that. interested? let me know and i'll get in touch with you later on.
and an announcement:
you know how i'm making stuff for everyone taking auditions, but i'm also making percussion-specific stuff? i'm going to try to label all the videos and blog posts with either "auditionhacker" or "percussionhacker." if you're in the auditionhacker alliance facebook group then you'll see both, but you'll know right away if it's relevant to you.
ok guys, let's have an amazing 2017!
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