this is an interview with nathan hughes, principal oboist of the metropolitan opera and faculty at juilliard. he has to practice and make reeds… every day. anyone who wonders how to balance the artistry and the project management of being a musician should watch this.

some days i’ll feel good about my playing. but some days i'll walk into the opera pit and question whether i really deserve to be there. 

i’ll think <with an extremely fred savage from the wonder years voice>, “i wonder how i ended up here. oh well, i guess i’ll pretend to be a professional musician and play the triangle again today.”

it’s called imposter syndrome. 

but just because you experience imposter syndrome doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. problems are figureoutable. anything you’re lacking as a musician is something that can be analyzed, addressed, and eventually solved.

in today’s video i’d like to tell you about my experience with imposter syndrome, and how i’ve worked to overcome it.

i’m showing you how you can sneak a recording device into your next audition. i’m not totally clear *why* orchestras sometimes don’t let you record… but it’s the most important piece of data you can take from the experience. it’s one of the rare times that i recommend breaking the audition rules.

i’m very excited to be releasing today’s interview with sheryl staples of the new york philharmonic. she has one of the most thoughtful and well-rounded practice routines and all instrumentalists (not just violinists) should watch this.

if you want to compete in an olympic level sport like professional orchestra auditions, you need to find a way to be maximally productive… even when you’re exhausted.

and why in 2020 i’m going to focus on helping you develop better practice habits.

two strategies to make sure you’re as competitive as possible.

you can’t just "practice harder” and expect a better result. here’s a 5-step method you can use to build a better audition preparation process.

5 steps to craft musicality into your excerpts during audition prep

mock auditions are an essential part of the audition preparation process. but just doing mocks isn’t going to solve all your problems.

it’s all in the details. exactly how you carry out a mock audition will affect what kind of performance benefit you see from it. today’s video is about 3 of the most common mistakes that i see musicians make in mocks.

and why taking fewer auditions, not more, can work.

sometimes it takes an odd strategy to prepare and win one of the biggest timpani auditions on earth.

a truly devastating audition can lead to a truly meaningful audition pivot. 

what gives you a better shot of passing the tape round of an audition: sending in an all-natural, unedited tape, or doing some editing and submitting an artificially enhanced tape? and if you do edit your audition tape, is it cheating?