Sitting in a classroom staring off into nowhere, something catches my attention in the corner of my eye, an odd looking case.
As I turn and look, I begin to make assumptions of what it is? I know it’s an instrument case, but what?
It's a small case, but rounded and awkward looking, so I know it’s not a trumpet, flute or clarinet case.
By the time I finally got the courage to ask the girl that owned the instrument, class had already began.
So my curiosity would have to be subsided, for the time being.
Finally an opportunity arose as I arrived at class about 20 minutes early and I noticed the odd case was in the classroom.
However, the owner was not, man this is killing me, what the hell is in this case.
As my frustration mounts, in walks the girl that the instrument belongs to.
My curiosity gets the best of me and I ask her. The girl, Brianna Nay tells me that it is a French horn. This sparks up a conversation and eventually she starts to talk to me about her life and ambitions.
“Success as a musician depends on daily practice and a great deal of sacrifice and disappointment,” as was printed by Mura on Yahoo Answers.
This quote was posted on Yahoo answers, which is a site where you can go and post a question and then someone who has knowledge in the field can post an answer to your question.
Someone on this site also advised someone else to get degrees from different colleges and that a lot of orchestras and symphonies are restrained by their budgets.
In the little town of Sahuarita, a petite young lady with brown hair, who has essentially lived from coast to coast begins her day. Arizona being the place she lived the longest, nine years and it is also her favorite. Every day she wakes up and receives love and support from her family to follow her dream.
Nay, 18, has been playing the French horn since the eighth grade. She also plays the trumpet and the piano.
When asked when she got interested in music, she said she was introduced to the piano in the third grade by her mother.
“I was forced to play the piano, but after that it was for me,” she said.
Nay then learned to play the trumpet in the fourth grade. Now she primarily plays the French horn and she practices it every day for at least three hours, but never three hours straight.
Both schools are in Sahuarita, which causes problems for Nay as it takes about 40 minutes to drive to and from Pima West campus where she attends classes.
She doesn't mind the drive, however Nay takes the opportunity to listen to the classical radio station.
Her favorite classical composers are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Anton Bruckner.
Nay's favorite conductors are John Williams and Hans Zimmer. She says the reason she likes them is because they use their horn sections quite a bit.
“I base what I think of a conductor by what they do with their horn section,” Nay said.
In 2002 she was amazed by the Winter Olympics' opening ceremonies. The conductor of the music for it was done by none other than John Williams. After that moment her dream became to play for John Williams, but she fears that it may not happen, since she is still somewhat at the beginning of her music career and he is not getting any younger.
A violinist, Conor O’Brien was quoted on the MPR news site.
"You hear all these stories of 200 or 250 people auditioning for one violin spot," he says. "It's scary to think that you have to be the one that stands out the most in order to get the job. I'm still not sure if I can make it or not, but I want to give it my best shot that's for sure."
Getting a job in music also has its ups and downs according to Doug Yeo, who is retiring from the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2012, posted some of the pros and cons of being an orchestral musician.
Pros: stable career with excellent job security, salary and benefits, tour opportunities, instant credibility in the music market and an appealing schedule as a typical work week for them includes four two and a half rehearsals and play about four concerts a week.
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| Douglas Yeo |
Cons: cynicism because some may feel their work as individuals is not recognized, limited advancement opportunity as once most people make it to a first seat they don’t give it up, the work is demanding as you have to constantly practice so they won’t lose their skills and diminishing public support for the arts.
Other options for people who don't make it into an orchestra or don't want to can be a professor, private tutor or a recording manager.
Nay's next step in her musical career hopefully is to get a scholarship to Brigham Young University. She is working on scholarships to other universities as well, but BYU is her first option.
The teacher at Anza, Lou Rodriguez who was also her sixth-grade band teacher said over the phone, “I would be very surprised if she doesn't get the scholarship to BYU.”
Jonathon Johnson who is a graduate from BYU, with a Bachelor of Music in French Horn Performance uses his blog to try and offer advice to future horn players. On his blog hornartist.com Johnson gives a list of tips for young french horn players. (To see the list click on previous hyperlink “list”)
Currently Johnson is a freelance musician in the Los Angeles area, but has played for the Pasadena Symphony and Pops, the Santa Barbara Symphony, and the Fresno Philharmonic, and has played film score recording sessions for Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, and Fox Studios.
When asked why she wanted to go to BYU it was because it’s fairly close to home and a few of the professors there have graduated from Juilliard. According to the BYU website, four of their professors have a degree from Juiliard. (Not all of their professors and administrators education background were listed.) Two professors and two associate professors. Nay doesn't want to attend Juilliard yet as she feels that it is too far away from home.
She would like to stay on the West Coast for her undergraduate and then would consider somewhere on the east coast after that. In the music field it is encouraged to get your degrees from different schools, so that way you will get different opinions and techniques.
Her talent seems to be at the top, her freshman year in high school she made regional orchestra and all state.
Dan Lambertson, who is the band teacher at Continental, said over the phone, “Out of 10, I would rank her an eight, nine or 10.”
On a website getthatgig.com, there is a short bio on how Haley Hoops, a french horn player got her job of playing in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the age of 28.
Hoops talks a little bit about her experience during her auditions.
"They sit you behind a black sheet so they can't see whether you are black or white, male or female, and ask you to play a few tunes. If they aren't impressed, after two or three songs they politely say thank you and move on to the next player,” Hoops said.
I understood it was hard to get into the music industry, as my brother tried on several occasions to make it in a band, but has yet to succeed if that's even his goal anymore.
Nine out of ten bands fail and 85 to 90 percent of records that are put out do not recover what it cost to make them according to the documentary “DiG!” released in 2004.
With the struggling economy all job areas are getting hit hard, it has always seemed to be hard to nearly impossible make it into the music industry, but there is always hope and talent.
If interested in making it into an orchestra or symphony here are a few extra websites with some tips for auditioning.
