“it was either this job or no job.”

today i’m sharing a crazy audition win story with you.

in 2019, a cellist named maria reached out to me about her audition struggles. on paper, she was the “worst audition candidate ever” (her words). she had 2 small children, a full time teaching job, and hadn’t taken an audition in 4 years.

she was also unable to leave parma, italy, so the only orchestra job she could win would be the arturo toscanini philharmonic.

in addition to these limitations, she had her own personal struggles with auditions. she wasn’t confident in her playing, she would lose focus, and she couldn’t trust herself to perform the way she knew she could. how would she ever win an audition and join an orchestra?

well, an audition opened up in 2022. she enrolled in my course. she made 3 major changes to her audition preparation process:

change #1: instead of doing slow practice, she worked on her repertoire using ROAM.

change #2: instead of working through the whole list every day, she dove deep on one or two excerpts per day, resulting in radical improvement to those excerpts.

change #3: instead of doing just 4 or 5 mock auditions, she cranked up the intensity and did 30 mocks for all different people.

it was truly transformative. 3 months later she won the job. it was the only job that she could have won based on her life situation, and she did it.

“anyone can win an audition. it’s very important that you believe that anyone can win an audition from the very start… this really helped me to build courage. like a muscle, you can train courage. i hadn’t taken auditions in a very long time, i had a non-performing job for a long time, i’m older than forty… if i did it, anyone can.” - maria cristina mazza

if she can do it with 2 small children and other obstacles, so can you.

what are the changes you’ll need to make to win your dream job?

i believe that with the right mindset and audition preparation process, anyone can win an orchestra audition. my students have proven that to me time and time again.

and to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet

Editing by Delia Black

Theme Music: Log Cabin Blues by George Hamilton Green, performed by Rob Knopper (xylophone) and Howard Watkins (piano). Editing and mixing by Brandon Johnson.

getting audition comments is incredibly frustrating.

you’ll get an email from the personnel manager and it’ll say something like:

Hi ___, 

A judge from your audition committee gave you this feedback:

“some good things. voted no”

I hope that is helpful for you.

ok dude, great. now WHAT am i supposed to do with that?!

audition comments are hard to get. when you do receive them, they’re cryptic. they’re too short. a lot of musicians i’ve talked to have given up even trying to get audition comments.

but it’s essential to know how the committee heard your playing. you have to know exactly what to fix to earn more yes votes. 

if you feel frustrated, it’s probably because you’re going about it all wrong. you kiiiiiind of have to work the system a little bit. 

i’ve been through it all. i’ve gone through the audition circuit myself, and at this point i’ve worked with hundreds of musicians on their audition preparation over the past decade.

so in today’s episode i’m sharing my 4 best methods to get better audition comments. 

to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet

from the episode:

Editing by Delia Black

Theme Music: Log Cabin Blues by George Hamilton Green, performed by Rob Knopper (xylophone) and Howard Watkins (piano). Editing and mixing by Brandon Johnson.

how would you actually prepare yourself to record an entire classical music album in one session?

it’s been 10 years, but i still have the detailed, day-by-day practice schedule i used to prepare for the recording of my debut album, delécluse: douze études for snare drum. 

it was a funny time. it had been two years since winning my met opera audition, and i was kinda bored. i just got tenure in the orchestra and felt like i needed an audition-level project to sink my teeth into. 

(i missed auditioning. can you imagine?!)

so i decided to prepare the entire book of 12 études like i was preparing for an audition.

they were my best friend and my nemesis, all at once. they had been the cause of so many audition rejections. they are still the crazy-hardest snare drum pieces that have ever been written, and they’re on every percussion audition. 

but since i figured out how to play them, they became my strength in auditions. so i spent half a year practicing them. i showed up at the recording session, which lasted for 2 days, and i recorded the hell out of them.

and after releasing them, i suddenly went from no-name section percussionist to a major international percussionist, known all over the world for conquering these études.

i prepared in the exact same way i did for prescreening audition tape recording sessions. i used my successful audition preparation process to make sure they were as super-polished as humanly possible.

and yes, you can absolutely steal this process and use it to record amazing, high-level prescreening audition tapes.

so in today’s episode i want to walk you through the exact steps i used to prepare for this recording. i’ll go over:

to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet

listen to the album, delécluse: douze études for snare drum at robknopper.com/delecluse

learn more about:

Editing by Delia Black

Theme Music: Log Cabin Blues by George Hamilton Green, performed by Rob Knopper (xylophone) and Howard Watkins (piano). Editing and mixing by Brandon Johnson.

my first day at interlochen summer camp, i was placed dead last in the lowest orchestra.

BOOM. a gut punch, right at the beginning of camp. 

the great percussionists of the world had gone through interlochen. chris lamb. scott stevens. greg zuber. based on my orchestra placement, it was clear to me that i was NOT one of them. i was just an inexperienced doofus from rural michigan, and a minor character in the inspirational story of other people becoming great and legendary percussionists.

it created a chemical imbalance in my brain, which caused me to completely transform my life. it’s where i learned to live like an audition winner. 

it was the beginning of my 9 year journey towards winning a full time position in the metropolitan opera orchestra.

and today i want to help you understand exactly what needs to transform in your life to also become a future audition winner. 

it’s episode #6 of the auditionhacker podcast, and i’m going over: 

to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet.

Editing by Delia Black

Theme Music: Log Cabin Blues by George Hamilton Green, performed by Rob Knopper (xylophone) and Howard Watkins (piano). Editing and mixing by Brandon Johnson.

meet janet horvath, the former associate principal cello of the minnesota orchestra.

when janet was in school, she wanted to be the best cellist in the world. she worked outrageously hard at her instrument for long hours and rarely took breaks. it ended in a debilitating injury, and she calls herself one of the "walking wounded."

she thought her life was over. she didn't think she would ever play again.

she did, of course. she overcame her injury, had a very successful career in music, and more recently she has largely devoted her life to help up-and-coming musicians learn to practice without risking injury.

she even wrote the book about it, called playing less hurt

in this episode, you'll learn:

thanks to diego for his question. if you want to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, go to robknopper.com/ask

and to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet

on one hand, the boston symphony's jim markey has had an objectively amazing career. he's held a handful major american jobs:

but it wasn't always like that. just like the rest of us, jim has struggled through disappointment and negative audition results.

...there was the one time when he peaked too soon for the north carolina audition.

...or the time when the LA phil audition "just didn't feel right" and he didn't play to win.

jim's audition journey started when he was 19, and he's learned something at every audition. even when he loses, he finds hope in the simple act of figuring out what to do differently next time. these learning experiences have allowed him to reach the highest echelons of american orchestras.

in today's episode, he goes over his audition journey, his preparation process, and the advanced audition strategies he used to win his jobs.

thanks to darya for her awesome question about staying motivated! if you want to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, go to robknopper.com/ask

and to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet

sharon sparrow, flutist in the detroit symphony, wrote the book on audition prep.

literally. it's called 6 weeks to finals, and it's the only book out there, i think, that walks you through a step-by-step guide to preparing for an orchestra audition.

it feels empowering to know that there's not some magical sorcery behind winning an audition. nope: there's a clear, step-by-step strategy that anyone can follow. and it works: it's exactly how she prepared for and won her audition for the detroit symphony, and many of her students have won auditions using the same process.

i was lucky enough to speak with her about audition preparation for today's podcast. 

you'll learn:

thanks to matthieu from canada for his great question! if you want to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, go to robknopper.com/ask.

and to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet.

i'll remember the day forever: may 20th, 2011.

i started the day waking up on molly yeh's couch on 96th street, and ended the day carrying two bottles of dewar's scotch whisky into a friend's apartment to celebrate something i never thought i could achieve.

that day changed my life. it still boggles my mind that it happened.

it started in mid-january of that year, when i received the repertoire list in the mail about 4 months before audition day.

i remember opening the packet of music. it was LONG. there were 54 excerpts on the list including 3 solo works.

between january and may of that year i worked harder than i ever have before. over 4 months, i went through a carefully designed series of steps meant to learn and polish the excerpts, and trained myself to perform them consistently at a high level.

auditions aren't a mystery. they're not a magical art. auditions are something that you can learn and master.

the key to mastering audition preparation is to build and develop a better set of steps between the day you get the list and the day of the audition.

i truly believe that i don't have any kind of innate talent. what sets me apart is that i developed an audition preparation process that brought my playing to a high level on that one day.

my process consists of 5 major steps, and it's what i'll go over in detail on today's episode. if you'd like to follow along while you listen, download my audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet.

i also answered an awesome question submitted by richard. thanks richard!

if you want to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, go to robknopper.com/ask.

and please leave a rating and review! i'd love to hear your feedback and ideas for future episodes.

if you get rejected from an audition, should you just practice the exact same way and try again?

...HELL NO!

to me, auditions are just a game. you prepare for audition day in a particular way, and you test that particular system of preparation by going to the audition and seeing what happens. once it's over, you carefully analyze what happened, brainstorm tweaks to your audition preparation process, and try again using a new and improved system. the most important thing you can do is tweak the details of how you actually practice.

in today's episode, i'll go over:

thanks to laura from brussels for her awesome question! if you want to ask a question to be answered on a future episode, go to robknopper.com/ask

and to learn the 5-step audition preparation process i used to win my met opera audition, download the audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet

welcome to the auditionhacker podcast!

my name is rob knopper, i'm an audition coach and percussionist with the met opera, and i'll be your host. 

EVERYONE struggles with audition rejection at some point or another. but if you're deadset on winning an orchestra job, then i'm here to help. no matter what audition obstacle you're struggling with, there's an answer. my goal is to help you discover all the best practice strategies that worked for me and other great musicians to perform at an elite level and win an orchestra audition.

to ask me an audition question, go to robknopper.com/ask

and if you'd like to learn how i prepared for my met orchestra audition, download the 5-step audition cheat sheet at robknopper.com/auditioncheatsheet