Random Monday: Rumble in the Snow, Job or Joy, and Post Traumatic Audition Syndrome

• The first day of snow
  Pity the poor horn player in a 19th century image posted at Will Kimball’s blog. Not only is his horn a wreck, but he is about to get whacked by a banjo! Horndog wonders what prompted this brawl between musicians … Loud trumpet players? Contract negotiations? A bad horn clam?

• Horn is the word
  Interesting trivia — the word “horn” appears in this site a whopping 11639 times, according our Google Webmaster Tools.

• Is orchestra playing a joy or a job?
  In a tribute to Marylou Speaker Churchill, Julia Rose posts a quotation from her notes. Basically, getting an orchestra job is an extension of your innate expressive and artistic abilities “such as intelligence, wisdom, beauty, balance, grace, sensitivity, awareness, love.”

  “If you are miserable, it’s your own fault.”

• Why do some adults and professionals seem so jaded?
  Related to the previous point, this question is the broader sentiment of comments added recently at the article “Fancies, Toys and Dreams.” It has provoked some honest thoughts that Horndog will take a shot at tomorrow in a full article.

• That post-audition feeling
  Charles Noble blogs about his post-audition thoughts. All doubts aside – Did I practice enough? Was I too cocky? Did that clam count against me? – auditions are key moments for analysis and improvement in any musician’s career.

• Other recommended reading
  From the 80 or so blogs I frequent shared items get posted on a dedicated page here at Horn Matters. Check out Shared RSS Reading for more interesting articles from around the Internet in the last week.