33 min

002 - how i won the met audition the auditionhacker podcast

    • Music

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.

well, to be honest, it actually didn't start that morning.
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.

in this episode, .you'll learn about:


what happened the moment i heard that i won the audition,
my biggest audition struggles (including nerves) and how i overcame them, and
the 5 steps of my audition preparation process that led to my winning audition.

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.

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.

well, to be honest, it actually didn't start that morning.
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.

in this episode, .you'll learn about:


what happened the moment i heard that i won the audition,
my biggest audition struggles (including nerves) and how i overcame them, and
the 5 steps of my audition preparation process that led to my winning audition.

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.

33 min

Top Podcasts In Music

100 Best Albums Radio
Apple Music
The Joe Budden Podcast
The Joe Budden Network
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
Andrew Hickey
Friday Night Karaoke
Friday Night Karaoke
The Story of Classical
Apple Music
New Rory & MAL
Rory Farrell & Jamil "Mal" Clay & Studio71