Hello friends. We are hurling towards Auditions, The Reality Show, and my DS, like many musicians, plays well at night, practices amazingly at night, and can’t really open his eyes nor move his arms before, oh, 11 am (and that’s on a good day). As per the usual, Kafka-esque scenario, all of his auditions are scheduled for the A.M. hours, which is sort of like asking me to get up at 3 a.m. and immediately sing the entirety of Strauss’s Elektra (and i’m not a singer.) Case in sordid point, it is broaching on midnight here and he is deep in excerpts with energy to burn. Is there any way to bottle up some of that energy and infuse him with it at dawn? Can anyone help me stop obsessing? No, i’m NOT kidding, at nine am he is likely to put rosin on his toothbrush instead of his bow. Help??!!
On almost all mornings, he doesn’t have a high-stakes audition…which can feel like being hunted down by a wild animal. You’re suddenly on high alert regardless the time of day. Don’t under-estimate the effects of anxiety coursing through his body. I’m betting he’ll be awake.
Echoing @bridgenail - you will both be up early! But, if you are really concerned, ask the school for a later audition time. We had good luck the other way - asking for early times so we could catch flights back home. Most schools seem to be pretty accommodating (even if their website says to not schedule a flight home before 7 PM).
I agree with @bridgenail. My daughter had several super-early (8 am) auditions. She was wide-awake despite not being a morning person. Biggest problem is that almost no musicians are morning person, including the adjudicators. My daughter’s most high-stakes audition was at 8 am and the panel was run by the professor who would eventually become her teacher. He was so sleepy he called her by the wrong name, even though they had already met, and asked for a Bach movement that was not on her program. She was thrown off and didn’t have a great audition…but the story had a happy ending and she ended up where she wanted to be. Now as a professional she often has to take very early morning flights for tours, so she’s learned how to deal with this kind of scheduling. Even so, in her natural environment she 'll sleep in until 10 or 11 and stay up late.
Have you or has he asked about changing the times?
Just want to comment on the good writing in your post!
My son was playing excerpts at midnight last night, too! I hadn’t even thought about this but I can add it to my list of thins to worry about. (I only know two of his exact audition times - 10:30 and 12, so not too bad).
My son’s the same. We absolutely made sure that he didn’t have early auditions.