Instruments of Worship
The Instruments of Worship Podcast, hosted by Casey Rinkenberger, is dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments and their lives. Tune in every Monday for a new episode!
Instruments of Worship
Auditions: How Do We Prepare and Respond As Christians? | Ep. 3
The Audition Process is a necessary evil of being a musician. It’s talked about frequently, but rarely from a Christian point of view. In today’s episode, Casey gives both practical and Biblical truth that can encourage and equip you as you navigate auditions as a Christian!
To help engage our hearts in greater worship to Him, check out these different types of songs that relate to this episode.
- I Am Not My Own
- My Worth Is Not In What I Own
- He Maketh No Mistake
- All Glory Be To Christ
- Your Ways Your Ways
Thanks so much for listening! Make sure to check back every Monday for a new episode!
Thanks so much for listening! Make sure to check back every Monday for a new episode!
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Hi friends, my name is Casey Rankenberger and I am so excited to welcome you to the Instruments of Worship podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments, but also their lives. I am so excited about today's episode because we're going to talk about the audition process. This is a part of being a musician that is talked about frequently, but rarely from a Christian point of view. So let's get into it. So the audition process is pretty much a necessary evil to be a musician, mainly because it's a very taxing and emotional process. If you get the results that you want, great. It'll breed confidence and relief and happiness. But if you didn't get the results that you want, which is largely the majority of people, it can be extremely disappointing, frustrating, sad, discouraging, and make you just feel really insecure about your career choice. At times, there can also be a out riding on the line, like scholarship money, getting into the school that you want, not to mention getting a job like a source of income. It can be very emotional, but it can also be very scary and intimidating. You have to put yourself out there and hope that what you've created is good enough for what they're looking for. So I'm going to take a look at both biblical and practical truths of how we can tackle the infamous audition process. So first, we're going to take a look at the types of auditions. There's a very broad range of the different types that one could take. For example, I started when I was young, auditioning for youth symphonies, while at the end of the extreme, there's auditioning for professional orchestras in big major cities. I hope to give information today that will apply to really wherever you are on the spectrum. So like I said, you could start out with youth symphonies. And if that's where you are, likely an audition is going to look like having scales, a portion of a solo piece, and possibly some sight reading, maybe an excerpt or two. It just kind of depends on your organization. Also, while you're probably high school age, you could audition for all state or maybe district orchestras. I've heard since COVID, a lot of these are doing online auditions or video recording auditions. For college auditions, at least for violinists, it's very common to have like a movement of Bach, movement of a concerto that you're working on. For orchestral auditions in college, you have a lot of excerpts. Maybe an exposition of a concerto. Maybe some sight reading. It just all depends. For professional orchestral auditions, you have a lot, a lot of excerpts. Maybe an exposition of a concerto. A lot requires... A lot may require a Mozart concerto, at least for violinists, some possible sight reading. It may include a resume round, a video audition, a preliminary round, and a final round. It goes to show how intense it can be, especially when you're taking maybe dozens at a time. I've heard that it's easier to become an astronaut than win an audition for a top tier orchestra like in a major city. It may or may not be true, but that's what I've heard and you get the point. Auditions can be super intense. No matter what type of audition you're preparing for, I still hope that you can get something out of this episode. We're going to take a look at both practical and spiritual truths that can hopefully help you in your audition process. First, we're going to take a look at practical. So obviously, you're going to have to know your requirements. And if you don't, ask your teacher, go online, research, figure out those requirements, because every audition is going to be different. Then, of course, you have to learn and master whatever they're asking you to prepare for them. absolutely make sure that you put your best foot forward. I would suggest to practice it through many times before your audition. Don't just practice your solo separately, your excerpts separately. Try doing some full run-throughs. Once you really obviously have mastered your rep, And it may be also helpful to do in front of people. Maybe have somebody that doesn't normally hear you play, ask if they'll listen to the things you're playing for. I know that in college, that was something that people did frequently, would just send a text to the studio and say, hey, can you listen to my audition stuff? Or you could ask a family member, whatever your situation may be. It just gets you good practice of having to play that prepared in front of other people. It may be good, too, to try to play through your rep in different orders. Sometimes, like I know in high school or for youth orchestras, they would maybe ask, hey, do you have a preference on what you play first? And if so, I would go ahead and think of a ready response. If they ask you, if they give you a choice, what would you want to play first? What's going to make you feel most comfortable? What are you best at? All those sorts of things. once you get to the higher collegiate level, they probably are just gonna tell you exactly what they want you to do and in what order. So maybe for the person that you have listening to you, they could give you some various orders, play things out of order, just so you're ready to tackle anything that the judges may throw your way. Now, I just wanna go through kind of each part of that audition and what I would kind of encourage at least my students to do. So first, looking at scales. I was always told growing up that you wanna play your scales at 120 BPM with beautiful long bows, a big sound, knowing that you're a confident player. For your solo, obviously just go mainly off of what your private teacher has told you. Practice both with precision and musicality. The musicality is not going to come just automatically, naturally in your audition. It's something that you're going to have to practice. So know that ahead of time, practice precision, being excellent at your rep, but also the musicality because that may be what sets you apart. As for excerpts, one of the most important things in my point of view is having set tempos. before you begin. So the first step in that process would be to listen to the different excerpts on YouTube or Spotify, whatever you listen to your music on. So find that short little excerpt within the symphony and I find it helpful to write down the time stamp for that just so you can find it or approximately where it is within the symphony when you need it really quickly to keep listening. The other thing that's important with listening to recordings is to make sure you check a variety of recordings for the tempo. And I would literally get a metronome out, make sure you know exactly what BPM each recording is playing at. Then I would put it all together and see if you can find a general tempo that most recordings play it at. Just whatever you find to be the most universal tempo, I would stick with that. Find it on the metronome and then write it down. then this is a fun little trick that I think is so great to do, is then I literally look up online songs at blah, blah, blah, BPM. It'll come up with a huge long list of different pop songs or different genres of songs at that specific BPM. Pick the one that you know best and that you feel like you've already internalized the tempo for. Then I would write that song down. So to show you, I have here my handy... handy dandy excerpt binder. I was so thankful. Baylor does an excerpt class, which you're required to take, I believe it's four semesters. So the first half of your time there. And I have all these excerpts with different notes and I played them in front of the class, got critiqued, got help from my teachers. And this is just so helpful as you move from the collegiate level to the professional level. So I would encourage you, if your school doesn't have an excerpt class, maybe you could ask your teacher, hey, are these things that we could start working on? And I would start compiling a binder just like this because whenever I've had auditions in post-college, Pretty much 99% of the excerpts that orchestras choose from are already in this binder and I don't have to track down music and I already have markings in them. I already feel super comfortable with that music. So this is going to make sense to violinists. But for example, the Mozart Symphony 39, the Movement 2 excerpt that's super popular. I have written down that a quarter note is roughly around 48 beats per measure. And then I have right underneath, thank you for the music by ABBA. For the Mozart scherzo, I have that a dotted quarter note is roughly around 88 beats per measure. And I have the song Stereo Hearts. For Beethoven Symphony No. 9, I have a dotted quarter note is around 125. And I have Firework by Katy Perry. For the fourth movement of Mozart 39, I have Viva La Vida about a quarter note equals 138. So hopefully you kind of get the picture of how that goes. It's honestly one of my favorite parts of the audition process. It's just getting to pick through some songs that are going to help you really internalize the tempo and be ready to play it at that tempo in your audition. The last thing is sight reading. If you are sight reading in an audition, make sure you practice sight reading beforehand. It's a skill that does have to be developed. It won't just come naturally and you just can't show up hoping that you'll be able to sight read well. Ask your teacher if they can give you some material that you've never seen before that you could try to sight read, maybe sight read in front of them if they don't already encourage you to do this. Or you could find some music on your own that you haven't played yet and just start trying to play through some of that stuff just little chunks at a time and then go back and see how how it did how you did the main thing I always tell my students in sight reading is rhythm. It's so important. So one of the best things to do when you first get a sheet of sight reading music is to go straight to where the fastest section is. So wherever there may be 16 notes, maybe faster than that, maybe only eighth notes are the fastest on that page, but go to that section and see what tempo you're going to be able to play that section at. Then that's your tempo for the whole thing. Don't start sight reading without a contempo already in your head. Always double check your key signature obviously and your time signature. Check for accidentals if there are things that are above third position. Make sure you have a plan in place for those and the quick time that they give you beforehand to look at it. Judges would much rather you play an excerpt slower with correct rhythm than fast with Oopses, as my old teachers used to call them. Oopses all over the place, right? So make sure you have that tempo, I would say. If you have anything else, have a tempo. Watch out for those rhythms. Okay, so now on some spiritual prep before your audition. I want to read you a quote by John Piper that says,"'We belong to God. We are not our own. Everything in our lives is to be done before the face of God in reliance upon God's grace, according to God's guidance, for God's glory.'" And so I'm here to tell you that that also includes the audition process. As crazy and as niche as that may sound, you may be saying, how come we belong to God? Like, isn't my life my life? And I would just love to remind you that he made us. He is our creator. Genesis 127 says, God created man in his own image, the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them. Psalms 139 verses 13 through 14 says, So he's our creator. He also bought us. He's our redeemer. In 1 Corinthians 6 20 it says, You, meaning you and I, were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. That price that it talked about was Jesus' death on the cross. But he rose from the grave three days later and is now seated at the right hand of God and reigning over this earth. And as Christians, we get to be his children. We get to call him our father. In Ephesians 1.5, it says,"...God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ." This is what he wanted to do. And it gave him great pleasure. How amazing is that? That he was ecstatic to get to adopt us into his family through the work of Jesus on the cross. He is the potter. We are the clay. We are in his hands. He is the author of our story, story of this whole world. We get to be his. It's a gift. It's not something that we should be discouraged by or annoyed at. We get to be the children of the creator of the universe. As Christians, we have boldly proclaimed that he is the Lord of our lives, that we relinquish all authority to him. We give it up from ourselves to him, that he is God and that we are not. I want what he wants in my life, not just what I want. So yes, we belong to God and we are his. And that is beautiful. That's not disheartening. That is the best promise that anyone could have. And I hope that all will have. You may be thinking, why is that important information regarding the audition process? And I would say that the audition process is very, one that is very easy to freakishly control and obsess over. We can have hope in these truths, though, that no matter the audition results, that he is our creator, he is our redeemer, he is our father who loves us, and he has amazing plans for us, that our life is not just about how far we can get in this world. It's not about that. And auditions can kind of bring that feeling out of us. They can kind of make us want to just fight and claw our way to the top. But this is a reminder that life's not about that, that we are his and that we belong to him. This life that we live is not our own. It is his. Yet he gives us skills. He gives us opportunities like auditions in this world. And that's really gracious. So how can we best prepare for these auditions? The first thing that I came up with was obviously we need to work hard. Colossians 3, 23 through 24 says, So looking at this verse, it doesn't just say to work, but it says to work with all your heart. Since it's the Lord that you're serving, not just mere humans. So don't just work. Don't just practice. But work hard. Practice hard. Do your absolute best. Because it's the Lord that you're serving, not just human masters. I want to bring up that human masters could mean to us the audition process. Obviously, our judges were trying to impress them and we can become slave to them. We also in the audition process, we're thinking about who can we impress? How can we please people with our results? And God is saying, those are not your masters. Don't be slave to them. I am your master. Work heartily unto me, not just you can please people and win over judges. And at the end of the day, you know that no matter the results of your hard work, you will be met with the pearly gates of heaven, eternal life with your God. That's your inheritance. That's what's waiting for you. So work hard on this earth, but know that that's your eternal home, that you can't take the treasures of this life with you. Work heartily unto the Lord, but know that you will be in heaven one day face to face with your King. And that's what really matters. The second thing is to pray. As I said, obviously we all know this is a very emotional process. So take prayer. your anxieties to the Lord. It says in Philippians 4, 6 through 7, do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, make your requests known to the Lord and let the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So give him your anxieties. Give him your hopes, your dreams. Supplications there means to ask for. So ask if you want to get into this school, if you want to get into this orchestra, if you want to get this certain chair, ask him for it. He says there's nothing wrong with that. Come to me with your anxieties and your hopes and your dreams. But hand them over to him. Lay them at his feet. Don't keep clenching them tightly with your own fists. Lay them at his feet and let him change your heart and give you ultimately peace which is so needed in the audition process right we need that peace and we have access to it through our god so go to him with it pray the next piece i would say is to rest there's this beautiful promise in deuteronomy 31 8 that says it is the lord who goes before you he will be with you he will never fail you or forsake you so do not fear or be dismayed And that pretty much speaks for itself. You don't have to fear walking into that audition room as scary as it may seem, but you don't walk in alone. The Lord is with you. And there's so much comfort in that. You've maybe heard this saying before that you play for an audience of one. And that's something my mom always said, like in the audition room, you don't play for those judges. You play for the Lord. Like, remember that your audience is just him and there's extreme comfort in that. He goes with you. He's cheering for you. for you, rest in that. And the last point I want to make is to trust. In Proverbs 3, 5 through 6, it says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. So trust the Lord with the results. Even beforehand, you don't know the results yet, but trust that either way, no matter what way it goes, you trust him and you know that he has good plans for you. It says, lean not on your own understanding. Why? Because we may be confused sometimes at the things that he does, genuinely. We may not always fully understand what he's doing. But one thing we can know for sure is that his ways are always better than ours. Isaiah 55, 8-9 says, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. God is sovereign. And if you don't know what sovereign means, it means that God is in control of everything. So that means that even down to the small things, like God is in control of your audition results. He really is. So something that I genuinely found comfort in throughout my college career, and I believe even before that, when I felt like I was really learning about the sovereignty of God, was that No matter how good I may play in an audition, if God doesn't want me to be in a certain group or chair or school, I won't be. On the flip side, no matter potentially how horrible I may play, if God does want me to be in a certain group or chair or school, I will be. So let that free you. That just do your best. Be faithful with what he's given you. Steward over your gifts. Work hard. But let it just be in God's hands. Rest in that he's got it. That no matter how good you do, if God doesn't want you to be there, you won't be. No matter how horrible you may play, if he wants you to be there, he'll make it happen. So let that free you to do your best, but let God do the rest. Humble yourself under his authority. Offer your best and he will do with it what he knows is for your good and for his glory. He has an amazing way of being able to do that. And he has a purpose exactly for where you end up. His ways are not our ways. They are much, much better. So I hope those are spiritual truths that you can hold on to as you're preparing for your audition. I would encourage you to look up those scriptures, maybe memorize them, maybe write them down, put them in your case, whatever it may be. Rehearse those truths that no matter what, you can hold on to those things for certain. So the day of or during your audition, here's some practical advice. I encourage you to dress up, whether it's a blind audition or not. It just kind of gives you that extra boost of confidence. But make sure, obviously, that you're comfortable in what you're wearing. Sometimes people feel extra confident if they're wearing heels. Others absolutely cannot. They feel like a skyscraper waving in the wind. So maybe you want to wear flats. Or do you have an itchier shirt? Or does it kind of grab your wrists weird? I've had that too. So be comfortable, but dress up because it's important. You want to give your best. I would suggest to get there in plenty of time to warm up, feel comfortable, but also not be lounging around too long where you're getting a little extra nervous. As you're waiting, I would encourage you to pray. Take some just deep breaths. Rehearse those biblical truths that we just talked about. Take the pressure off yourself. Give it to God. I've also heard from people that they really don't like being on their phones beforehand. And I don't know if you're like me, sometimes my phone actually kind of does weird things with my eyes. So if I'm on my phone and then I look at a piece of paper, sometimes it kind of throws me off. So I would just recommend don't be on your phone beforehand and it kind of distracts your mind. I would encourage you to know that everybody's tendency is probably going to be to rush. So legitimately walk slowly yet confidently into the room take several deep breaths before you start it may feel like it's taking forever to you but believe me to the judges it does not feel like you're taking any time at all it's crazy how our perception of time is just not accurate when we're in that kind of stressful audition mode so just take time it may feel long to you but it's not it's normal time is moving at a normal speed don't let yourself rush through things even as you're turning pages excerpt to excerpt or closing your solo book. Just take your time. You don't need to rush from one thing to the next. And if you don't rush then in your music, that also can just really set you apart. So another thing that kind of goes along with that is just make sure that your tempos are set before you begin. If you start and you don't have a set tempo, especially a tempo that you don't feel comfortable with, I really don't see that necessarily going well. So take your time, get those tempos in your head before you start. This is a practical tip that goes really for any sort of performance, but just be in the moment. It's very easy to even while you're playing, critique yourself for something you just did or be stressed about a hard passage that's coming up. But just enjoy the music that you're making in the moment. Don't have that negative self-talk that's going to distract you and sometimes set you up for failure. Auditions can be a So awkward. Can we all agree that they are almost the most cold, awkward place we're going to have to perform these little chunks of music? It's just not natural, right? So it's very easy to want to tense up and just get out of that awkwardness as soon as possible. But I want to encourage you to walk into that room confidently, get very comfortable in that awkwardness, and just play freely. Again, we want to play smaller, play faster just to get out of there. Be comfortable. Enjoy it as much as you can. Relax and just do what you've prepared, right? You've put the hard work in and now you just get to do it. Lay it all out there and rest in the results that the Lord has for you. So yeah, your audition's done. I think we could all agree there's like no greater feeling than walking out of that audition room. It's so relieving. And no matter how you did, it's done. It's over. We're gonna move on, right? However, few hours later, it can very quickly turn into a very anxiety inducing time when you've played what you had to play, but now you're in the waiting period. You don't know results yet. And there can be lots of wild thoughts running through your mind. There can be lots of critiquing of what you remember from the audition. A lot of it's a blur, but from what you do remember, you can kind of be like, oh, I think that wasn't what I was hoping to do. Did I do well? Did I do poorly? Was it enough? It can just run wild. The devil will try to attack you during this time of waiting with lies and anxiety. So I want to encourage you from 2 Corinthians 10 5 to take every thought captive. It says we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. And we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. So before hearing your results, try not to dwell too much on how well or poorly you think you did. Instead, this is an immense opportunity, actually, to just rest and trust in the Lord and let him be enough for you that you don't need to know audition results right away. You are content. You're at peace. You're at rest. knowing that the results are in the Lord's hands. In the Bible study that I am currently doing, we talked a couple weeks ago about how waiting is actually an opportunity to rest in the Lord. We oftentimes want to get out of waiting. It's uncomfortable, right? But it can actually be an opportunity for greater rest in who he is. Psalm 62 5 says, For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is in him. And too often, we attach our hope to other things. In the audition process, we may attach our hope to a chair. But the waiting can really remind us that those things are not going to satisfy. That only God can give you that peace and rest while you're in the waiting, while you're still in the unknown. You're waiting on answers. If you find yourself not able to really let your mind rest in that, I would just encourage you to pray regularly. pray about it. Something that's always convicting to me is the question, have you prayed about it as much as you've thought about it? Prayer really changes our hearts. And it's just giving that continually over to the Lord, taking it out of our hands. We usually have a tight fist on these sorts of things and just laying them in his hands and then taking our hands away and saying, you've got it, Lord, like I give this to you. And sometimes even if we have to do that process over multiple, multiple times, it changes us. And I really do believe that's where peace can be found. The one other aspect of after your audition's done but you don't know results yet, just remember that you are a daughter of the king. That title is not even worth comparing to your seat in an orchestra. If you think about it, it's literally a chair. That we let consume our identity and our thoughts at times as classical musicians. A literal chair, just like the one I'm sitting in right now. Maybe you're sitting in a chair. So don't let it define who you are. It's not worthy of that. It's a chair. And even when the stakes are a little higher, like maybe it's scholarship money, a job, or getting into a professional orchestra, or getting into a college, still, being a daughter of the king is not worthy of being compared to it. So just remember that. So I thought of three possible outcomes that may happen after your audition. And I just want to give you some practical truth that may be an encouragement, I hope is an encouragement to you, no matter where you may fall in one of these three outcomes. Outcome number one is that you got into the group, but you didn't get the chair or the spot maybe that you wanted. And I just want to encourage you to bring your disappointment to your king through prayer. He wants to hear your heart. He wants to provide peace and comfort in what may be a painful time for you. But I want to encourage you. At the same time, to not stay there, to keep being faithful in your practice and showing up to the orchestra, being prepared with a good attitude, all those things. You really never know if the conductor will choose to move people around mid-semester or maybe midway through the year. And they notice if you really work hard, if you are faithful to be prepared, if you're a leader, no matter where you're sitting. And just remember that the Lord has a very, very specific purpose for where you are in an orchestra. Maybe it's to be a light to your stand partner or just the people that kind of sit in that square around you. Sometimes it's literally where your abilities are going to suit the orchestra best. Sometimes the back really needs strong leaders who are going to help the group forward. It also may be that this is the chair that's going to sanctify you the most. And if that's it, That's an amazing reason to be there. It may not be what you were expecting, but it's still for your good and for God's glory. No matter where you are in the orchestra, play there for the Lord, not as unto man. Don't worry about what other people may think. Worry about how you may be pleasing God with your music. And again, know that the devil will seek to use this situation to deceive you and to lie to you. Do not give him a foothold in your mind. Take every thought captive and inform it with truth. And I mean big T truth. The truth that is certain, trustworthy, and without deception. Know that this says, absolutely nothing about your significance as a person. If you did well, it doesn't mean that God loves you anymore, that you are better than any other, or that your family and friends love you any more than they already do. If you don't do as good as you hoped or expected, that doesn't change God's love for you one single it not even close it doesn't even change his good good plans for you there's nothing you can do to spoil his plans for you it doesn't say anything about your worth or what you can contribute to the group it doesn't change how people see you or love you if they are truly good friends and this is what God has for you and trust that it is good I know it can be hard but inform your emotions with truth the truth of who he is and worship him for it he will satisfy you more than anything Any chair can. Okay, outcome number two. If you didn't get into the orchestra or into the music school or didn't get the scholarship, things with a little higher stakes, it's not just about chairs, but into these placements. Again, bring your fear, your disappointment, your insecurities to your God. We don't need to clean ourselves up before going to him. He doesn't care. Come to him in tears. He loves it. In Psalms 34, 18, it says he is near to the brokenhearted. Remember that his plans are the best plans, even when they differ from ours and are hard to understand at times. Remember Jeremiah 29, 11, which tells you that he has good plans for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. You never know in this situation what the Lord could also be sparing you from and what he may be saving you for. You never know if you got into that school. Maybe you would have hated it or that group. Maybe it would have been a really bad environment. You never know what he may be sparing you from and what he's saving you for. Maybe he's saving you for something entirely better. But be patient for him to show you. Just a reminder that we don't know what's going to happen even one second from now, one minute from now. None of it. But the Lord, he sees it all. And he is making a beautiful masterpiece. It's kind of like if you've ever done any embroidery, when you see the top, it looks so beautiful. But if you look underneath, you see all these tots and all these crisscrosses of different colors. It's not very attractive, right? And Sometimes this is what we see in the moment, but God sees the beautiful picture on top. Or maybe use the analogy of like a painting. We only see the individual brushstrokes right now, but he is painting a beautiful masterpiece. The story of your life as a whole. So don't get caught up in each little brushstroke of whether it matches what you are hoping or not. But remember that the Lord is creating this beautiful masterpiece through your life. And one day you will likely look back and get to see exactly what he was doing. Just hold on, be patient. God is doing something and you can be sure of that. Remember that just because you're not a good fit for one group doesn't mean that you're not the best fit for another group. Seriously. Some people take like 20 auditions before they get into a group and you never really know what outside factors may be contributing to the audition results. Like sometimes it literally just depends on the day. Sometimes it just depends what exactly they're looking for. They may be looking for very specific things, sometimes little factors that are out side of your control can contribute to the results. And you really never know what little factors kind of weigh in on these decisions. And it may not even be your playing. And so just try not to take it too personally because it really isn't. The main thing is just to keep being faithful. Keep resting in the Lord's amazing plan for you. Go to him with the heart, but inform your emotions with truth. Again, the truth of who he is and worship him for it. He will satisfy you more than any orchestra ever could I promise Okay, outcome number three is if you did get into the orchestra or school you wanted or you got the seat you wanted, whatever it was, you got what you were hoping for. And I just want to encourage you to praise the Lord. Pray to him with gratitude and thanksgiving. Maybe lift up a shout to him with song because it is a gift from him. It has very little to do with us. It has very little to do with you. James 1, 17 says, Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavens. heavenly lights who does not change like shifting shadows. So it's a gift that came from him who is the father of the stars. Walk in humility knowing that like Romans 11 36 says, for everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever. Amen. Literally everything is by his hand. This happy outcome is is a gift from him yes he gives us skills he gives us talents and he does reward our efforts at times but it's still a gift from him and so we should praise him for it not just give the glory to ourselves I want to encourage you. You may have lots of people complimenting you, congratulating you, which is okay and good, but receive those compliments humbly. Remember, your goal is his glory, not your own. That's for all of us. Our goal is his glory, not our own. Again, continue to walk in faithfulness. The hard work does not stop now. It's actually just beginning. No matter what, if you got into an orchestra or you got into a school, you have years ahead of you now of trying to be faithful and working hard unto the Lord. And just remember that whatever challenges you might find yourself in, whether it's in your new orchestra, your new school, your new chair, new position, whatever it may be in, just remember he will be with you and he will help you through that just Even with this one audition. So to kind of wrap it all up, John Piper says, resolve to walk and work faithfully before the Lord in the freedom of forgiveness. We will never do it perfectly. We will need the Lord's grace and forgiveness, but he is always there to extend it mercifully and bountily. Remember to worship in it. It can be a stressful process, but we want to keep our eyes lifted to him, remembering that he is our aim, not just climbing the ladder of success. And no matter what outcome you have, you might have noticed each one of them. I encourage you to walk faithfully. It doesn't matter what road you walk in this earth. The Lord calls us to be faithful to him and to him alone. So I pray that these truths have been encouraging to you. Okay, thanks so much for spending time out of your day with me today. I hope you found this episode helpful. And if you have any audition tips, please leave them in the comments on YouTube. I would love to hear them and I know others would greatly benefit from them as well. I also want to encourage you to check the description in YouTube for links to songs that correlate with some of the topics we discussed in this episode today. God gave us music as a means of greater engaging our hearts in worship. I thought it would be worthwhile to start filling the soundtrack of our lives with truth that helps us navigate the classical music world as Christians. Check out those descriptions each week to see if there are songs there that you may want to add to your playlist that will help greater engage your hearts in worship. One of the songs this week is My Worth Is Not In What I Own by Keith and Kristen Getty. And I just think it's a beautiful reminder that no matter what results we get from our audition, that our hope and our boast is always in Jesus and the work he did on the cross. So I'm going to end today's episode by reading those lyrics. It goes, My worth is not in what I own, not in the strength of flesh and bone, but in the costly wounds of love at the cross. My worth is not in skill or name, in win or lose, in pride or shame, but in the blood of Christ that flowed at the cross. I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone. As summer flowers, we fade and die. Fame, youth, and beauty hurry by. But life eternal calls to us at the cross. I will not boast in wealth or might or human wisdom's fleeting light, but I will boast in knowing Christ at the cross. I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone. Two wonders here that I confess, my worth and my unworthiness. My value fixed, my ransom paid at the cross. I rejoice in my Redeemer, greatest treasure, wellspring of my soul. I will trust in Him, no other. My soul is satisfied in Him alone.