Listen on –
On this episode of “Winning the Job”, we’re featuring Jeff Lewandowski and John Romero. Jeff recently won a position with the United States Army Field Band, and John recently won principal trombone with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Congrats to them both!
I’ve been friends with Jeff since the summer of 2011. That’s actually where the picture in this post came from: our summer together at the National Repertory Orchestra. We’ve kept in touch over the years, and in the past couple of years Jeff has been able to sub with our section in Alabama, so we’ve gotten even closer. I know long Jeff has been working to win a full time job, so I was incredibly excited for him to hear that he had won his position with the field band. It wasn’t until I spoke with him on this episode that I found out how he had prepared, and I was blown away. I believe to an extent, an audition can expose our weaknesses in our playing and how we prepare. But Jeff took it to another level and used it to expose areas in his life as a whole where he could stand to grow. I have so much respect for him, and I think there is a lot to learn from.
On the flip side, I didn’t know John at all. I’ve actually never met him. I read on a website that he won principal trombone in the Met and I thought “I should reach out and see if he would be interested in being on the podcast”. Man, he was so nice and generous with his time. I’ll never stop being blown away by how giving all of the people I’ve interviewed have been. On top of that, John shared ways that he prepared that I had never heard of or even considered before. He just made up a way of preparing that I’m sure few people have thought of, and that’s pretty hard to do. I’m glad to have spoken with him, and I hope you all get a lot out of what he has to say.
Here’s a playlist Jeff sent me
and here a playlist John sent me
Until next time,
Ryan