A BIG thankyou to all who contributed to this!
To answer what some of you had inferred- yes part of the reason for me asking this was to see my chances, but not all of it. I really just have no concept of how many people audition for those specific groups (since those are who I'm looking at), and I was just interested in the numbers..: it's more trivial for me than it is trying to "see my chances".
Anywho; I really appreciate all the positive and helpful comments that everyone posted.
My first choice is Bluecoats. I went to their "interactive experience" which was basically an audition camp without the individual audition; it was super informative, I learned a lot about the cores specifics, got my face in front of a lot of the brass techs, and just soaked up a ton overall. I loved every second of it and had no complaints other than having to walk up and down the HUGE hill to get from housing to the field every morning (but hey thats childsplay compared to daily PT). We rehearsed, warmed up, and performed in a horn arc with the actual core. Being able to ask questions and talk with people in it was super valuable and really cool. As a bonus to that, I got a free copy of the 2015 trumpet audition packet and I use that as my daily warmup and technical practicing. Some of the exercises have been used repeatedly over the years, so I'm thinking that a few of the audition pieces for 2016 will be the same. I am going to fight for a spot, really, really hard. I'm the kind of person who if I genuinely like something, I'll go above and beyond in whatever ways possible to be able to do it to the fullest. I could be wrong, but if I was asked to self-assess, I would say that motivation, work ethic, and/ or determination won't be my downfall. I'm committed to practicing what I need to, continuously strive to improve in both playing and marching, and attempt to do what I can even at this point that will help me go above and beyond and stick out. I contacted one of the brass techs and sent him a recording of me playing a few of the audition exercises from 2015 and asked for critique. I am friends with and have ways of contacting a few of the trumpets from the 2015 hornline should I ask questions. I have a friend who just aged out with Bluestars who I go to with questions/ needs for helps.
The point of me writing this somewhat lengthy paragraph was not to show off or brag by any means, I wanted to give everyone a little bit of a better picture of who I am. I really trying to be my best to give myself the biggest shot possible, since I will be auditioning as a rookie.
Once again, I appreciate everyone's awesome information and support; a lot of what people had to say was above and beyond what I had originally asked for. I really appreciate the time and thought that everyone put into their responses. This was really cool, having this thread be my first on the forum, to have it turn out the way it did.
Thankyou!
