I've been adding occasional updates about my interview/audition for the music director job at Unitarian Universalist Metro Atlanta North. Unfortunately, I did not get the job.
My audition went very well, and I enjoyed the experience. My inside source tells me that the other candidate was a classical musician. I'm a little confused by UUMAN's decision because I was told during my interview and subsequent conversations that UUMAN was looking for someone to break out of the traditional classical mode and present more diverse, contemporary music. Still, this isn't about contemporary vs classical. They may have liked the other candidate's experience more, or perhaps they felt he was somehow a better fit with UUMAN's vision. Whoever the winning candidate is, I congratulate him, and I hope that he is able to take UUMAN's music program, which is already good, and make it flourish.
Whatever the reasons for UUMAN choosing the other candidate, I still feel great about my audition. Looking back on the experience, there is not one thing I would have changed. I couldn't have represented myself any better. If a similar position opens up in an Atlanta Unitarian Universalist church, I will be one of the first to apply.
I've spent a lot of time and energy on this interview/audition, and I spent last week recuperating while the other candidate auditioned. While I've been focusing on the job hunt, I haven't spent much time on the gig hunt, so it's time to get back to it and start making calls again.
About Me
- Tom Godfrey
- Atlanta, GA, United States
- When I suffered a lip injury that ended my career as a classical trombonist, I thought my life as a musician was finished, but I fell in love with music all over again when Santa gave me a guitar for Christmas in 2003. Even as I was struggling with my first chords, I was planning a new performance career. As a trombonist, I performed with the Heritage of America Band at Langley Air Force Base, the Ohio Light Opera, and in pick-up bands for touring acts that included Rosemary Clooney, George Burns, and the Manhattan Transfer. Reborn as a jazz guitarist, I sing and play my own solo arrangements of jazz classics, am half of the Godfrey and Guy duo, and hold the guitar chair in the Sentimental Journey Orchestra. I have been a freelance music copyist since 1995, served as Director of Music at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 2011 to 2017, and currently serve as Contemporary Band Director at the same congregation.
When you're in a situation that can't be quantified like a test score or completion of specific tasks then it's a roll of the dice that you have no control over and therefore shouldn't get upset about, especially as an artist or musician. Keep on Rolling while they watch you head off in an even better direction...
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