When the audition openings memo was posted on the wall backstage at Davies Symphony Hall, I couldn’t believe it. It included a second trombone opening for the San Francisco Symphony which paid $55,000 (~$152K in today’s dollars). I was giddy with anticipation because trombone positions rarely open (i.e., John Engelkes, one of my brass coaches, played bass trombone there from 1981 – 2020), let alone in such a great city, with such a high caliber symphony. 

One of my career ambitions was to be the Principal Trombone player of the Berlin Philharmonic (which was all male then and I definitely wanted to break up that club), and this second trombone position would be but a steppingstone on my quest!

Wow!  What a bonanza! 

I had no qualms or nervousness about auditioning. I knew it was a longshot for me given my age, the rarity of trombone openings, and the abundance of talented musicians in the Bay Area. Of course, the prospect of making $55K doing something I loved was a huge draw!

At the time, I was principal trombone in the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, and we were about to embark on a European tour to compete for the world’s Best Youth Orchestra (Spoiler Alert: we won, which is a story I will tell another day). I had every bit of confidence (or some might say cockiness) that goes along with being 18, completing my first year of college, playing in seven different performing groups, and practicing two hours a day. I couldn’t wait to get started. I practically sprinted to find Ron Gallman, our operations manager, to ask for his help in finding and making copies of the audition music.

SFSYO European Tour 1986 – Sonya Sigler & Pauline DeBerry

I made a music resume listing the numerous positions and every group with which I had played and every award I had received related to music. I booked time with my trombone teacher to make the audition recording. I felt I was well on my way to becoming the professional musician I knew was my destiny.

Ravel’s Bolero – Trombone 1 Part

Alas, I only remember two of the five required passages for the audition. One was Ravel’s Bolero (pictured here) and the other was the tenor trombone solo in Tuba Miram from Mozart’s Requiem. In all my years of playing thereafter, I never had the opportunity to play either again.

To this day, even though I never received a call back, auditioning for the San Francisco Symphony is one of my most memorable accomplishments.

Fast forward a few decades…to May 2022…

Mozart’s Requiem – Tenor Trombone Part

After Jana Christianson, our Vancouver Master Chorale Director, announced we were singing Mozart’s Requiem with a full orchestra accompaniment in the coming year’s concert series, I shared a bit of my audition story with her.  She offered me the opportunity to play the solo in the concert and with more than 35 years passing since playing it for an audition but never in a concert, I was all too happy to jump at the chance to play the Tuba Miram solo.

In January, I was practicing after three weeks of travel without my trombone, when a realization hit me: My playing was not up to snuff!

Panic started to creep in after realizing I only had 16 weeks (with seven weeks of planned travel) remaining before our concert dates. Still, there was NO way I was going to back out of this amazing opportunity. I wanted the chance to play that Mozart Requiem solo – I was going to make this happen.

Cal Alumni Band – 4th of July Parade 2010

Taking stock of the situation, I realized the following…My playing stamina lasted for about 5 minutes… My previously incredible 4-octave range was limited… My embouchure muscles were weak…My tone was like that of a beginner, with notes splitting, or not even articulating at all…My dexterity and clarity were lacking… I could barely hold a whole note for the full 4 counts. I felt like my niece, a beginner, who had just picked up trombone as a sixth grader. This was not a good place for me to be 4 months before a concert with such a rare solo opportunity.

Time was ticking and I needed a plan.

If I were giving myself lessons, what would I do? 

I treated myself as the beginner I sounded like. I did an assessment and made a plan to build my skills back to a high-performance level. I dug out all of my trombone books – from the beginning book in elementary school to the advanced books of high school and college. I found the scales, the lip slurs, the dexterity exercises, the breathing exercises. All of it.

Like a beginner, I worked through each book from beginning to end, starting with that elementary school book, then the intermediate books, then the advanced books (complete with prior lesson dates marked in them). If my tone was splitting still, I worked through the long tones, holding notes for as long as possible, with clear tone. I worked on my intonation with a tuner app on my phone. I worked on alternate positions with exercise after exercise. If the dexterity didn’t come, I would break it down note by note, phrase by phrase, then play the whole thing again, repeating it if I made a mistake.

It was kind of like riding a bicycle and remembering what to do to enjoy bike riding on vacation but not rising to a level worthy of a Tour de France race.

Practicing in the Woods at Lair of the Bear Camp

The plan was working. I was up to about 45 minutes of good solid playing with good stamina, good tone, and accuracy. Thankfully I have amazing sight-reading skills still and playing in tenor clef came back naturally (kind of like a second language floods back into your brain upon arriving in a foreign country).

Travel was my only interruption from daily practices. I thought about traveling with my gold-plated mouthpiece to practice, but I feared losing it so close to the concert and I was convinced that it wasn’t possible to replace on an expedited basis. So, I pulled it from my luggage and tucked it safely back in its case where it would wait for me to return. 

When traveling, I did other breath and embouchure exercises. I even started running again and sang while driving to improve my lung capacity. I still am not back to pre-collapsed lung stamina levels, and I probably never will be, and I can live with that, but not without music.

The concerts the first weekend of May were excellent. Jana does an amazing job of preparing our choir and conducting the orchestra. She said for these concerts she let the music flow through her. When you listen to the recordings, you can hear for yourself! [The solo is at 58:22]

I feel like I held my own. It wasn’t perfect, as I would have demanded of myself (and others) in my ‘driving for professional status’ years. But I did it. I pulled it off. I didn’t make a fool of myself. Going in, I knew what I was saying yes to and taking on. I made good on Jana’s trust in me. I feel good about the solo performances. And, as I said to my husband when I gratefully deposited the check, “it’s been a while since I was paid as a professional.”

Sonya Sigler – May 2023

Not only was auditioning for the San Francisco Symphony at 18 one of my most memorable accomplishments, but so was playing the Tuba Miram solo after all these years.

All of this, I share with you to say, if you want something, go for it. Do not let fear hold you back from achieving what you want. Determination and hard work can stare fear down and, in my case, replace the cockiness of an 18-year-old who wants to be a professional musician. 

Some people might read this and wonder why in the world I would want to put myself through this while working and with everything else going on, and my answer to that question is simple, for the love of music. I did it for the pleasure that music brings, for the feeling that comes with putting music out into the world and hearing it come back to me, to know that I had a part in creating something beautiful and enduring.