Joey Lavarias
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About
Current DMA Candidate at UNC-Greensboro, majoring in Bassoon Performance. I have won several orchestral auditions, and currently teach at UNC-School of the Arts as a Professor of Aural Skills. I spent six years at The Juilliard School in New York, majoring in music. I was also a Teaching Fellow for Juilliard's Ear Training department, a position I held for four years.
Joey’s Career Stories
In layperson terms, what do you actually do at work?
Currently, I'm a full-time graduate student at The Juilliard School, but I also work as a Teaching Fellow in the Ear Training department. Essentially, I am a TA for the Ear Training classes. Ear Training is half-performance of basic skills like sight singing, solfege, rhythm, and various clef exercises, and half-dictation, like writing down melodies they hear or analyzing a basic chord progression just by hearing it once or twice.
When did you get your first Big Break? How did you get it? How did it go?
Actually, my current job as an Ear Training Teacher is really what changed my career for the better. I was asked to apply for a Teaching Fellow position my now-supervisor. At first I had my doubts, but I decided to do it. There were multiple rounds of interviews and an audition that consisted of teaching a class for 20 minutes. It was...a lot. But I actually won the job! What it did for me was give me confidence in myself. I spent the first two years at Juilliard always nervous that I wasn't improving enough on the bassoon and that I blended into the background. With the Teaching Fellowship under my belt, I learned that I can push past my comfort zone and be successful at music, and it inspired me to practice bassoon a lot more. If you can put your mind to anything, you will succeed!