Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights:#1 I began professional auditioning in 1996, ten years after I began to play the tuba. I was invited to audition for the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, and I scraped together money for the plane ticket, the overweight luggage fee, and the oversized luggage fee to fly my two tubas in their hard cases.#2 I had gone from homeless on the Baltimore streets to studying for my doctorate in tuba at one of the most competitive music programs in the world, but I still wasn’t on the level. I had to practice more.#3 I walked down Carrollton Avenue, and when I reached the corner store, I saw a coin on the ground. I picked it up and took it to the corner store owner, who told me that my mother had been there earlier that day. I walked to Grandma Bernice’s house, but my mother wasn’t there either.#4 I would hunt for coins at night, sometimes crawling through the drain to get them. I would eat the chicken gizzards from the market. I was ready to play.