Audition #2

My second audition was for 4th horn with a community orchestra in the north suburbs and was scheduled for September 2, a week and a half after the last audition. I know the bass trombonist in this group and he kindly wrote a sort of recommendation for me.
The audition list included 2nd horn excerpts from Beethoven Symphonies #3 (3rd & 4th movements), #7, and #8, Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony (Finale), and the Haydn Symphony #31 (Horn Signal); 4th horn excerpts from Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mendelssohn's 3rd Symphony, Saint-Saens Symphony #3 (the Organ Symphony), Schumann Symphony #3, and Brahms Symphony #4. Great music, but a lot of it! And I had never played even the excerpts from the Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Saint-Saens. I also needed to play the Mozart again.
I had started learning this music before audition #1, but I was feeling the time crunch now. At the end of August we had made two round trips to Bloomington, Indiana and one trip to Milwaukee. Then teacher institute days began. September 2 would be my second day of school with my new class. I also had another audition to get ready for the following week. I was very disciplined and practiced for an hour and a half or more each evening after working all day. I listened repeatedly to all the pieces on my iPod (thank you, public library!).
However, as September 2 approached, I could tell that I wasn't going to have all of these excerpts nailed. I just didn't have enough time.
On September 2, I drove over to the hall where this orchestra performs. Checking in with the personnel manager, I met another auditioning horn player. He was quite a bit younger than me. I had been coaching myself not to be nervous, but when I got in the room with the conductor and two orchestra members who were judging the auditions, I was nervous. I know it affected my playing, and I already felt I couldn't play a lot of these excerpts as well as I wanted. I played. They thanked me.
So, I felt I had done the best I could with the music and the time I had been given, but I was disappointed that I had again been plagued with nerves.