When Allen reached the front porch of R.J.'s house he stopped to catch his breath before knocking on the door. Before Allen could knock twice the door was opened by Mrs. Williams.

"Here you are Allen," she said opening the door wide for Allen. "Mr. Williams is waiting for you in the music room."

"Thanks Mrs. Williams," Allen replied politely. He walked quickly to the room. Allen figured he could find the Williams' music room with his eyes closed since he had been receiving lessons from Mr. Williams since he was five years old.

"Allen you made it," Mr. Williams exclaimed when Allen bust through the door.

"Yep, but just barely. Hopefully Rex won't come upstairs to check on me."

"Then let's get started," Mr. Williams said gesturing towards the music stand already set up with Allen's solo.

Allen quickly tuned his violin and started playing. Not far into the piece Allen started to get into the music. His whole body moved with the song and he felt one with the music. When the last notes drifted away Mr. Williams applauded.

"That felt incredible," Allen gasped. "I haven't felt that way during a song for awhile."

"You sounded great and if you play with that much passion at the competition you should come out on top."

"Thanks," Allen said. "Now what did I do wrong?"

Mr. Williams smiled, "You can be so hard on yourself. You just played that song beautifully."

"Yeah but not perfectly and at the competition I want to be able to play this song perfectly. So what did I do wrong?"

"You went a little fast on the staccato section, you need to play those sharper by making them short and clean."

"Okay," Allen reached into his violin case to grab his notebook. He quickly jotted down Mr. William's comments. "Anything else?"

"That's all I can think of right now. How about you play it some more and maybe I'll think of something."

After playing through the piece many more times Allen and Mr. Williams took a break. As Allen jotted down some notes in his little notebook Mr. Williams rifled through a large stack of paper.

"Allen have you ever heard of the Young Adult Summer Music Program?"

"Of course! It's only one of the top summer music programs in the country. I have always sent in an audition tape but have never heard back from them. I've always wondered if they ever got them. Why?"

"Because I sent in an audition tape for you and today I got a letter saying you've advanced to the next stage of audition process."

"Really, that's awesome thank you so much Mr. Williams."

"It's no problem Allen. I really want to see you succeed in this field and I think if the right doors open you can."

"So what is the next stage of the audition process?"

"You have to play a piece in front of some of the teachers."

"Okay, that does not seem too bad."

"Good, oh and guess who is going to be one of the teachers as well as the director of the larger orchestra?"

"I have no idea, somebody special I guess by the fact that you seem really excited."

"I am, its Orlando Patterson."

"Orlando Patterson," Allen exclaimed. "He is one of my idols."

"I know. So I found a great song you could use as your audition piece." Mr. Williams handed Allen a manila envelope with six pages of sheet music. "We can start working on it during your lessons."

"Okay, but what about my solo for the upcoming competition? Why don't I just use that song?"

"I think you have that down flat. Plus it's good to add variety to your practice sessions."

"Can I trying playing it?"

"How about we call it a night so you can go home and finish your job. I'm sure you are feeling anxious to go home and get that done."

"Actually I forgot all about that, I guess I can get so submersed into the music that I forget about everything else. But you're right, I need to get home and relieve R.J. Thanks for agreeing to do my lesson later than scheduled."

"No problem, anything for my best student."

Allen grinned as he quickly packed up his stuff. "Bye Mr. Williams. Have a good night."

"You too Allen."

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