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See the 5-instrument audition that landed a UNT musician his summer Disneyland gig

University of North Texas senior Brendon Wilkins has significant experience performing jazz and classical music, from his years in the Denton university's storied jazz program to professional tours playing with big bands in his home state of New York. But this summer will bring the 23-year-old woodwind and sax specialist the kind of life-changing gig about which young players often dream.

He's going to Disneyland.

It was announced this week that Wilkins will join the California Disney amusement park's All-American College Band on sax and piccolo. It's the cream-of-the-crop, 21-piece ensemble that does one long big-band show and four other short marching appearances around the park each day during the summer season.

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"The stage shows will be more rooted in the jazz tradition, and we'll also play with guest artists who come in to do their shows," Wilkins says. "The marching shows will be a little more centered around the Disney theme music -- different arrangements of that."

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Formations, drills and celebratory medleys should come relatively easily for the senior, who has put in time with UNT's marching band. But making it into the Disneyland band was anything but a breeze.

The first step in what Wilkins calls a "grueling" audition process was a video tryout that showcased his range of talents.

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"We had basically 15 minutes to show them what we could do," he said. "I play many of the woodwind instruments so I wanted to highlight my versatility.

"I played jazz sax, classical flute, piccolo, clarinet, classical sax -- all those in that 15 minutes."

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Check out the video of the audition and you can see why he got a call for the next phase. That one was in-person and much scarier, combining the familiar with the unexpected.

"I had my prepared section I was comfortable with, but the second section was definitely a nerve-racking experience. That section of the audition was really looking at everything I knew about music and overall musicianship."

Wilkins made the final cut, beating out scads of other hopefuls -- he'll be at Disneyland working intensely for 11 weeks. The summer program will afford Wilkins educational opportunities that offer school credit. Yet the obvious draw for the experience is the chance to work for a company well known for iconic musicals and pop-culture ubiquity.

"What's remarkable to me is the consistency that Disney has to continually write and create such great music that's always fitting for the movies, that really captures the character," Wilkins said.

"It's just unbelievably amazing to me, the whole thing."

Follow Hunter Hauk on Twitter: @hausofhunter