Posted by Joe S. on December 12, 2000 at 08:50:04:
In Reply to: Is there instrument bias? posted by MG on December 11, 2000 at 23:12:34:
I KNOW that it happens. A friend of mine who plays principal trombone in a major orchestra DISGUISED the brand of his instrument prior to his winning audition (a brand that has been berated by some) by changing a couple of its "trademark-shapes-seen-from-a-distance" looks. Principal HORN players on audition committees have strong biases against brass or nickel-silver and "Geyer wrap" vs. "Kruspe wrap", depending on what they personally use - regardless of how an applicant actually SOUNDS. Many oboists are adamantly opposed to Laubin oboes or Loree oboes, depending on which of those two brands (a few play other brands, too) they subscribe to. Plenty of Buffet-playing clarinetists would laugh Leblanc-playing clarinetists off the stage, if they could actually TELL from a distance. Flute players seem to be more accepting of a variety of brands - perhaps because there ARE so many brands...a strong ANTI-USA bias on the flutes, however - except perhaps the Boston-made ones.
Not so much of this with tubas - perhaps because most people on audition committees don't know anything about tubas (Often, the outgoing principal tuba has already split town.) and haven't formed opinions. If you played in all all-tuba competition, I still doubt that there was much of this. Tuba players seem more accepting of a variety of brands than most other classifications of wind players. (It probably stems back from the teenage days of "just feeling lucky to have ANY tuba".)