Posted by Rod Mathews on January 02, 2002 at 22:58:59:
In Reply to: Auditions: Are They Real? posted by David on January 01, 2002 at 13:49:38:
Hey Dave!
Here are few things for us all to think about. I'm sure there are many more to add, and I'm sure folks will add them!
First, playing excerpts in an audition situation is, in my experience, very different from playing them in the orchestra. You can make sounds with an orchestra "wrapped around you" that you cannot make in an audition. When I was studying with Warren Deck, he played Bruckner 7th the way he would play it in an audition, which was incredibly powerful. He then played it again the way he would play it in the orchestra, and he turned it up more than a few notches! Things in unison with the trombones, like Hungarian March, need to sound more trombone-like when you play them alone in an audition, and can sound more tuba-like when played with the orchestra. Mahler 1 can be played a touch louder in an audition than it can in the orchestra. The list goes on and on.
Second, the excerpts must clearly depict the character of the pieces when you play them for a committee. As you know from serving on committees, every person hears the piece from their perspective. A string player will hear the piece much differently than a woodwind player, who will hear different things than a brass player. That being the case, the tempo and style have to fit the character of the piece, while the tuba specific things I talked about in the previous paragraph have to be factored in. Playing along with recordings and studying scores, along with recording yourself, helps work out these issues. I sat on a few committees, and it was sometimes difficult to tell what piece an auditionee was playing! I had to ask myself if they had ever listened to a recording!
Third, there is no substitute for experience. Practicing Symphonie Fantastique and studying scores and recordings is *very* different from playing it a bunch of times with different groups and conductors. This experience helps the excerpt have the right character and style when you play it for an audition, and is what separates the men from the boys at the major auditions.
Fourth, taking auditions is like going to Baskin Robbins. Let's say you play in a "Strawberry" style and the orchestra is looking for "Chocolate". It doesn't matter what you do to convince them that they want Strawberry, they are going to find someone who gives them Chocolate. Trying to guess what flavor they want and emulate the just departed player is a really bad idea, in my opinion. You aren't going to perform as well as you can because you are trying to perform like someone else, and who knows if the committee really liked the way the last guy played anyway! Think about how different Norm Pearson plays from Roger Bobo, or how different Gene Pokorny's playing is from Arnold Jacobs'. These guys sold the flavor their orchestras were looking for!
Fifth, an audition is a competition with yourself. The goal is to play as well as you can, at the highest level you are capable of. If you do that, then everything else is out of your hands. If you succeed and have the right "flavor", you just might get the job. Folks who approach it as a competition and want to "beat" everyone else at the audition have their eyes on the wrong ball. That's not what it's about.
So, to conclude my rambling, I think the people who are successful at auditions are the people who have mastered these skills, or have some natural ability with these skills from which to start. Some people, like Warren Deck, take three auditions in their career (and win two of them) because they have a huge natural ability, and they work their rear end off to develop themselves. Others take 20, 30, 40 auditions and wind up winning a job later in the process. With rare exception, I don't think folks pull the whole package together without a lot of work, the right teachers, the right ensemble and repertoire training, and some significant amount of experience. Luck does play a part, and being the flavor that the committee is looking for is always a plus. ;-)
Later!
Rod