Posted by muse on October 29, 2003 at 16:47:12:
In Reply to: Re: Interesting article from Matt Guilford.. posted by Kenneth Sloan on October 28, 2003 at 12:59:57:
"Why can't a major orchestra trim its application pool from 200+ to 10 on the basis of resumes?"
Simply, orchestras - though orchestra audition processes are often quite flawed - are not so pompous (as are universities, etc.) as to assume that - just because someone has "this" degree, "that" experience, or that "so-and-so" says they are great - a person is necessarily going to be the best applicant. In the world of the currently employed and highly-titled, incompetence seems to be rampant - particularly where "subjective" skills are involved.
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Now, possible flaws with this particular process (discussed in this thread):
- sticking in a bunch of "ringers" in the semi-finals (in this particular audition) seems to indicate a tremendous amount of self-doubt on the part of the audition committee. If the committee members are perfectly capable of judging aurally, why bother giving the (assumed) strongest applicants such an advantage?
- individual committee members' attitudes effecting/affecting adjudication. The tone of the article (linked in the original post) and large "self-portraits" throughout the website are apparent demonstrations of this. "We the all-knowing and magnificent are judging the ignorant and unwashed." may have prevailed here, and possibly is prevalent at many open auditions...Committees have every right to be this way if they wish, but this attitude could dictate procedure that discourages, "Would the applicant please play that again a little slower/faster and a bit softer/louder?" Instead: "That sure was crap, and we have our ringers lined up for the next round anyway... NEXT!"
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Nope, though the open audition process can be greatly flawed, I don't think I'd be very interested in attending concerts that consisted of orchestra members that were pre-selected among 5 or so applicants. The quality of those hypothetical performances would too closely resemble the quality of the performances of too many universities' faculty brass/woodwind/string quintets' recitals.