Hi all, I wanted to create a thread of any & all audition problems that I have personally expierenced, in a way to discuss & hopefully change the way auditions are run in the future. Please feel free to add to this list, and to discuss what I listed just below. 1. Audition announced only one month in advance. (Not enough time to prepare, will either not take the audition, or will show up ill-prepared.) 2. Audition list too long, or too difficult, or both. (Instead of deep-diving, on cleanliness, and musical decisions, forced to spread time thin on everything, leaving out a lot of details.) 3. Audition list unclear/excerpts not provided. (Orchestra does not send the same excerpts that the committee will have. Sometimes markings & dynamics DON'T line up, and candidates can be cut for this. Sometimes the candidates need to search for music that's NOT on public domain.) 4. Overly picky committee: ("This candidate was close to advancing, but they made 3 mistakes". Commitee members are sometimes 'over-judging', with little to no remorse over some inevitable minor mistakes during a high pressure situation.) 5. Poorly run audition: (You're told you had 50 minutes to warm-up, SURPRISE, committee needs to hear you NOW." - "We need you to wait an extra 30 minutes because the candidate before you was asked to come back & play again".) 6. Poor audition room choices: ("We couldn't book the hall, so lets do our 'bass trombone' audition in a small practice room". Players who might've advanced in a hall, may not advance in a smaller room.)
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AUDITION FORUM
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Of course I agree that committees ought to do everything in there power to permit candidates to play their best, but two counterpoints:
1) It's no secret that you should prepare in such a way that some of these things are non issues. Someone will be able to play well in a terrible space or under unexpected conditions. It is possible and desirable to account for these things in your preparation.
2) Maybe there are a handful of individuals out there who sit on committees and vote to cut anyone who makes a few mistakes, but almost everyone I talk to who has either won auditions or sat on a committee says that this just isn't a thing. We need to differentiate between a) errors that happen because we're human and b) errors that sound like they're happening because we don't have control over our instrument. I know the difference between these in my own playing, and a committee does as well.