Hey Forum World. Question here. The Indianapolis Symphony posted a one year principal trumpet audition on July 10th with the audition application being due by the end of the day and the audition being held on the 20th with no repertoire list available prior to the application being submitted. Upon some further investigation the repertoire list is maybe six pieces all being the most common principal trumpet excerpts out there. So I guess my question is- is this turning into a new normal especially regarding the numerous one-year auditions popping up?
I apologize if this is in the wrong sub category on this site. I'm just curious to think what other people think about this and if this is the expectation now. Thanks!
I said I wasn’t going to do this, but since people seem to have a problem with my comments, here you go.
First off, there are a lot of different forces at play when filling a position: Management, Musicians, Musicians Local, Music Director. The orchestra is in an odd spot because there are so many vacancies and especially in the brass section, not very many tenured members (retirements, lack of MD to fill vacancies). It was my understanding that the brass section wanted to appoint someone OR have an invite only audition, both/either of which were given the OK by management, and have been happening in other sections since the end of the pandemic.
It was in fact, the LOCAL (as in AFM affiliated musicians union) that stepped in and said they needed to have an audition so that locals could have the opportunity to apply, hence the last minute audition. Given the time frame of needing someone for the entire year at a premium position, the last minute nature was a necessity. I can assure you the musicians involved were not pleased with this decision, but it indeed came from the union, so any suggestion that it was illegal or against the CBA is incorrect. Why would we not want the most people possible to attend? Wouldn’t we want to get the best player possible? I would.
Things that are true:
The individual who won had absolutely no prior relationship to the orchestra, so the suggestion that it was rigged or and inside job is not true. At all. Instead of bashing the musicians, they should be applauded for listening with care and giving the candidates a fair shake. They could have easily no-hired it and moved on to their preferred person
A number of people that the brass section were interested in and who had been invited to play with the orchestra this summer COULDN’T ATTEND THE AUDITION. Again, calling it rigged or and inside job is not true.
It is standard hiring practice at the ISO to require a medical exam prior to employment at the organization. I had to do one as a tenure track member. It is not an ADA violation, as any HR or disability attorney will tell you.
I find it extremely troubling that people immediately jump to false accusations and suggestions that things are "fixed", "rigged", “illegal”, or "sketchy". Many of the accusations I have seen regarding no hires or audition practices are speculative at best and downright wrong at worst. If you don't want to audition somewhere because of how you perceive they go about their business, that is your prerogative.
As someone said above, if you want a job in this industry, you have to work hard and play the game. I’m sorry to those who perhaps wanted to audition but couldn’t, but if this was done the way it was originally intended, there wouldn’t have been a public audition. The main issue is not how things happen, it’s that there is a huge supply and very small demand. Again, your prerogative to play the game or not.
I’m sorry if I offended anyone with my comments, but it’s pretty frustrating to see an immediate jump to foul play without first knowing the facts, and then I have to (or I guess choose to) come in here and defend myself and the orchestra when in fact, nothing that happened was wrong. It was also wrong of me to decry people for speaking anonymously. However, just because you don’t agree with how something is done, doesn’t make it wrong.
If anyone has any questions or would like to discuss this more, feel free to reach out to me @thecandidclarinetist on Instagram.
Sam
There have been a couple comments on Instagram that "almost none of the info in this thread is true" and to urge us to not "spew venom about audition procedures from people with no experience or idea how or why things happen."
While I'd rather not publicly argue with colleagues in this very small profession on Instagram, I do want to write some of my thoughts on this thread, and invite further respectful discussion.
The purpose of this thread is for increased openness and transparency, which quite frankly has been seriously lacking on this large scale until relatively recently. What does it mean when a member of the orchestra (an acting principal player) says that it's not worth their time to argue with anonymous Internet users about certain audition procedures for their orchestra? It 1.) invalidates potentially legitimate concerns that were probably not made for no reason out of thin air, 2.) makes the situation more veiled--if this member of the orchestra who is clearly in-the-know, has qualms with what has been said, why not rectify it? Why not simply illuminate the public, if those in the conversation have "no experience or idea how or why things happen"? If it's a very private or sensitive matter that requires opacity, that may be more understandable, but as far as I'm concerned, orchestras need to be held accountable for how they run auditions. People spend time, money, and energy to attend auditions, and if there are are grievances that are aired by multiple people, perhaps it would be wise to be empathetic and listen to what people have to say and not immediately assume malevolence or dishonesty. After all, we might not know the full picture--so why not fill us in?
Please excuse formatting or coherence, but I hope I got my point across. Again, let's remain civil and try to work together to improve future audition processes. I think we all want to see more fair and transparent audition processes.
Just my two cents.
It's not uncommon in Europe to be given the excerpts two weeks before the audition. 9 days is short notice, yes, but as long as everyone received the excerpts at the same time, it's not unfair.
Can someone explain to me the problem with only providing the repertoire list 9 days before the audition? It seems like this would confirm that the orchestra would hire someone who has these excerpts under their fingers, which is something you want in a Principal.
While I don't want to dispute that this audition sounds pretty fraught, as a musician who works in HR I want to clarify about medical examination requirements, in general. It really depends on the wording of the form -- it is not generally a violation of the ADA to require a job offer to be conditioned upon a medical examination, as long as all new hires are required to do the same. A typical physical form will say something like, the individual is able to perform the essential functions of the ISO as assigned. If the form itself signed by the doctor just says the individual must be "in good health," that is extremely vague and should be checked over by a lawyer.
The key terms with the ADA are the essential functions of a job and reasonable accomodations. An employee must be able to complete the essential functions with or without reasonable accomodations. An example of reasonable accomodations might be a violinist with vision issues can have their own stand instead of sharing with a stand partner. However, if someone can't complete the essential functions of the job with or without reasonable accomodation, they aren't considered a "qualified candidate." The key for determining the essential functions of this (and any) job is to look at the job description. As an aside, this is why you see many job descriptions list something like "must be able to lift 10 pounds," it's a pretty sad way of skirting the ADA.
https://www.eeoc.gov/pre-employment-inquiries-and-medical-questions-examinations
What exactly does “good health” mean to the ISO? This directly violates very clear ADA regulations among employers. This is very disappointing to see on an artistic platform, and I hope there is an investigation in to this. Until there is, I will be discouraging any of my colleagues from auditioning here in the future.
So far no one one this thread has produced actual documentation of the original audition posting. Wildly speculating via social media about something that may or may not be true is quite frankly irresponsible and harmful.
I've seen social media comments from an actual member of the ISO saying none of this is true...... maybe wait for more context before bashing the musicians and making accusations
Can someone share the actual audition posting?
This was last-minute, too. Conrad Jones, current principal trumpet in Indianapolis, was just a̶p̶p̶o̶i̶n̶t̶e̶d̶ (EDIT: offered) a one year as co-principal trumpet in Pittsburgh.
It's a shame that I only found out about this audition today, when it's already happened and over with.
I think this is a super messed-up audition process that seems to be intended to make it difficult for people to actually take the audition and favors allowing people on the inside to pick and choose who they want. Posting an audition with tens days notice and no repertoire available is laughable.
I also take major umbridge with a stipulation the candidates have received asking for a signed doctor's note stating that the candidate is healthy enough to play the position. Such a hassle and waste of people's time, and again doesn't do anything besides dissuading people with chronic health conditions (who can and do play orchestra jobs with those conditions at a high level every day!!) from taking this job. Feels very gate-keeping like to me.
Not a good look at all, Indy.