Has anyone ever had to go through sightreading at an audition? I've seen it in many lists but never had to do it. Is it usually in the final round? How much would it affect the outcome of the audition?
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I've never come across sightreading in the dozens of orchestral auditions I've done in the US, even though it was frequently listed it as a possibility. I probably didn't make it far enough in many of them to get asked for it anyway. I have had to do sightreading in several US military band auditions though, often in the 2nd round, and with a metronome sample to base your tempo on!
In the UK, they sight read all the time at auditions, and yes it does matter. That's because the orchestras over there often have very little rehearsal, especially for recordings. For example, I once played Belshazzar's Feast with one rehearsal on the day, and we couldn't get music in advance. And most of the original 1977 Star Wars was captured on the first take with no rehearsal. So yeah, British players can read.
In the USA, I'm not so sure. Doesn't seem to be so much a thing here. Usually you have time to prep unless there's an emergency or something.
Regardless, I think it's wise to develop strong sight reading chops. It's saved me many times where I got called on super short notice or had to cover a different part.
I think sometimes committees want to hear a specific aspect of a candidate's playing in a later round based on what they've been hearing, and realize that the perfect (hopefully standard) excerpt isn't on the list, so they ask the librarian to dig it out.
Also, organizational errors do happen, and excerpts can accidentally be left off lists, an out-of-date list might be sent out from an audition for the same position years ago, etcetera, which might lead to the committee thinking they had listed an excerpt but it not having made it on to the list that went out, which can also lead to the first situation I described. Human error happens at every stage of the process.
Generally speaking it depends how much the orchestra sightreads on the job. In your standard American orchestra, you'll have a fair amount of rehearsal time before each week's concert and so sightreading is just in place as a measure to see the full extent of your skills.
In Europe however, sightreading is an absolute must. Oh how the Americans have it easy, in major European orchestras' percussion sections for example, you often won't know what part you're playing (unless you're principal timpanist) until you show up to the gig. Often times the rehearsals are only for a single day before the concert, as you'll have multiple programs to shuffle through in the week including regional tours. It's often the case where an orchestra will rehearse for the friday concert on Monday, go on a 3 day tour with 2 different programs, come back early friday morning and play that initial concert without much in the way of a dress rehearsal.
I can give you one amusing anecdote where I was the Southbank Sinfonia. I played a late night baroque concert on Friday, had to get up early in the morning to go teach after which I hopped on a train to meet the orchestra in Salisbury where we played an entirely different set of choral works on just the one dress rehearsal with a new conductor, then we all had to be wide awake after getting home around 1 am because the next day we had a 9 am call for Tchaik 5. Oh, and on the bus back from Salisbury we were informed that we'd be playing the Prokofiev Classical Symphony very shortly and wouldn't have a whole lot of lead time for this. SIghtreading saved the day a lot in that group.
So I'd say.. in Europe it's pretty much a death **** if you can't sightread.
At the audition which I won in the UK, the sightreading was the 2 page solo xylophone passage from Britten's Death in Venice.... I expected SOME sighreading at a UK audition but this was pure ******.
I've had a sight-reading section round, which I would advise committees against. I understand the merits of asking for sight-reading, and asking for section playing, but combining them is obviously just setting candidates up for failure. (That particular audition ended in a no-hire.)
Chicago Symphony violin had a full binder the proctor hauled out and chunked onto the stand. Standard Mozart and Beethoven went ok, but the infamous William Tell passage, which required you to play the marked fingers with multiple extensions, did me in.
CHECK24 Kontakt ist die Kundenservice-Plattform von CHECK24, einem führenden Vergleichsportal in Deutschland. Sie bietet Nutzern schnellen Zugang zu Unterstützung für Dienstleistungen wie Versicherung, Energie, Finanzen und Reisen. Kunden können CHECK24 Kontakt Telefon, E-Mail oder Live-Chat kontaktieren, um Anfragen zu stellen, Probleme zu lösen und individuelle Unterstützung zu erhalten. Die Plattform sorgt für eine einfache und effiziente Kontaktaufnahme.
I've never come across sightreading in the dozens of orchestral auditions I've done in the US, even though it was frequently listed it as a possibility. I probably didn't make it far enough in many of them to get asked for it anyway. I have had to do sightreading in several US military band auditions though, often in the 2nd round, and with a metronome sample to base your tempo on!
In the UK, they sight read all the time at auditions, and yes it does matter. That's because the orchestras over there often have very little rehearsal, especially for recordings. For example, I once played Belshazzar's Feast with one rehearsal on the day, and we couldn't get music in advance. And most of the original 1977 Star Wars was captured on the first take with no rehearsal. So yeah, British players can read.
In the USA, I'm not so sure. Doesn't seem to be so much a thing here. Usually you have time to prep unless there's an emergency or something.
Regardless, I think it's wise to develop strong sight reading chops. It's saved me many times where I got called on super short notice or had to cover a different part.
I think sometimes committees want to hear a specific aspect of a candidate's playing in a later round based on what they've been hearing, and realize that the perfect (hopefully standard) excerpt isn't on the list, so they ask the librarian to dig it out.
Also, organizational errors do happen, and excerpts can accidentally be left off lists, an out-of-date list might be sent out from an audition for the same position years ago, etcetera, which might lead to the committee thinking they had listed an excerpt but it not having made it on to the list that went out, which can also lead to the first situation I described. Human error happens at every stage of the process.
Generally speaking it depends how much the orchestra sightreads on the job. In your standard American orchestra, you'll have a fair amount of rehearsal time before each week's concert and so sightreading is just in place as a measure to see the full extent of your skills.
In Europe however, sightreading is an absolute must. Oh how the Americans have it easy, in major European orchestras' percussion sections for example, you often won't know what part you're playing (unless you're principal timpanist) until you show up to the gig. Often times the rehearsals are only for a single day before the concert, as you'll have multiple programs to shuffle through in the week including regional tours. It's often the case where an orchestra will rehearse for the friday concert on Monday, go on a 3 day tour with 2 different programs, come back early friday morning and play that initial concert without much in the way of a dress rehearsal.
I can give you one amusing anecdote where I was the Southbank Sinfonia. I played a late night baroque concert on Friday, had to get up early in the morning to go teach after which I hopped on a train to meet the orchestra in Salisbury where we played an entirely different set of choral works on just the one dress rehearsal with a new conductor, then we all had to be wide awake after getting home around 1 am because the next day we had a 9 am call for Tchaik 5. Oh, and on the bus back from Salisbury we were informed that we'd be playing the Prokofiev Classical Symphony very shortly and wouldn't have a whole lot of lead time for this. SIghtreading saved the day a lot in that group.
So I'd say.. in Europe it's pretty much a death **** if you can't sightread.
At the audition which I won in the UK, the sightreading was the 2 page solo xylophone passage from Britten's Death in Venice.... I expected SOME sighreading at a UK audition but this was pure ******.
I've had a sight-reading section round, which I would advise committees against. I understand the merits of asking for sight-reading, and asking for section playing, but combining them is obviously just setting candidates up for failure. (That particular audition ended in a no-hire.)
Chicago Symphony violin had a full binder the proctor hauled out and chunked onto the stand. Standard Mozart and Beethoven went ok, but the infamous William Tell passage, which required you to play the marked fingers with multiple extensions, did me in.