JAVS Spring 2013

To continuously repeat passages alone over and over again, more often than not behind a screen, jumping from one excerpt to another, with no one to respond to or adapt to musically, is a challenge to anyone’s psyche. To repeat these same passages over and over again without compromising the musical interest of the excerpt is exceedingly hard, and a fearless approach is definitely required. As orchestral musi cians, we perform as a whole, but when the audition process isolates us, as it inevitably does, it removes the element of the whole. So the audition process has become the stepping stone in which a committee can see whether someone is competent on the instrument, responds to a committee’s direction, and has prepared the material required. The successful candidate’s ability to be judged in an ensemble will be tested during the probationary period.

versatility of a candidate in being able to play an excerpt with alternative fingerings and bowings speaks to flexibility, which is an important compo nent for any section to consider. Therefore, home work and research are essential. The Internet has opened up unlimited access to scores and recordings. So I would encourage you to listen to as many recordings as possible with a score, whether it is a complete symphony, tone poem, or an opera. in the long run, listening to the Ring cycle or a Mahler symphony to gain knowledge of the style and character that directly impacts your particular excerpt takes up very little time in the overall scheme of what you are aiming for—a coveted position in an orchestra of your choosing for many years to come. Even with a variety of recordings out there, a general sense of knowledge that a candidate has listened to a specific excerpt is very obvious to an audition com mittee. Every audition requires solo repertoire. This goes a long way in establishing whether you have a com mand of your instrument both musically and techni cally. It is a mistake to think that the audition com mittee will only “hear” the first two or three pages of a concerto! you must prepare the whole work that is required. Remember there are no shortcuts; it just takes one musician on that panel to want to hear the whole movement. Likewise, to try and second-guess what a committee will hear or not hear in any given round is a waste of your energy. Prepare to play everything in all rounds! There are no shortcuts to this kind of knowledge. It is a commitment and a time-consuming venture, but Your individual statement:

Requirements:

The audition committee is always looking for flexi bility in a candidate, and this can only be achieved if the candidate has practiced passages in many differ ent ways, i.e., tempo, bowings, and fingerings.

What does the audition committee mainly look for?

1. Musical identity and character 2. Beautiful sound 3. Excellent rhythm and intonation 4. Technical command

These are required!

Your compatibility:

In the audition room, there is an understanding that anyone can miss a note or fluff an excerpt; this will not stop you from advancing from one round to the next. However, repeatedly playing an excerpt having learned it with a wrong note or rhythm will. This speaks to the lack of care in one’s preparation. It is also very obvious to a panel of orchestra musi cians when someone has not listened to an excerpt he or she has just played. As I said previously, the

Preparing opera repertoire excerpts:

All of the fingerings and bowings in the following excerpts are suggestions only. Please consider that you may be asked to change any bowings or finger ings in an audition. It is also important to remember that if you are a section player of any orchestra you may be shifted around from one stand to another,

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