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Seminar: Symphony Auditions Lecture Preparing for and Taking a Symphony Orchestra Audition Marc Geelhoed, Reporter Perry started out by explaining his hope that the talk would be informative not only to the students in attendance, but also to the teachers, so that they could pass on some of the information presented in the lecture. Perry explained that auditions do not necessarily find the best musician for the job, but that they do find the person who can best handle auditions. While this may be discouraging and unfair, it is the best system that committees have found to fill the ranks of a professional musical organization. In order to succeed in an audition, it is important to separate uncontrollable circumstances from those that a performer can control. Uncontrollable circumstances include the physical traits we are all born with, and the basic level of talent that has been allotted to us. The controllable aspects of the audition are how smart we are in preparing, as well as how hard we choose to work to realize success. Perry then proceeded to discuss in detail what the committee expects of those seeking the position, as well as the various components of a professional audition. The committee expects candidates to play in tune, in time, with a good sound, to know the character and style of the various excerpts, and to create the impression of being thoroughly in control. Perry then explained how the preliminary, semi-final, and final rounds are conducted. The preliminary round is to weed out the people who obviously do not belong at the audition. Perry feels that it is fairly common to start out with a simple, non-technical excerpt, and then progress into the more difficult material by the fourth or fifth excerpt. The semi-finals are still conducted behind a screen, and the players may be asked to play something again, making adjustments that the committee requests. The final round includes those candidates that the section would actually like to have play. It is worth noting that the conductor is also present at this round. The screen comes down, and players are also asked to sight-read. Perry then moved on to talk about the long-term commitment required to win an orchestral position. This begins years in advance, with players learning the orchestral repertoire and styles through recordings and performances in an orchestra. One’s practice habits come into play at this point as well, with Perry saying that it is important to know what it is they struggle with, and to have the courage and fortitude to fix those problems. It is well worth the bruises our egos may undergo to realize the benefits to be had from confronting our weaknesses. Also important is to learn how to play in a commercial, jazz style, because today’s symphony orchestras are not limited to the “classical” repertoire. The Indianapolis Symphony spends every night from the weekend after Thanksgiving through the week of Christmas playing a series of Yuletide concerts, which bear more resemblance to a Broadway musical than to a symphony concert. Pops programs often bring in the money that allows an orchestra to pursue its loftier, artistic endeavors. Perry encouraged players to audition for as many groups as they can, especially for local groups. He concluded his portion of the talk by stressing that it is important to have a willingness to change. If something is not getting the results that you want, do something else. Doing the same thing only reinforces what we know is not working. Bob Wood talked about short-term preparation tactics. These include learning the music to gain a “ballpark” interpretation, staying balanced in the practice sessions, learning to perform in audition-type situations, and learning to sound good at a distance. Wood recommended listening to three or four recordings so that a player can gauge an appropriate tempo. Wood recommends tapering off practice sessions one week before the audition. Also, Wood said that he found a flash-card system extremely helpful. Write the excerpts on 3 x 5 cards, and then shuffle them. If you can play the excerpts satisfactorily in this random scenario, you stand a good chance to succeed. In learning to perform in the audition atmosphere, Wood warms-up at home, then seeks out a room that is “dead as a door-nail” at nearby Butler University, after playing a few notes there, he goes to the stage door of the school’s chapel. Then, he stands for five minutes with his cases in his hands, after which he walks onstage and performs his shuffled flash cards. This is obviously a person who practices what he preaches! Wood also shared an important tip gleaned from Edmund Cord, Professor at Indiana University, which was this: plan what you are going to do in-between excerpts. Wood’s method is a six-step plan, those steps being: 1) Breathe, to gather one’s thoughts, and to generally relax; 2) think about the tempo for the next excerpt; 3) think through the phrases for the next excerpt; 4) breathe, to play the next phrase; 5) hear the very first note of the excerpt; 6) play the excerpt. Another tip Wood shared came from Philip Collins, Principal Trumpet of the Cincinnati Symphony. This was to play just the first three or four notes of an excerpt, instead of bashing one’s face to a mush in the few days before an audition. The smaller number of notes helps to get one’s mind in the right place. While focusing the mind, this technique also helps to keep the musician from injuring their chops. There was a lot of useful information presented in a short period of time. Wood and Perry have a lot of experience between them, both individually and as collaborating members in the same trumpet section. This seminar ran the gamut, from thinking about excerpts in the distant future, to performing them in the here-and-now. |
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audition process for symphony orchestras. Their talk was broken down into the need for auditions, how to prepare for them, both long range and in the short-term, and also coached a student on a few excerpts. The rather young audience reacted positively to Perry and Wood’s low-key style.