Why You Never Want to Go First in an Orchestral Audition!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 มิ.ย. 2022
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I recently auditioned for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Assistant Principal and E-flat clarinet position. I've taken quite a few professional auditions, but this experience was definitely a unique one for me and so I wanted to tell the story! What's your craziest audition story? Feel free to share down below!
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"failing"... no way. Even if you don't win the audition, you didn't fail. You just made a great video detailing all the things you learned making your next attempts even better. Idk, learning something valuable is never a failure. Way to go and thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the kind words!
I actually won my current job drawing the number one. Auditions are such stressful situations that in my opinion is better not to have too much time to overthink, especially in the first round. Then what my auditions experience taught me: you have to be prepared for the worst, to perfectly know the program, to be aware what the jury expects to hear from each excerpt (rhythm, sound, musicality, staccato etc…), and remember you shouldn’t just play good but make them realize they do want you as a collegue! And last but not least have a good reed, be in your lucky day and never give up :)
Hey, that’s great! Congratulations on your win! Despite the way everything happened in the audition and the way it ended, I have wondered if I had such a positive audition (up until the final excerpt) in part because I did go first. You’re right, you don’t have much time to overthink when you are up first!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Auditions are such a F*****G nerve wracking experience. I recently took one, I prepared really well, went and played for one of the top players in the field. It's such a "cattle" call. You show up, wait and wait and wait. I played really well considering they didn't even have a clarinet stand so I had to put one instrument on the floor . I started the last excerpt, and my G# didn't speak, so I started again, big mistake. The more I played, the more nervous I became and totally blew it! It was so disappointing. All of that hard work for NOTHING!!! And the damn "Job" only pays $10K a year, this field really SUCKS!!!!!! I'm going to continue to play, practice and improve but I think I'm done with auditions.
Sommernachtstraum scherzo is fucking brutal man
I've only taken two major auditions. The first one when I was very young, and they basically told me I suck (but in a nice, professional way). My second audition, while it is a "serious" gig, the bar is so low that I knew I'd get in, no problem. And true to form, I got in.
This is such a well-thought-out and executed video. Thank you for taking the time to share this!
Great video! Thank you for sharing your experience!
Thank you for watching Laura, I really appreciate the kind words!
thank you for sharing this, and well done for doing the audition!
Thanks for watching and commenting!
Hey man, great story! Bravo for being so vulnerable and open about your experience! You sound great in the video!
Thanks Junnan, I appreciate the kind words! It was a fun story to tell!
Behind the curtain is a mind bending place to be. Un-nerving. Thanks for sharing your story of this one. That take's a lots of courage. I've melted down in that spot ... in ways I never do on stage in performance. Im a solid first round player that never advances. But I'm an excellent and sensitive collaborator and soloist. The audition process is the best we have but doesn't tell the whole story. Keep jousting.
Thanks for watching and for the encouragement Daryl, I truly appreciate it!
Loved the flames visual on the scherzo!
You are awesome. Thanks for the videos.
Thank you for watching!
This video was very interesting. Thank you for the amazing content.
Thanks for watching!
Great video! Thanks for sharing your experience in such an entertaining way. My only audition story is at a much lower level, auditioning on B-flat clarinet for the All-County Band in high school 40 years ago. My prepared piece was the Rossini Introduction, Theme & Variations, and I'd prepared it ALL. But I missed the bus to the audition and had to call my mom having coffee at a friend's house, to drive me to the hosting school about an hour away (she was understandably furious). While I was waiting for her to come get me I decided it was time to furtively smoke as much weed as I could... Brilliant. Such mature wisdom. But I made it through the audition, even hit that high A in the Rossini, and scored a spot in the first clarinets, which was all I wanted anyway. It was a boneheaded move though, not recommended.
i didnt think that I would like this video... BUT I LOVED IT!
Haha thanks for watching!
Look how slick this editing is!! Good job Eric! And I think what you said about the chance to be listened to is quite poignant
Thanks Robby, trying to learn new editing tricks every video!
What a great video!! You are a good human....🎉🎉🎉
Thanks for watching and the kind words!
I love your tone
Entertaining video! I vaguely recall playing first at an audition, 9:00 on a rather cold Sunday morning for an Assistant Principal / Eb Clarinet position. I wish I could remember exactly how I played that day but when all was finished at 10:00 in the evening, I found myself with a new job. I just retired from that same position, over forty-one years later (apparently I was laterally immobile?). Bottom line is that it’s not when you play, it’s how you play! Also, btw, as nasty as the Eb part to Shostakovich 6th may seem in an audition, I can attest to the fact that it’s much more anxiety-inducing in a concert: sitting forever doing nothing in the first movement only to come in really cold with a huge solo. No doubt a contributing factor as to what has become of my hair… 😬
Thanks for watching Mr. Liberson and congratulations on your retirement! You are undoubtedly right that in the end it’s not about when you play, but about how you play! And yes, I do not envy any E-flat player who has to actually play the solo in concert, what a brutal solo to have to play cold!
Thank you for sharing! I am an AFM officer and I have been the union observer at many auditions by now. Everybody on both sides of the screen is human, and capable of lapses. But the players want to play well and the committee hopes to hear great playing, so it helps to think of it that way and be positive. Having said that, it is true that some committees can be ambitious and ask for a lot of rep and only realize after it has started that they've asked for too much. Everyone should go in to the audition, as you say, ready to play 100% of the list, and just be happy if you don't have to.
I took an audition a while back and went first. It was in a large church- and for whatever reason they didn't realize you could hear the practice rooms from the hall. They interrupted me at least twice if not three times to send someone down to every warm-up room to tell the other candidates to stop playing. Not only that, but the proctor happened to have my same name, so they called out the proctor's name and I thought "Are they expecting me to answer them? How did they figure out who I am?" Glad I didn't answer before the proctor did. ...anyway, it did not go well.
I did New Jersey last year. As soon as I sat on stage I took off the reed to wet it cause I felt like it was probably going to be dry. When I tried to put it back, I split the reed with the ligature….talk about the worst panicky feeling ever. Luckily I had a spare, but somehow it didn’t feel right and had issues with staccato and starting the notes. Even though I felt defeated even before starting, the actual excerpts went super well, they felt second nature, like they played themselves. The tone production and staccato issues with the reed were pretty evident so they obviously didn’t pass me, but I still learned a lot and it gave me the confidence to keep doing what I was doing and that I was on the right track when it came to practice and preparation. Though it would be easy to see it as a waste of time and money with a different attitude. I went on the win my next audition, and I really believe the experience I had in NJ contributed a lot to that. Experiences like these are often the most important ones for growth. Great vid, thanks for sharing your experience and for putting so much effort into the vid!
Great recap! I still love going first because I am impatient. 😂😂
Haha fair enough!
sorry you didnt get the gig! Keep the press on!! Those auditions are stressful to say the least!
Proud of you, Eric.
Thanks Tony!
I went first in an audition for a major orchestra. It was behind a screen, but I could hear the committee drinking their coffee and eating donuts. I knew I had no chance. I doubt if they even listened to me.
Enjoyed every bit of your 13:11 clip. Brilliant !!
Thanks!!
At my all state chair placement audition, when I auditioned I did really good on 2 of the 3 experts, but the 3rd one was played well, I just let out the most horrible squeak, I thought i was going to be in the bottom half of clarinets, but luckily I made 6th out of 35 clarinets and was on first part:) this was a lesson that we are our own worst’s critic in auditions
Hah. I went first for the Plano Symphony section violin audition. 😅😅 They announced results and they put me on their sub list.
A mentor once told me, "if you go first in the audition, odds are, you've already lost," and drew out a diagram similar to yours about setting the bar for the audition. They had also told me of a few auditions where they went first, and after their audition they also found out about changes in the list. Their favorite example was the doublebass solo from Ginastera's Varaciones Concertantes. It is an extremely difficult solo to play well in an audition setting, and they, "shit the bed," on it, just to find out that no other candidate would be playing it that day. While it isn't a guarantee that you won't advance and/or win the audition, it does seem that the odds are a little against you.
I took a Chicago Symphony audition years ago. The hair on my bow came unglued the day before, so I took it to Bein and Fushi to put the same hair in. They ended up repairing the bow. I walked with my cello to orchestra hall the 20 degree weather for the audition and found out that I would be first to play. Needless to say, it didn’t go well. My sound was grainy from the fresh bow hair the was not broken in yet. The only good thing was that the next candidate liked my Strauss excerpt. It was the last excerpt that I played
You have a very good sound, what reed and what mouthpiece do you use? greetings
Okay. At first I was hearing Mendelssohn scherzo as Scared so. Then I realized it was ironically the correct pronunciation
Un gran abrazo, suerte
Thank you for watching!
Question- I have only done one audition and the committee cut me off and said "thank you". Does the committee say thank you to everyone? Like because you got to the end of the excerpt list, how do you know it was a rejection thank you and not a thank you, you will know our decision shortly
i don't see why auditions don't go off of scores and place you in your chair order based off scores
Good question! Perhaps some ensembles do this, but professional auditions are generally run differently than your typical high school band audition/honor ensemble audition because generally there is only one seat open at a time. Often at a large audition there will be anywhere from 50-200 people auditioning for that single open position. When hearing that many people over the course of 1-2 days the committee needs to simplify the process. It becomes a simple yes or no: a yes, we want to hear this person in the next round, or no, we don’t. A formal scoring process is a lot of extra work in comparison, especially for the early rounds.
This is why I decided to switch careers from music. This is no way to live.
they are making you pay just to audition? that's so... idc if they give it back that's nasty 😩
I don’t mind too much since I’ve never had an Orchestra deposit the check and they’ve always given it back. However, when auditioning for Summer orchestra festivals they charge an application fee and keep it. That’s always been a harder pill to swallow even if I’m sure the financial situation of those festivals necessitate the fee!
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Auditions are terrible practic! In general it's a very outdated and easy to manipulate way to hire a professional musicians.
Tou can play it or you can't