Re: More orchestral questions...


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Posted by Aubrey Foard on December 16, 2000 at 00:00:37:

In Reply to: More orchestral questions... posted by SirC on December 15, 2000 at 01:51:17:

At a sub-list audition for a major professional orchestra that I recently took, this was the order in which I was asked to play:

Berlioz - Symphony Fantastique (the run up the scale ending on a really high Bb),
Wagner - solo from Die Meistersinger,
Mahler - solo from Symphony #1,
Prokofiev - Symphony #5,
Vaughan Williams - Movement two from Concerto for Bass Tuba.

Notice a pattern here? Constant switching between F tuba and C tuba. The reason? They want to see if you can handle the switch without screwing up. I was prewarned of this by my teacher and did not play any notes to warm up either horn after I started the excerpts (though I was allowed a ten second warm-up to test the hall before I actually started the audition). The committee expects this. Look at it this way: when you play Mussorgsky's "Pictures" and you play the first half on C tuba, then have to play 'Bydlo' on F, do you warm up on your F while the rest of the orchestra plays 'Tuilleries'? I hope not. When I played 'Pictures' with orchestra and Bydlo came up, I played it on F cold. It's part of the job. You can get used to it by playing audition rep on a horn right when you start practicing, before you warm up.

The kind of sound a committee looks for is usually (hopefully) something more soloistic than what you would play in ensemble. In an audition, you don't want to play with a shear, massive sound that doesn't leave you anywhere to go as you may do in an orchestra. Show them you can make a difference between one phrase and the next. Don't blow your lungs out trying to make it big, then frak a note. Most importantly, if you are asked to repeat or change something, you must make it obvious that you are making a difference. One of the most important aspects a committee looks for in a candidate is the ability to follow directions.

As a slight contrast to this, it has occured in the past that musicians have not been hired on the basis of being TOO expressive and lyrical. It is important that you not let it all go. Many orchestral musicians will not hire a very expressive musician because they dislike that sort of playing or feel intimidated by the fact that someone more expressive than them may come to overshadow them and steal their thunder. I know that sounds incredibly biased, but it has happened.

As stated below, if your F is starting to sound too much like you're CC, it's probably not a good thing. What would be the point of even having an F if it sounded like your CC?


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