Re: Re: Audition Tapes


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Posted by Rick Denney on January 27, 2003 at 12:53:51:

In Reply to: Re: Audition Tapes posted by original poster on January 23, 2003 at 19:02:36:

Most folks think of audition tapes in the orchestra context, which are always followed up by a live audition. Misrepresentation there gets exposed quickly.

But I have gotten many gigs with ensembles who won the gig solely on the basis of a tape. Furthermore, many of these were tapes that were made for commercial purposes. Frankly, I expect that most who hire musicians on such a basis expect a certain number of flaws in live performance that would be edited out of a tape, even if by just re-recording the whole track repeatedly until one got it right.

All tapes are therefore misleading. Yesterday, "TubaRay" and I were testing mouthpieces, and one of the excerpts we were using was a snippet from the Shosty 5. I played it about ten times with various mouthpieces while he listened, and he played it (on my BBb Miraphone) about the same number of times. He nailed it about 50% (remember it wasn't his instrument and he wasn't used to it). I think I played it well once. Were you to hear a tape that we produced of that test, you'd hear my good one and the best of his good ones. The difference between us would still be significant, but not as large as it would be if you heard all the trials.

In this day of digital effects and editing, it is quite difficult to detect enhancements of the sound, and this will undermine even further the integrity of recordings for such purposes as auditions. Someone will always cheat, and even those who don't will never submit a tape with mistakes on it, even though they can only play it without mistakes one out of ten times.

The purpose of the tape should therefore not be to prove the technical prowess or consistency of the player, but to establish a baseline of sound and skill that can't be easily manipulated, such as intonation and tone quality. For tape auditions that are followed up by a live round, the tapes will weed out the obvious incompetents.

But the two-edged sword cuts both ways. If a player or ensemble gets a gig on the basis of a manipulated recording, and they fail to live up to that expectation at the gig or the live round, they will draw complaints that will restrict their future opportunities. The result will eventually be no more gigs, and no more calls for audition tapes. At the end of the day, you still have to please the customer.

When my wife and I hired a string quartet for our wedding reception, we asked for a recording, and we listened to it. But we also asked for referrals, and we checked them.

Rick "who wishes we had done the same for the ham-fisted organist" Denney


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