There is nothing more stressful, demoralizing, and soul-sucking than an orchestral audition
OrchestrasDear Alma,
I flew to Europe for a concertmaster audition at a major international orchestra.
Half a dozen of us waited our turn.
To my astonishment, two were called forward and left. We were told they had been upgraded to the final shortlist without having drawn a bow across strings. Is this normal practice?
Disgruntled
Dear Disgruntled,
There is nothing more stressful, demoralizing, and soul-sucking than an orchestral audition. It’s not only the tremendous about of practice, it’s the money (combination of turning down work to practice as well as the travel an accommodation to the audition), and the inability to be free musically. It’s like we practiced our whole lives to develop our opinions, our musical stamp, and now we have to remove all of those opinions one by one, until we are an empty shell of a zombie.
Everything you play has to be entirely perfect, devoid of your own personality, and following the bottomless pit of rules that change ever so slightly from orchestra to orchestra.
By the time you get to the audition, you nerves are frayed beyond recognition, like your skin has been peeled away and you are scrubbing yourself with a piece of sandpaper.
Disgruntled – every job interview has its own set of rules. We can’t know for sure what the backstory is of your particular audition, and it’s not really any of our business. Here are some possibilities, some of which I have seen. People can be passed forward if they are members of the orchestra, or have made the finals before. It’s up to the orchestra, there are no universal rules for this particular point, as far as I know.
In the end, our job is to show up and play our best, retaining our pride in our hard work and determination. Stay true to yourself, keep your nose to the grindstone, and you will find your place.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
Uh, I think it is our business who is being given preference whew we pay to audition. You WON’T necessarily “find your place” just because you stick with it.. it’s an abusive, faulty, arbitrary, corrupted system that needs to change.
Agreed that it is faulty but there is nothing this person could have done – it’s not their rules.
Oh really? Then how about the wonderful trial system in the UK? It just makes it a scam.
Yes! One of the 4 London orchestras held auditions and trials for the position of co-principal viola. The position went to someone who had not done an audition or trial and had no interest in the orchestra. After a year of him not showing up he was asked to resign. Non of the original candidates reapplied.
Joe – yes a scam that we all have to deal with to get to the job. Unfortunate!
You try it, buddy. Don’t forget to buy coffee for the section in the tea break!
Probably there are quite a few things more stressful and demoralizing than this (like being stuck in a claustrophobic space ship for six months, or being homeless, or facing a cancer diagnosis, or being in a concentration camp without release date (other than through death), or even just some selection processes in other professions), but beware these pampered precious artist souls who know not much more of the human condition than their instrument‘s propnents and competitors in their cocoon, shall be exposed to such „hardship“, oh dear!
Tamino – keep it in prospective, dear. We are talking about auditions not the general human condition. You are reading the wrong website.
Picture everyone on the other side of the curtain with no clothes on…when ever I go to a concert I picture the orchestra that way…
Its become an old tale,
But yeah, the orchestra audition circut has become so competitive that it has become comedy; it also has resulted in an increase in mechanical playing that has lost a lot of soul.
Unless you are a prodigy or in the ‘very talented’ category (meaning like top 10% at a top 5 music school), who practiced for 6 hours a day with good professors for 2 decades, do not count on having half way decent chance of making it into a good symphony orchestra.
Simply due to economics, the classical music world has become more like the Hobbesian nightmare of ‘the war of all against all’.
Wrong profession. Move on.
“I wanted to be a surgeon but found the blood rather confronting”.
“Everything you play has to be entirely perfect, devoid of your own personality, and following the bottomless pit of rules that change ever so slightly from orchestra to orchestra.”
What a controversial, unhelpful and utterly untrue statement. People taking auditions, take note, this is about the worse take on how to take auditions yet. 1) If your aim is perfection, you failed the moment a single note was merely out of tune, you better have something more to offer… hence -> 2) If you think anyone is going to like your playing that is devoid of any personality, whether your own or inspired by your teachers, colleagues, recordings etc, you don’t have to bother showing up, that is the last thing anyone wants to hear
3) No orchestra has rules on how auditions should be performed, orchestras have profiles and personalities and they look for musicians that match such a profile and players who exhibit the necessary skill level required.
Having watched the CSO many times, I find it hard to believe that they are prioritizing musicality in their section auditions. Pretty stiff bunch of people.
lol played an audition for a regional orchestra in California a couple years back. They took three rounds to decide between a total of five applicants. Rounds two and three consisted of playing the entire excerpt list as well as the entire solo. Same excerpts, same solo for both those subsequent rounds. And then the person who won was already employed by the orchestra. The runner up had been playing for a season already with the orchestra.
Looking back, there are times when- even as a desperate freelancer- it is good NOT to get the call for a particular ensemble. _Why_ would the audition be so punishing, demeaning, and lengthy… well, the committee members had faced similar audition processes so of course the cycle of abuse (I do not use this term lightly) had to be perpetuated. This was one of those “lightbulb moments” for me, for sure.
Best part- the orchestra performs once per month, maximum, so even if you were unlucky enough to play every service, you’d net somewhere south of 10 grand. Ah well, such is the career that has chosen us.
Beautiful story. Now surrender to a life working at McDonald’s.
… where each burger is as bland and tasteless as the next, much like the homogenised sound of major international orchestras these days. I wish you well in your chosen career, whatever it may be.
The first two paragraphs of this so-called advice are utter delusional rubbish. Nothing more stressful than an orchestral audition? Please…Eradicate all personality from your playing in order to stand a chance? Words fail me.
Anthony – there is absolutely no point in showing up if you are not exactly perfect. That trumps musicality every time. Otherwise the orchestras would be filled with more interesting musicians. If you miss one note you are out.
As a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, this analysis of what a top orchestra is looking for in an audition is totally wrong! I therefore encourage my students to put their personality into the performance, orchestras are not looking for robots/automatons. They are looking for versatile musicians with something to say and contribute!
Jack – you know perfectly well that an audition has to be spotless. Of course you need to add your personality into it, but that is absolutely secondary. Be realistic.
Nothing more stressful an demoralising??! Imagine having to type and avoid speling mastikes
Sally
What’s demoralizing and soul sucking are your views of yourself, your job, your profession.
Geez, projecting much?
The question was literally this simple:
“Is this normal practice?”
And your answer, when you finally got to is, was also literally this simple:
“We can’t know for sure what the backstory is of your particular audition”
End of story, nooooo, you gave us a damning portrait of yourself:
“now we have to remove all of those opinions one by one, until we are an empty shell of a zombie.
Everything you play has to be entirely perfect, devoid of your own personality…
your skin has been peeled away and you are scrubbing yourself with a piece of sandpaper.
… keep your nose to the grindstone, and you will find your place.”
Jesus Christ, I know grocery baggers who are infinitely happier and more self fulfilled.
This is the business they have chosen.
I have been through the audition process like many here. The CV (or resume) is often considered the first round of auditions; it is possible to pass this round by showing excellent prior experience or training without playing a note to the audition panel. If you don’t have a strong CV, maybe you have to play another round in order to be included with the other applicants. Everyone still has to play to the panel at some point, but some auditioners will play multiple times. It sounds like the person writing in was simply a ‘multiple’-rounder and the people called forward were a ‘single’-rounder.
This is normal.
This response, full of platitudes, reads like it was written by ChatGPT – was it?
Remember these are just cover bands…great cover bands but no more…
Alma is mistaken. Audition committees like solid, traditional playing, true, but not boring playing. Yes, you have to have chops: craft before art. But after that there is a lot of room for artistry and personality. It’s the fairest hiring system I know of in any field. Keep at it. Eventually your opponents will all have jobs, and you’re next. 🙂