[TPIN] audition for Cleveland orchestra

[Glenn Bengry]

Ole and Mates,

      It was the common method at the time that Herseth auditioned for Chicago for a musician to sit down with the music director sometimes at the home of the music director.  The music directors had more power in those days and could often hire and fire at will. They used this power and sometimes abused it.   This much power can be  both good and bad.  The musicians in the orchestra certainly didn't have much say in getting a player they felt was a good fit.  The music director could  be fair and make great choices, but there was a lot of room for abuse of that power to terrorize musicians and for nepotism of sorts getting friends, countrymen and such into your orchestra.  George Szell is accused of having done this.  

   The rise of the musicians union and other trends in have given most orchestra musicians more power and voice in the selecting and auditioning of musicians.  The music director and sometimes the principal player have a LOT of veto power, even, perhaps, selection power.  There are plenty of stories of  guys getting jobs that were not the players that played the best in the auditions, but were good enough to play the gig and be less threatening to the principal player's insecurity.  These stories, of course, are  course are ripe with rumor, guessing, sour grapes, urban myth and such.

     Even the blindest of auditions is an imperfect method. there are ways to get the person you targeted, if that is what you are trying to do, with the blind method.  By the time you get to the finals, you can often tell which guy is playing because of their sound and style.  You invite certain established players to the finals, and still know exactly who is playing behind the screen. The old method of playing for the conductor allowed the MD to find out what kind of person and musician a person was and see if there was some chemistry there.  

    You never really know about a player until they actually play the job for a year or three.  But that is what the tenure process is for.  If the player isn't what you really need and want in your orchestra you can not give them tenure.  It is not pleasant to have to let somebody go.  I doubt anyone enjoys doing that, so they sure hope they get a person that can be a good section mate and do all the things on the job that don't show up in rehearsal.     
 
    I can think of at least one example where someone won a bunch of jobs, didn't keep them.  Big orchestra jobs too.  Unbelieveable audition player.  some of the other necessary attributes were not there.

It's an imperfect business.  You need to be both a  good player and a little lucky, a good guy, a good section mate, a good musician.  If you have those things you have a shot.  

    Meanwhile there have been people who have lost auditions or jobs allegedly because of the way they looked, their religious beliefs, and so forth.  but most of those stories are heresay and float about neither being proven, nor disproven.

glenn

x


> 
> Sadly, Ole, appearances DO matter, especially in this all-to-visual world of ours.
> 
> Orchestras that broadcast on television are looking for not just those who play well, but also those who look good (think Andre Rieu and his orchestra for an example)....
> 
> The days of the simply best player being chosen for an orchestral spot (if they ever truly existed, given the politics of the musical world) are no longer here.
> 
> One must "fit the mold" too....
> 
> Sad, but true,
> Ymmv,
> Blessings,
> J