Klarinet Archive - Posting 001336.txt from 1998/03

From: "Benjamin A. Maas" <bmaas@-----.net>
Subj: Re: Auditioning
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 19:12:52 -0500

>Jack Kissinger wrote:
>> P.S. It seems to me that an audition committee (for a college
>> freshman) should be more interested in how well your son can
>> play than what clarinets he has. With an A and a Bb, he should
>> be adequately equipped. If he can play Eb or bass, that may be
>> a plus but I doubt it would enter into the audition unless your
>> son indicated a desire to specialize in one of those instruments
>> on his application. If a school makes its decision based on what
>> equipment your son owns rather than what he can do with the
>> equipment he has, iis that the school he should attend?

To sort of re-iterate what I sent you off the list, I must totally agree
with what Mr. Kissinger wrote. If you have a teacher that is going to
accept your son because of the instruments he is using, you should probably
question whether that teacher is right or not.

The other option is to choose repertoire for the auditions that uses
standard instruments. If you truely don't feel comfortable with this issue,
work around it. There is plenty of rep. out there that uses a standard
b-flat or A clarinet.

I just think there are more important things to worry about when it comes to
the auditions.

>When I hire someone for my company, preparation most certainly
>counts. I advertise for specific knowledge sets, and if I interview
>two equally qualified (technically) applicants but one has done a
>bit of research into my company and can show some initiative (by
>reading up on some particular skill that they believe I need) you
>can imagine which one I'll hire. It's just a little edge, but
>enough to nudge my screening process in their direction.

Perhaps if you want to use this knowledge, mention it *outside* of the
audition, but this is a college audition. People go to college to learn and
most good instructors know this. If we were completely polished, we'd have
jobs instead of school. I understand your reasoning when you are hiring for
a company, but I am not sure it really applies here.

Just my $0.02...

--Ben

--Ben

Benjamin Maas
Clarinetist and Digital Recording Engineer
Student, University of Southern California
Executive Director, Digital Renaissance Consort
bmaas@-----.net
bmaas@-----.edu

   
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