Klarinet Archive - Posting 000960.txt from 1998/08

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Bad Audition (on bass clarinet)
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1998 17:08:04 -0400

On Mon, 31 Aug 1998, Scott M. Gerhardt wrote:
> I think your question is, When was the last time that I *discussed* an
> auditioner's playing with them, without their asking? Answer: Never. I
> wouldn't do it, and for the same reasons that you wouldn't.

Did I get your post mixed up with someone else? I am getting confused. I
thought you had posted regarding being honest with someone during their
auditon....I'll have to go back and look and then repost. My apologies if
I asked the wrong person the question.

> I believe
> that it is possible to be a completely effective adjudicator AND an "honest"
> and reacting audience member at the same time. I see no advantage whatsoever
> to a policy of stoicism in an audition situation. For me, having another HATE
> a performance isn't nearly as bad as evoking from them absolutely nothing at
> all.

I can appreciate what you are saying......however, I can see a great deal
of advantage to not responding when it would be a negative response. This
is especially true when dealing with university aged students or
younger......no reason to project a negative that could affect the rest of
the audition.

> > > Probably, and I agree that one must be non-committal towards the
> > > PERFORMER, but it is not possible to be so towards the performer's
> > > playing style.

> > Sure it is....you just don't react.
> That's not being noncommittal, it's just being quiet about it.

oboy.....the word game is not nearly as interesting here.......semantics
we can argue until the world stops turning......the bottom line is that
not reacting is not reacting. For pete's sake.

> > You are capable of that if you try hard enough. It is important because
> > some people don't want to know what you think.......they just want to know
> > if they made it or not.
>
> And then some, like I, DO want to know more. If fact, if I am playing a school
> audition, the comments are frequently MORE important to me than the placement.

But some don't........that's why we try not to judge everyone by
ourselves....we try to imagine what it would feel like to be in their
shoes.....even if it is not the way we would necessarily feel. This is
called being sensitive.

> Let the ones who don't care what the reasons are go home and practice in the
> same way that they always have. When possible, however, give the ones who ARE
> interested an opportunity to find out what happened in there.

We just will have to agree to disagree on this one.

> BTW, I acknowledge that professional audition situations may necessarily have
> restrictions imposed for logistical reasons. I still believe that no one
> should intentionally hide a (respectful and non-disruptive) emotional response
> during an audition, but my argument for making comments available to
> auditioners is aimed directly at schools.

Scott.....we simply disagree. I feel that any negative reaction is
disruptive or potentially disruptive.

Roger Garrett
IWU

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