Klarinet Archive - Posting 000155.txt from 1999/11

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: Mozart as an audition piece
Date: Sat, 6 Nov 1999 02:28:55 -0500

On Thu, 4 Nov 1999 13:37:35 -0600 (CST), el2@-----.edu said:

> On Thu, 4 Nov 1999, Tony Pay wrote:
>
> > Well, the short answer is that for various reasons, I don't think
> > the Mozart is the best piece to set in order to get an idea of how
> > suitable a candidate is for an orchestral position.
>
> I think I understand what you are saying. However, in the orchestra
> in which I play and at the university at which I teach, whenever we
> have an opening for a woodwind player, we always specify the
> appropriate concerto by Mozart as the solo piece, or one of the solo
> pieces. (For flute, the D major concerto; for oboe the C major,
> which is the same work as the above; for clarinet, K. 292; and for
> bassoon, K. 191.) I have observed that in many audition situations,
> the same procedure applies.

I suppose that my experience is the same. However I have come to think
that the procedure is worth changing, for the reasons I outlined.

Do you not find that you have the same problems as I do?

It may be that in your country, some of those problems are different, as
I suggested in another post.

> Naturally, especially if the position in question is an orchestral
> one, there will be other music on the audition list, specifically,
> orchestral excerpts. But, our reasons for choosing Mozart include the
> fact that listening to how a player handles various aspects of the
> music of Mozart, one can make an excellent assessment of many of the
> player's attributes - how rhythmic they are, their tone quality and
> intonation, how refined their technique is, etc.

But surely you must agree that there are other pieces that would allow
you to do this.

> I can't think of any other music that leaves so little to the
> imagination of the auditioning committee.

I don't understand this bit. It looks as though it's the centre of your
argument, but all I can make it mean is that it's a piece that all the
members of the auditioning committee know well.

To which I would respond, they know the notes, but probably not what the
player has in front of him, including what his teacher may have written
into his part -- which is a disadvantage, when trying to guess how
someone will respond in an orchestra.

[snip of stuff I agree with]

> The widely and commonly held understanding is that if they say that,
> what they mean is that "if you are smart, you will choose Mozart."

I'm afraid I mostly advise them otherwise.

> I can say only that from personal experience that I feel in a much
> better position to make a fair and accurate assessment of an
> auditioners abilities after hearing them play Mozart.

Just hoping to make you doubt that a little bit more:-)

I quite often find myself in the situation of teaching a group of
students that I haven't met before, on a summer course. In the case of
Siena, this course lasts a month.

For the audition to determine whether they will be 'effetivi' or
'uditori' (whether they get to play in the class or not), I in fact give
them a choice of Mozart concerto or Brahms Fmin, first movements, plus
Stravinsky II and III.

But I mostly try to accept everyone to play, because a month is a long
time, and it's interesting for the class to look again at basic
problems. So not much hangs on this audition -- unless we get a huge
demand for places, which isn't happening in Italy at the moment, though
it did a few years ago, when the economic climate was different.

Notice that I'm not against asking for the Mozart in this case, because
I'm not trying to evaluate anybody's suitability for playing in an
orchestra.

But I do get to have an independent check on whether I've made "a fair
and accurate assessment of an auditioner's abilities" by my subsequent
experience of them over a month. And I have to say, I'm not *all that*
impressed with myself.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN family artist: www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... I think not, said Descartes; and promptly vanished.

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