Klarinet Archive - Posting 000960.txt from 2000/04

From: SDSCHWAEG@-----.com
Subj: Re: [kl] Community Bands...
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2000 08:04:34 -0400

In the Quad City Wind Ensemble we audition every year, not only for seating
but for membership in the group. What's unusual about our situation is that
we play blind auditions for a tape recorder. We are assigned two etudes to
prepare. When you enter the audition room, the tape machine is turned on and
you are announced as "Clarinet Number 5" or whatever. The machine is stopped
between etudes, but no retakes are allowed. A judge, not a member of the
group, listens to the tape and seats us according to our numbers. We are
notified of acceptance to the group and chair placement by postcard. This is
a community band, made up largely, though not entirely, of music educators,
and we pay annual dues to belong. The system has worked fairly well for the
past ten years, but does have its flaws. The recording doesn't accurately
reflect tone quality, for instance. And sometimes people have "off"
auditions and end up seated far lower in the section than they really should
be. There is no opportunity to move up during that season - but there's
always another chance the next year. It's also possible for someone to have
played for several years, and then be bumped from the band because of a bad
audition or because of an unusually large number of people auditioning on
that instrument that year.
I am also a former member of the Northshore Concert Band, when John
Paynter was the conductor. Membership and seating in that band was solely at
his discretion. I played for him at Northwestern, and so never had to
audition for the Northshore Band. He placed new members where he felt they
belonged, or where he thought they would do the most good, but no matter how
good you were he generally would not displace a first chair player who had
been there for a number of years. You had to pay your dues for awhile before
you would be moved up.
Susan Schwaegler

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