Klarinet Archive - Posting 000130.txt from 2004/10

From: CBA <clarinet10001@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinet popularity
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2004 17:38:26 -0400

Impartial judges are easy enough. Make the auditions behind a
screen, and bring in local teachers to judge the parts.

As far as the parts being covered, and who likes where they sit,
you would be surprised at how many pieces have a harder 2nd
clarinet part than the first...especially in transcriptions. A
good way to arrange the parts after an audition, is take the
first 3 people in clarinets, (and first
*add here number of mail parts per instr. here* i.e. 2 alto sax,
2 flute, etc...) and have them sit principal 1st, 2nd, and 3rd
part, and rotate them, so everyone gets to play solo/1st. (if
they would rather not, no problem. Just leave them in the
section where they placed, and rotate with whomever in the top 2
or 3 that wants to.) If it is their first time playing solo,
give them an out by learning the solo part as well, so they can
decide 2 weeks before a concert whether they can hack it. You
could also rotate the 1st, second, and 3rd parts to the rest of
the group for different pieces that don't require powerhouse
players on 1st.

Once you have a committee (you could have a woodwind panel judge
all the woodwinds -not at the same time, though- and a brass
panel take the brass) you can have an add in the paper for
auditions for the group. Most papers will post special interest
items like this for free. You will have a whole new crop of
people filling out the ranks, and a more rounded group, where
you can call upon more than one or two people to take the lead
on occasion. It really is a lot easier than you might think, if
you purposely leave yourself out of the decisions, since you
will be auditioning too. The panel should probably be the
conductor and two of the genre of instrument that is auditioning
(two woodwinds, two brass, etc.) you *could* even take from the
other woodwind instruments (i.e. first flute and first tenor or
bari sax player in the group now to judge clarinets and bassoons
with the conductor, and then first clarinet and first alto sax
to judge the flutes and oboes, and then the first oboe and first
bassoon with the conductor to judge the upper and lower saxes.)
This *does* work, behind a screen, as no one feels as if they
are being singled out. You would need a proctor to make sure
that the audition didn't include chatting, or anything that
would make the jury figure out who the person was.

Also, community groups aren't always just people not looking to
pursue a music career. Community bands can nurture a new or
progressing student at any age, and can be a great stepping
stone to a college, or a professional group, etc... It's doesn't
HAVE to be the leftovers of the music world. Professional people
do like to give back to the community sometimes, and many
professionals who play multiple instruments would jump on the
possibility to play in a group with their secondary instrument,
if they know they wouldn't eternally be buried in the end of the
section, even when they progress.

Kelly Abraham
Woodwinds - Computer Geek
Hattiesburg, MS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--- Tim Roberts <timr@-----.com> wrote:

> On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 17:58:16 -0700 (PDT), CBA
> <clarinet10001@-----.com>
> wrote:
>
> >You know, if community bands and orchestras held auditions
> for
> >chairs for ALL of their members, and got rid of the bulls**t
> >involved in the politics of "waiting for the first chair
> person
> >to die," more of us older people who aren't ancient would
> play.
> >
> >
>
> This is a very difficult situation to handle in a reasonable
> and fair way.
>
> I'm the clarinet section leader for the Tualatin Valley
> Community Band,
> and have been so for 14 years. We do not have auditions, nor
> do we
> permanently assign people to particular parts. When a new
> piece is
> handed out, I am given the stack of clarinet parts, and it is
> left
> entirely up to me to distribute them. I hate it. Generally,
> I
> arrogantly take a solo or 1st part for myself, and pass the
> stack along,
> letting the chips fall where they will.
>
> With a few exceptions, this works pretty well. Most players
> know their
> own comfort and competency levels, and this scheme lets them
> manage it
> themselves. However, there are issue. I have some very
> competent
> players who just not comfortable playing a lead part. Well,
> it's
> community band: what am I going to do, fire them? I also have
> some
> players who are considerably more competent in their own minds
> then they
> are with a clarinet in their mouths. But again, it's
> community band.
> Is it my place to ruin their "experience" by telling them they
> aren't as
> good as they think they are?
>
> I've considered the challenge-for-chairs thing, but I don't
> know how we
> would even run auditions. Where do you get an impartial
> judging panel?
> The typical community band doesn't have a cadre of
> professional
> musicians to draw upon for something like that. Do you leave
> it up to
> the director? That's enough pressure to cause an ulcer.
>
> --
> - Tim Roberts, timr@-----.com
> Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

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