 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: johnpdiddyo
Date: 2008-12-30 00:02
Do you need a degree in performance to audition for an orchestra position or is possible to get a spot on talent alone?
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Author: Ryder
Date: 2008-12-30 00:29
NO degree at all is required. In fact if they were talented enough, a high school student could hold an orchestra position. I know there were many others, but Stanley Drucker comes to mind there.
The princ. french horn in the NY Phil has an accounting degree.
In fact, unless you are unusually talented, making a living (and paying off your tuition) off of a performance degree alone is difficult.
____________________
Ryder Naymik
San Antonio, Texas
"We pracice the way we want to perform, that way when we perform it's just like we practiced"
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Author: marshall
Date: 2008-12-30 01:36
You won't even get invited to audition for a paying, full-time employment orchestra if you don't have a degree.
Post Edited (2008-12-30 01:38)
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-12-30 02:05
Although a degree is not required you can't get invited to an audition without some sort of back round these days. Most young players get that in school. Even with a degree you would need experience to be considered by the major orchestras. Most orchestras screen the applicants they invite to an audition these days. The higher up on the food chain the orchestra is the more difficult it is to get invited. They rely on teacher recommendations; playing experience and general music back round for consideration. Many require sending in a CD or even a DVD for a preliminary audition. No matter how well you play you have to get invited to audition first. The degree it self is not as important as the experience and connections you might get in a music program. There are many players that have degrees other then music but probably studied music as a minor or double major. It's not like to old days. ESP
www.peabody.jhu.edu/457 Listen to a little Mozart, live performance.
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2008-12-30 02:44
the opinions expressed here, esp. by Ed, are totally valid. However, is your heart set on an orchestral career or do you just want to play? is jazz an option for you? if so it could be easier (if you have that talent) since jazz musicians are more concerned with what you can do rather than what school you went to (although this too is changing with all the university jazz programs now out there)......remember Wynton Marsalis dropped out of Juillard calling it "a joke"....but if you seriously want an orchestral position you better get a PhD in clarinet performance and be prepared for several lean years... my advice - "don't quit your day job"
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Author: mrn
Date: 2008-12-30 06:47
chris moffatt wrote:
<<but if you seriously want an orchestral position you better get a PhD in clarinet performance and be prepared for several lean years... my advice - "don't quit your day job">>
I think you mean DMA (Doctor of Musical Arts)--a PhD is usually a research degree. I've never heard of anyone awarding a PhD in musical performance (although I know better than to claim nobody does). One of my law school classmates had a music PhD, but it was in musicology, not performance.
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I've always been under the impression that having a DMA (as opposed to a BM or MM) was more important for getting a university teaching position than for orchestral auditions. It seems like an MM (or even a BM) ought to be enough to convince the auditioners that you won't be wasting their time. Am I wrong about this?
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2008-12-30 21:43
You don't need a graduate degree at all to get an orchestra job. The only reason you need the degree at all is to get the experience and connections necessary to get invited to an audition. See my post above. If you're good enough, and don't have a degree, you can still get a good job, if you can get invited to audition. Just look at all the Curtis grads that have won symphony jobs. It's all about getting a chance to show your stuff, and than having the "stuff". ESP
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