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Woodwind Orchestral Auditions:BASSOONarama

Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2011-04-03 19:06

I spent yesterday in Cheney, WA at Eastern Washington University's Music Department's annual BASSOONarama. ( used to use one).

The most interesting thing on the program yesterday was that they staged an orchestral audition. Even as one too incompetent, too old, and too scared to be a competitive musician, I found the presentation fascinating.

Three students volunteers from EWU agreed to audition the standard bassoon orchestral extracts. They were given the music 3 weeks earlier. One dropped out, and the two remaining candidates were heard in the University band room. The judges were behind a screen on the floor of the room, and a 4th judge/proctor talked to the players. The players were seated far away from the judges about half way up the band room's risers. We sat in chairs on the risers.

The judges were Lynne Feller-Marshall, Spokane Symphony principal bassoonist, Luke Bakken Spokane Symphony 2nd and contra bassoonist, Susan Hess, Bassoon Professor at Univ of Idaho.

The audition repertoire of extracts was similar to the "standard" challenges posed to clarinetist, kicking off with the Mozart concerto!
The pieces to be performed by the applicants were chosen from the larger set at the last moment:

* Exposition from the Mozart Bassoon Concerto
* Bercuece: Stravinsky
* Bolero: Ravel
* Sight reading of a passage. A few measures of an Allegro, First in C-Major than in Gb major on separate sheets of paper. The proctor put the sight reading passage on the applicant's music stand with the C-Major part on top. When the player finished with that, the proctor whipped off the top page, leaving the player to stare at the Gb version. The first player's eyes nearly fell out of his head when he saw it (but he played it with no errors).

Scoring rules:

* Vote before discussing the performances;
* Music director gets a 50% vote!
* Each of the other panel members gets a proportional share of the remaining 50% of the scoring.
* If the player can't keep rhythm s/he won't be any good in the ensemble, so the arrhythmic player stands no chance at all
* If the player can't play in tune s/he's out.

Facts of Life:

* The judging objective is not like that of a student jury --to encourage the player and help him/er out
* The objective is to "winnow the chaff" and reduce the applicant pool. It's more like, "Throw the bum out, and lets get this over with." (40 bassoonists vying for a part time job)
* The judges can probably classify the applicant from his/er first few notes: Student vs working musician looking for a different job.
* You learn more from judging auditions than you do from playing auditions (favors pros).
* The screen may come down for the final round!

Advice:

* You must appear on the set date: no compromises, no recourse.
* Keep up your audition chops by playing the standard audition material often.
* Bear down on your abstract playing long before the audition. (One pro goes into audition mode a couple of months before the audition by recording everything before bedtime, playing through the recording the next morning, taking notes and using those to guide the day's practice).
* Walk into the auditorium barefooted --to avoid being gender typed. For goodness sakes, don't walk in in high heeled pumps.
* If you are a wind player, learn to breathe like a man.
* YOUR extracts are NOT authoritative. Know the controversial notes associated with each piece, and get that all cleared up before you play.
* Take your time between extracts.
* Play any sight readings through in your mind before actually playing them.
* You'll probably be playing in a concert hall. You may be on stage with the screened judges well back in the auditorium. Try out your sound in the hall so you'll know how quietly you can play and still be heard. Don't do anything obnoxious during your "room calibration test."

In this case, both applicants were a bit unsteady when hitting the first 1/16th notes in the Mozart (!), neither was chosen to advance to the next round. A coin toss split the prizes: a CD of David McGill playing the standard bassoon audition material, and a nice handful of top-quality reed cane.

I could see a lot of myself in the second player who, under the pressure, fumbled things he most likely had (almost) "down pat" at home.

Terrifying!

Bob Phillips

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