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Re: Excerpts

Author: lmliberson
Date: 2022-12-27 21:31

Nobody - including me - inferred that one has to be Stephen Williamson or anybody else to win a bass (or Eb) audition. However, mere “adequacy” in ability is hardly sufficient. Just “getting by” doesn’t get the gig in the real world.

Oh, also - where has anyone seen simply a “bass” audition for a bona fide symphony orchestra in the USA without clarinet playing being part of the equation? Not me…

Experience? Sure, exceedingly important. But not all experiences are equal - it all depends on where one is at and what one might absorb.

Reputation? Arguable as to its benefit. Yes, people here and there may have heard you - or heard about you - and, depending on where and what you are playing, you might be fortunate to be pre-advanced in an audition. But you still have to play the audition behind a screen where you’re simply an unknown. Doesn’t sound like any kind of help to me!

I’ve listened to auditions in which somebody who just graduated high school won the audition (and took the job) and where so-called experienced professionals didn’t make it past the first round.

Bottom line is you have to be able to play and make music - no matter where in the section one hopes to sit.

But, getting back to the original poster, if your clarinet playing falls short of the highest standards in an audition (and, of course, every orchestra employs their own subjective standards), your Eb or bass playing will likely never see the light of day.

Well…hear the light of day?

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