Khora

My friend Susan sang the Janacek Glagolitic Mass with Edmonton last spring. She thoroughly enjoyed working with Bill (and she has worked with a lot of conductors in her career). He knows what he is talking about.

We would do better to admit that we are auditioning for a chance to have a trial period with an orchestra. Most auditions now result in several people playing trials with the orchestra, so lets just be up front about it. That's why the big orchestras mention sight-reading. It certainly shouldn't be the kind of sight-reading from high school contest - they expect you to know the rep, and just not have spent weeks woodshedding those particular pieces.

He is right on the money. I know a lot of people who feel they are ready for a 'real' job. And yet they have to agonize for hours just to play something like the exposition of the Haydn. At some point, the standard repertoire has to become completely second nature, or you need to accept that you aren't really ready to have that kind of job. Yes, it is a harsh reality. But when you are working full-time, you don't have hours each week to learn each piece from scratch.

I see a lot of students spending a lot of time online - but the ones winning the jobs are the ones in the practice rooms / listening rooms.

Learn the rep early on in life - and learn it stone cold, so you can play it no matter what, in your sleep. Play it along with recordings if you don't have a chance to play it with an orchestra - that process is so simple these days with an iPod and headset! Push the tempos, dynamics, etc. in all directions.
When you know this stuff in your sleep, you're really ready to take the auditions.

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Sandy