ecarroll

Colin,

Back in the day (as my kids like to say to get under my skin), Mr.s Voisin, Ghitalla, Herseth, Adelstein, Johnson, and Vacchiano certainly sounded different than one another. I doubt, however, that it was because of a concious effort on their part to play above or below the center of the note. They simply heard music (and their voices in the ensemble) differently, as probably do you and I, and expressed themselves in different musical ways. Viva la difference! Positive differences are the spice of music, no? (said with a Gallic shrug)

RW,

I wouldn't know Mr. Eddins if he were to walk into the room right now so I can't answer for his reasons for writing as he did. I still see this as an attempt at clever writing, however, and not as a statement on his part (other than the bit about rolling out of bed and nailing the exposition of the Haydn, which I agree with). Did he respond to your note and, if yes, can you share it here?

I've also been on both sides of the screen, although my more recent experiences as an auditioner tend to trump my memories of being auditioned. That said, auditioning was the topic du jour at my weekly studio class last night at McGill. We discovered that within the class, all good and bad experiences behind the screen (McGill even conducts ensemble placement auditions in this fashion) ultimately reflected preparation. As we know, a good experience doesn't mean the audition will be won but, hopefully, what we take from each audition is a positive.

It's a shitty process, isn't it? (but it's what we have)

Best,
EC