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mazzrick · 04-10-2008, 12:34 PM

Ed,

Being that you were in an orchestra at a fairly young age I thought this might be a nice topic to discuss under your supervision.

There is a second trumpet audition coming up for an orchestra here in Berlin and I was talking about it with a friend. This friend of mine is 21, has played in the Berliner Statsoper, Israel Philharmonic, subbed with the orchestra holding the audition, and has played concertos with the Israel Phil also. He doesn't want to take this audition because it is a second trumpet audition and his ultimate goal is to hold a first trumpet job. This got me to thinking, which would be better to have? a principal job or a section job when you're hoping to move onwards and upwards?

My thought was of course he should take the audition and if he wins the audition, then he won't have to worry about practicing too high or too much before concerts and will have chops left after rehearsals. At the same time, on his side of the argument, he'd have to work up his low playing and would gain experience as a section player, not as a principal player. So for those out there hoping to become a principal trumpeter someday, what is the ideal stepping stone job? Of course we would all love the option, right? and that's not always possible, but ideal worlds here...

Matt

04-10-2008, 12:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
mazzrick Pianissimo User Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 113	Stepping stones Ed, Being that you were in an orchestra at a fairly young age I thought this might be a nice topic to discuss under your supervision. There is a second trumpet audition coming up for an orchestra here in Berlin and I was talking about it with a friend. This friend of mine is 21, has played in the Berliner Statsoper, Israel Philharmonic, subbed with the orchestra holding the audition, and has played concertos with the Israel Phil also. He doesn't want to take this audition because it is a second trumpet audition and his ultimate goal is to hold a first trumpet job. This got me to thinking, which would be better to have? a principal job or a section job when you're hoping to move onwards and upwards? My thought was of course he should take the audition and if he wins the audition, then he won't have to worry about practicing too high or too much before concerts and will have chops left after rehearsals. At the same time, on his side of the argument, he'd have to work up his low playing and would gain experience as a section player, not as a principal player. So for those out there hoping to become a principal trumpeter someday, what is the ideal stepping stone job? Of course we would all love the option, right? and that's not always possible, but ideal worlds here... Matt Last edited by mazzrick : 04-10-2008 at 12:57 PM.