Probably a very naive question, but let me just throw this out there because I need to know!

I have an orchestral audition soon, and want to know if it is appropriate/customary to play orchestral excerpts out of excerpt books, or do I need to find the actual orchestral part to play from?

Thanks!

you'll probably want to have the actual part - you don't necessarily have to play from it in the audition, but it helps to put the excerpt in context while you're preparing it, and it also doesn't really hurt to know the whole piece rather than just the excerpt!

I recommend getting the entire part (if available). I have been at more than one audition where the committee asked for a random tutti passage that wasn't in any of my excerpt books.

Good luck with getting all the music together and with the audition!

Thanks for the responses!

I actually found a cd-rom collection that had most of the full parts I needed. And the price is reasonable. So if you don't mind printing out your music from the computer its a good deal. Its grouped by instrument and composer...it didn't have any Ravel though

That's the problem I'm having. I am ordering a full score of The Firebird, but apparently the cd-rom collection doesn't have The Firebird on it anywhere...

Not sure about Firebird but many more recent exerpts are from copy protected scores. The orchestra should provide those exerpts.

Perhaps I can offer something...

If an excerpt is not in the public domain or is currently out of print, the orchestra/organization should provide the music to all auditionees. Occasionally, some orchestras will only send excerpts to those musicians that have been ‘invited’ - either they have already been advanced on to the semi-final round or that they have been selected to come to the preliminaries based on their resume, as a way to cut costs. I strongly recommend buying the entire part, because not only is it a valuable investment but you never know when an orchestra is going to ask for more than what is printed in the excerpt book - I’ve seen this happen several times with sightreading. The best place to get excerpts I think is from Educational Music Service (emsmusic.com) – they have a very knowledgeable staff that is more than willing to help you figure out which music you can buy, and which music you can’t. Many librarians of orchestras will contact them before an audition and let them know what the rep is, so that any auditionee can tell them they are taking the NYPhil audition and EMS can tell you what music is available. If an orchestra really has it together, they should also list what editions of music they will be using (Kalmus, Breitkopf & Haertel, etc.) and which version (Firebird 1911, 1919, and 1945) the orchestra is expecting to hear. While it may be obvious as every orchestra asks for the same excerpt, I don’t think it ever hurts to ask.

So, what you're saying is that we can purchase individual parts from EMS? That would be a life-saver!

I just emailed EMS.
Thanks for the info!

Just wanted to say THANK YOU to "Music Librarian." I went thru EMS.com last night and ordered what I needed. In the process I witnessed fabulous customer service!!!

I will definitely use them again and I highly recommend them!

I also used them too, for an elusive part I've been trying to find. Thanks Music Librarian!