JUNE 2005 SPECIAL REPORT:
"Symphony Auditions: Preparation & Execution"
Preparing for an orchestral audition does not begin in a practice room with an audition list. It begins years earlier.

Douglas Yeo, Bass Trombonist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra outlines the practical steps any musician can take toward audition readiness.

SPECIAL REPORT

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MyAuditions,

Absolutely great info! Recommended reading for all.

Douglas,

I read the article on taking German auditions. Unlike US/Canada auditions where there is a large repertoire that is required at auditions, the German auditions really focus on a solo work and perhaps one or two repertoire pieces only. Is this similar in other countries and have you ever taken European auditions?

Does the BSO cover the cost of the musicians staying in Tanglewood or is that the responsibilty of the musicians?

I always wonder where the musicians stay.

I appreciate MyAuditions posting the link to my article on taking auditions. I hope many readers find it to be helpful.

As to the questions so far, I have never taken an audition for a European orchestra. (I took 9 auditions for American orchestras between 1977 and 1984: Minnesota, Met Opera, Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Baltimore, Boston, Boston - I won Baltimore [1981] and Boston [1984], both on the second audition.) The article on my website on taking German auditions was written by Carl Lenthe, now professor of trombone at Indiana University but he was formerly solo tromobnist of the Bamberg Symphony and Bavarian State Opera. He would be better positioned than I to answer specific questions on the subject of European auditions. There is a link to his email address in the article.

BSO musicians are paid a per diem for the weeks we are at Tanglewood. This is calculated on a daily basis on the federal government's GSA rate for Pittsfield, MA. This year the per diem has taken a huge jump upward, about $9000 for the summer from about $6000 last summer; that's because the GSA just recently adjusted the daily rate for Pittsfield. BSO members rent houses or apartments for the summer or buy and own their own homes (Tanglewood is 2.5 hours west of Boston so it's not too great a distance to deal with a second home). The per diem is tax exempt. Our family rented a house for our first summer (didn't like that). We then bought a trailer that we lived in for 6 years (fun when our kids were young) and then bought a house (which has also turned out to be a good investment). The rental market always knows what the BSO per diem is so while there are bargains to be found, many rentals are on the high end of prices. Renters send their listings to the BSO personnel office where players can look at them and make their arrangements individually.

-Douglas Yeo

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Douglas Yeo,

Hi Doug,

Just curious how you decided on the bass trombone over the trombone. are there many differences to playing either one? do you also play the standard trombone as well?

Your articles are elightening!

I came to the trombone at age 9, asking my band director for a trumpet as first choice. Being as my last name begins with "Y" he had no trumpets left by the time he got to me so I was given a trombone. I never looked back.

During my senior year in high school I was still a tenor trombone player but by virture of my audition for New Jersey all-state, I was selected for the All-Eastern orchestra and assigned the bass trombone part (this was 1972 - at that time, most states did not have a separate audition category for bass trombone - NY State was a notable exception). It was the first time I played the bass trombone part and I quite liked it (Dvorak 8, Brahms 3, Candide Ov).

I did my freshman year in college at IU Bloomington but by the time I started there as a music ed major, I knew I would be transferring to Wheaton College in IL where I wanted to study (performance) with Edward Kleinhammer of the Chicago Symphony (and also follow my high school girlfriend - now wife of 30 years - to Wheaton). All music ed majors at IU had to march in the marching band for two fall semesters. Knowing I wouldn't graduate from IU, I knew I didn't need to do that (most players got that requirement over with during their freshman and sophomore years), I knew I would have a good shot to play in an orchestra first semester. I asked my teacher what I should do - he told me the number of tenor and bass players in the school and I liked the odds better on bass trombone. I got into orchestra 4 in first semester, then the first orchestra second semester. When I got to Wheaton I bought a proper bass trombone and kept moving in that direction. what seemed like a completely pragmatic decision so I'd get to play in an orchestra at IU turned out to be something that happily changed my life.

Today I rarely play tenor trombone. I only do so when the BSO plays music of Berlioz because he always wrote for a section of 3 tenor trombones. Using the large bass trombone in Berlioz disturbs, I think, the sound world he was looking for. I also play serpent, ophicleide and contrabass trombone when required in the BSO and in other groups. But as a rule, I leave tenor trombone to others who can play it far better than I.

That's the rest of the story...

-Douglas Yeo

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Douglas Yeo,

Re auditions in Europe... of course Europe consists of many different countries, and each of these have many different orchestras. I have experience from many different orchestras in Europe, but I have never taken an audition in the US.

I have participated in around 30 auditions in seven European countries. For bassoon, a first round would almost always be the Mozart concerto, always with piano accompaniment, normally first or both first and second mvts, and a few orchestral excerpts. Once I have been asked to play the Weber in the first round. Three or four times (Germany or conservative orchestras in other countries) first round has only been the Mozart and no excerpts.

Often there will be a pre-qualification round that most candidates will have to do, unless you already have a good resume or the orchestra knows you. In these rounds, there are no established "rules", and they can ask for different things. Often the jury is reduced in these rounds.

The audition repertoire in Germany is very standardized, if you know Mozart, Weber and the mostly used excerpts from one particular excerpts book, you are 95% prepared to all auditions all the time. That's the result of the number of orchestras in Germany, I think around 110 remain, although some have closed the last 10 years - and the fact that many orchestras have three or four auditions before they hire someone. The result is that a good player can do an audition a week if he wants to - and that means the orchestras adjust to the common repertoire, because anything out of the common would cause that nobody shows up.

Other countries are different. Often, it depends on whether the orchestra is more oriented towards Germany or the US or othe countries musically/organizing speaking, which can be different between two orchestras in the same city. Especially Spain is very unpredictable.

In Britain, they use quite a lot of probation - an orchestra tries out a great number of players by letting them work with the orchestra for some time and then after a lengthy process finally hires someone.

In Denmark, it is standard procedure to have the final round in the orchestra - the candidates play a set of excerpts as in rehearsal. For excerpts like Tchaik 6 for bassoon, that can make a big difference from doing it alone!

A question, how does pay in orchestras like the Berlin Phil, the Hamburg etc compare to the top US orchestras?

Also, is there any reason why German orchestras focus so much on solo rep?