Auditioning the Audition Process

For this final day the moderator asks for reactions to the following statement: “An orchestra audition consisting of a movement from a concerto and excerpts is sufficient to select the “best” person for the job”.

I have seen too many successful outcomes of just such auditions to disagree with this statement – although it is certainly easier at such an audition to identify those who will not be suitable for the job than it is to identify who will be the best person for the job.

However it is vital that an orchestra trying to fill a vacancy in its membership has an idea of what it is looking for. It is simply not enough to settle for a couple of the “best players” of the day and then nod in exhausted acquiescence in the direction of the conductor for the final decision. No string quartet would ever operate like this in the search for a new member. I applaud therefore all the suggestions and practices of trying out candidates in chamber music or orchestra rehearsals. It would be just so much more effective if the orchestra possessed a musical personality, style, tradition that it knew well. They would know what they were looking for, and just about any kind of selection procedure would serve. As I wrote earlier, trying to decide the best way to organize an audition, before knowing what one hopes to find, is putting the cart before the horse.

But how does an orchestra even start to answer such a question when they have had little or no experience of the impact of making the decision all by themselves and cannot articulate what they are looking for?

And here is the moderator’s second challenge: “I would ask whether or not they think orchestra musicians, acting as an audition committee or an entire orchestra, would make better decisions about hiring and tenure than would music directors. Why would their “ownership” of the orchestra lead them to act more wisely than the music director’s “ownership” would lead her to act – or vice versa?”

It’s not that I believe musicians making the decision will always make the best choice, but that the decision-making process should be improved. I hold that as long as conductors (“Big Daddies”) hold and exercise such critical executive power as in the hiring issue, orchestra members cannot easily evolve beyond the role of dependent, subservient employees.

“Ownership” of the audition process by the orchestra means that every member knows they have their position because their colleagues, not the conductor, chose them. This kind of “corporate maturity” should lead on to the membership being able to engage in mutual (hopefully constructive) criticism. Ultimately, such a self-disciplined environment will foster independence, solidarity, mutual respect and pride. It can, by the way, even help to reduce stage fright by instilling true self-confidence.

Finally, in response to Robert’s question to me, “I would ask Fergus if he can imagine any improvements in the “German” system that might result in more new hires retaining their jobs”:

It may also be happening elsewhere in Germany, but in the Berlin Philharmonic we now occasionally ask leading non-string candidates to play for a week of two in the orchestra. It helps sometimes. What cannot be tested in advance by any method I have heard of is whether the candidates have the nerves to withstand life in our orchestra.

Finally, a word about Berlin’s merciless culling of a third of all our probationary candidates: the “blood-letting” has eased up a bit in recent years. Currently we also have relatively few vacancies.

I know I’m repeating myself when I say, I believe the quickest way to achieve a quantum leap in the quality of music making by an orchestra is to empower the membership, and the single most effective first step is for that orchestra to take back ownership of the audition process. It will be the first step on the road to musicians managing themselves with courageous artistic commitment. And it’s so much more fun!

To all participants and readers, I have very much enjoyed both the challenge and the privilege of taking part in this forum. I shall remain keenly interested to follow developments in this subject as time goes by.