I recently took the FLute and PIccolo auditions in Kalamazoo.

IN the semi and final rounds there was no screen (WHY?) and apparently Richard Sherman was asked to be a judge. Several of his students were in these rounds.

I'm not sure that this is really fair? I"m sure they got the best flutist/piccolo player from the day...but don't you think it should have been blind if the committee included a flute teacher?

I hear the DSO (Detroit) does their auditions BLIND and then haves the winner play in the section for two weeks before they award a position.

Flute teacher judging his own student? Screen down..why?

What do YOU think?

Dear PICCOLOGawd,

Where did you obtain this information? Richard Sherman is not affiliated with the KSO. While I cannot confirm or deny that he was asked to be on a committee (for an orchestra in which he does not play), he was not on the panel.

It's not unusual at all for finals & sometimes semis to be without a screen. In my experience, most semis have had a screen & I usually expect finals to be without. But it would be rather strange if they used a flutist of another orchestra to be on the committee. Does anyone have any confirmation of this?

Dear Flute81: My discussion wasn't about whether Mr. Sherman was there or not. It was concerning the validity of having a teacher knowingly judge their own students in an audition situation.

I'm a little confused by your comment..you can't confirm, but yet you state you know that he was not on the panel. Hmm...are you confused or what?

PICCOLOGawd,

Richard Sherman was not on the committee. Mr. Sherman does not now, nor has ever to the best of my knowledge, had any association with the KSO. I believe that Flute81 meant that he could not varify whether the KSO asked Mr. Sherman to be on the committee or not. Personally, I doubt that they did, but I also am not privy to this information. I do know for fact, however that Mr. Sherman was not at this audition. As to your claim in your first post that "several" of his students were in the semis and final rounds, I can also varify that only one of Mr. Sherman's students, past or present, made it past the preliminary round.

P-Gawd,

Even though this story seems to be untrue, it's nothing in the grand scheme of life...and auditions.

quote:

Originally posted by PICCOLOGawd:

I'm not sure that this is really fair? I"m sure they got the best flutist/piccolo player from the day...but don't you think it should have been blind if the committee included a flute teacher?

There are spouses on committees. There are parents, lovers, siblings, cohorts, colleagues, cronies, confidantes. There are teachers galore, several orchestras have well-deserved reputations of catering to the students of the principals. Get used to it, you'll find this in 99% of the auditions you'll ever take. Un-blind.

For the record, Richard Sherman is a standup guy and dedicated musician, he'd probably be one of the ones that would keep an open mind and vote for the best, regardless of past history.

The one constant about auditions I have observed both first and second hand in 25yrs of being in this business....

Every audition is screwed up except for the one(s) you win.

Dear PiccoloGawd,

I am most certainly not confused. He was not there. I simply stated that I have no idea if he was asked - nor why that would make any sense.

You also failed to answer my question about where you obtained in the first place. As Cygnus stated, it is rare for all of the applicants to know zero people on the committee in some form. Similarly, Mr. Sherman would have voted for the best person for the job, but that is moot because he was not involved. I do value your question as a topic of departure for discussion, but your example is not valid.

Also, I can confirm monkeychild's point that only one of Sherman's students, past or present, advanced through the screen.

quote:

Originally posted by BassBoneFL:
Every audition is screwed up except for the one(s) you win.

where's the like button when you need it?

In general, my audition experiences have been fair and decent about 90% of the time... and I certainly haven't won that many.

FWIW, the KSO bass trombone audition many years ago was quite fair, from what I remember.

That said, there ARE one or two groups that couldn't pay me to audition again...

quote:

Originally posted by AndyBassTbn:
In general, my audition experiences have been fair and decent about 90% of the time...

I'd say it was 60% for me. I could usually tell a lot about the organization before I played a single note, based on how they ran things. One audition I won (and accepted) was extremely disorganized, poorly run and lacking on every level. When I joined the band, I found the band to be extremely disorganized, poorly run and lacking on every level. :-)