[Trombone-l] Cleveland Orch Trombone Article in newspaper

[ALEX ILES]

On May 24, 2007, at 9:08 PM, Roger Hecht wrote:

> It's been true in Hollywood for
> years, and now it's true in many orchestras.

Were you refering to the Hollywood music scene specifically, or  
Hollywood in general, Roger?

Depending on how you look at it, freelance/studio players don't  
officially "audition" for positions, yet they kind of do  
"audition" [for the NEXT one!] every time they play!!

Studio/freelance veteran and master woodwind player Gary Foster once  
told me, "In this business, you are only as good as the last 8 bars  
you just played!".

In many orchestral auditions, there is a "power play" brewing between  
an audition committee and the conductor. Usually, conductors have 51%  
of the vote. Some conductors might have a specific player in mind and  
will accept to no one else, even if the audition committee ushers 3-4  
world class players for him/her to listen to into the finals. There  
might be other issues between the conductor and the committee that  
unfortunately get played out in the audition process, where the  
players become pawns. There is a good essay on the whole Cleveland  
debacle on Peter Ellefson's website.  He wrote this a few years ago,  
just after Doug Wright was "hired" [so it is a little dated, but it  
is still relevant]. He includes an interesting take on why many  
orchestras might not hire the "acting principal" or section member  
who might have been proving him/herself for several seasons yet is  
not promoted/hired.

http://ellefson.peterellefson.com/index.php?s=cleveland

Alex