Curtis Audition requirements

[sloan]

Ok, then make the requirement upon entry into the program, not for audition.

Dear sir: I wish to apply for the job of "pitcher" for the New York Yankees. I am prepared to audition - but I have not yet purchased a glove or spikes. If you are impressed with my throwing (I've mastered the "fast ball" and promise to work on my slider RealSoonNow) and give me the job, I will be happy to acquire the appropriate equipment. I apologize that I was brought up by parents who did not expose me to baseball in any way, but my teammates on the soccer team tell me that my "throwin" is world class and I'm sure I can out-throw anyone else who shows up for the audition.

[TubaRay]

my teammates on the soccer team tell me that my "throwin" is world class and I'm sure I can out-throw anyone else who shows up for the audition.

World class? This guy needs to become a member of TubeNet(or whatever it is we become when we sign up).

[Biggs]

look at how much rep is required for the alto trombone. there's not much.

Mozart
Beethoven
Brahms
Schubert
Schumann
Berlioz
Mendelssohn
Schoenberg
Berg
Britten
That's not much symphonic literature that calls for Alto trombone.

Haydn? I think?

[Casey Tucker]

no, you're right. you're not applying for a JOB. but you are applying to a school with very high standards which include playing CC and F. yes, there are very good players that play Bb but the fact of the matter is Curtis requires CC and F. period. they can require whatever they want unfortunately (or fortunately. just depends on how you look at it). they want talented and experienced musicians. I'm expecting they don't want to have to work on fingerings but more on the music your playing. which is why they're asking you to be able to play both on your audition. again, it's NOT A JOB. even if it's not, i'm still going to treat this audition as if it is. because in the long run, practicing an audition process, like the one for Curtis, will innevitably start preparing you for a professional audition. they don't treat you like a student. they treat you like a professional and they should. so i guess you COULD call it a JOB.

[TexTuba]

Ok, then make the requirement upon entry into the program, not for audition.

I am prepared to audition - but I have not yet purchased a glove or spikes.

Yes, since tubas cost as much as gloves and spikes. I really wish this was dropped because it's obvious that there are those on this board who think one way and those who think another. No one is going to give in to the other's opinion, and the school could care less about what is said here. This school is really no better or worse than the other "big schools." You can make the reasoning for two horns that it's a "professional environment." The bottom line is that they are NO pros. Pros get paid, period.

[Mark]

this one seems a bit "elite" in my opinion. It eliminates at least some fine players who simply haven't been exposed to the variety of tubas out there and certainly don't have the resources to own two or more instruments.

Excellent point.... Does this requirement not skew the table towards more affluent families who can afford multiple tubas for their children?

The more I think about all of this, the more it upsets me. (Does that do anyone any good? No.)

RC

I have a solution. Curtis should admit everyone who wants to go there. Curtis should supply each student with as many tubas as the student wants. Curtis should not charge tuition and should supply each student with free housing and food. That fair isn't? To each according to his needs, right?

[Posaune2]

I think there are a couple of important points that need to be emphasized here:

1. At Curtis, there is only ONE tuba player, and ONE orchestra. The tuba student at Curtis must have the chops and equipment to play anything in the orchestral rep from their first day there. Players on most of the other orchestral instruments have the chance to ease their way into demanding parts over their first couple of years. The tuba player will not have that luxury. The flip side of that is, you may have the chance to play for a conductor like Sir Simon Rattle within weeks (maybe even during your first week) of starting school. There aren't too many schools where you will have both that responsibility and that opportunity from the moment you arrive on campus.

2. An audition for Curtis is much more like an audition for grad school or for an orchestra like New World Symphony or Chicago Civic Orchestra than like your typical audition for an incoming freshman at a big music school.

3. Many Curtis students do not come there straight out of HS, but do a couple of years of college first. If you aren't already fairly conversant with the orchestral repertoire, if you don't have at least some skill on both CC and Eb or F, you probably should go to another school first, and apply to Curtis when you are better prepared.

4. Curtis is offering an opportunity to get a tuition free education, in an environment that is designed to mimic the professional world and prepare students to function in it. In the professional world, you bring your own equipment, and if you bring the "wrong" equipment, you don't thrive. Curtis believes that the "right" equipment to thrive in the orchestral world in this country is CC & Eb or F. If you think they are wrong, you should probably go somewhere else.

Eric Carlson, (who didn't go to Curtis, doesn't teach there, but respects what the school does)

[sloan]

No.... In my mind fair would be allowing a potential student to audition on whatever key tuba they owned or felt comfortable with rather than having to own two tubas of only three of the four available keys.

How about a Bb tuba (a euphonium) or a Bb slide tuba (a trombone) - or perhaps a bass flute?

[windshieldbug]

... and violinists should audition only on cardboard violins! (saving the big outlay for when they REALLY get good!)

[lgb&dtuba]

I'm glad to see that there is a school like Curtis that has not caved in to the notion that everything in this life has to be geared for the lowest common demominator.

Compared to the price of attending other schools that do, it sounds like Curtis is quite a bargain even with the up front cost of bringing in your own tubas. And I didn't see anywhere in this discussion that the required instruments had to be brand new $10,000 ones, either.

[sungfw]

Well said, Elephant! I couldn't agree more.

And to reinforce the point, see Doug Yeo's comments on "What are audition judges thinking about?" at the end of his discussion of performance standards.

[KevinMadden]

While Elephant has a pretty mcuh thread ending comment on the subject, i have something i've wanted to say while reading this thread.

I am a Junior in College, 20 years old.
I could concevably take this audition (I have no interest I love IC, but COULD take it)
I have two tubas (CC & Eb)
Combined they cost me less than any other NEW CC's that have appeared around the studio........

are they sub-par because they are old and no longer shiny?

NO!!!!

Kevin "who thinks his $8,300 in instruments play comparable to $20,000 in instruments" Madden

[rodmathews]

Two comments....

First, as a Juilliard grad who heard lots of auditionees when I was there, the chances of someone showing up with one tuba and prevailing in an audition for a top conservatory are microscopic. Add to that that Curtis is in a league of its own (see Eric Carlson's comment), it becomes even smaller. In some ways, Curtis is doing people a favor by essentially saying "don't try to audition with just one horn - you probably won't be successful." That said, if you happened to show up with a BBb and Eb tuba and you performed well enough to get in, it probably wouldn't keep you from gaining entry. What are they going to do, throw you out of the room? I can easily imagine a fine German tubist showing up with a BBb and an F, for example.

Second, on the cost of equipment, go give this article a read:
http://www.livmusic.com/Articles/going_home.html
It's written by Craig Morris, former principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony. The next to the last paragraph makes a great point about the correlation of an instrument's quality to the price one paid for it. They don't always line up!

Rod

[windshieldbug]

So if I went on on a miraphone CC Sousaphone, they would let me audition, but if I showed up with a German BBb tuba played on from a German pro I wouldn't get in?

Let's imagine you getting in if you didn't play amazingly well in EITHER case...

[jonesbrass]

Second, on the cost of equipment, go give this article a read:
http://www.livmusic.com/Articles/going_home.html
It's written by Craig Morris, former principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony. The next to the last paragraph makes a great point about the correlation of an instrument's quality to the price one paid for it. They don't always line up!

That is a GREAT article. 'nuff said.