What's winning auditions?

[JustinLerma]

I hear alot of people talk about how although being a great musician in a big part of the battle, another part is the horns they play on. I've gotten this alot from Dan Perantoni and afew other people that I've spoken to.

Do you think this is true? What horns have been getting into audition committees' ears?

[WoodSheddin]

I hear alot of people talk about how although being a great musician in a big part of the battle, another part is the horns they play on. I've gotten this alot from Dan Perantoni and afew other people that I've spoken to.

Do you think this is true? What horns have been getting into audition committees' ears?

Better tools can help the number 1 player at an audition play the audition more easily, but in the end money can't buy a victory.

That being said, ya gotta buy the horn which best matches what you want, not what you think others want. I went through that owning a Yorkbrunner. Although a fantastic horn, it did not match up well with me most of the time. The guy I sold it too just happened to be selling a MW 2000 to buy the Yorkbrunner. I think I sounded better on a 2000 than him and I know that he sounded better on the Yorkbrunner than I did. I did not end up with his particular horn, but you get the picture.

Ya gotta find your own voice.

[Matt Good]

The instrument is meaningless. Your sound and musicianship are paramount.

Your choice of instrument is the extenstion of the sound that is in your head.

-Matt

[djwesp]

I don't claim to have been to many big auditions, just five or six. However, I don't remember a single audition where the person with the nicest horn won.


When the instrument facilitates your needs, you have the right instrument. There is a halfway point from what you are hearing. The instrument IS a crucial part of your playing, it just so happens that YOU are a much bigger part of it.


Do you feel like the instrument is holding you back? Does the instrument work? Does its size and pitch facilitate your greatest needs?


I guess the hardest thing to do in the instrument world is knowing when an upgrade really isn't an upgrade. A $10,000+ plus horn will make just about anyone sound better, but is this difference great enough to justify the cost when so many facets of our playing is the user.


Best tuba player I've heard in a while... Was playing an old 186, taken down to raw brass, with a bigger bell and bow, and a bright silver lead pipe. It was a butcher's masterpiece (goofiest looking horn I'd seen in a while), but did exactly what he wanted it to do.


(You should PM what Dan said to you, I bet I have a similar story )

[MikeMason]

apparently, it's easier to keep a conductor happy than to win the audition.Also,what a tuba sounds like by itself isn't really all that relevant to the actual job.What percentage of the time do we really play by ourselves(not with ourselves,which would be a much higher number )?

[Roger Lewis]

The PT6 has won quite a number of auditions, in both the rotary model (Alabama twice, National and San Francisco among others). and the piston model (Philadelphia, Oregon and others).

The Gronitz PCK won 3 (Fort Worth, National and New York).

The Nirschl York copy has won Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Boston and the Yorkbrunner won Cleveland.

I'm not sure which horn Steve Campbell used for his audition wins. The Culbertson 6/4 won Fort Worth, but Ed Jones is now playing a Gronitz PCK.

That's a partial list but it gives you an idea as to which horns allow a player to demonstrate his (or her) true talents.

Roger

[windshieldbug]

Potentially you're talking about 3 different types of sound:

1. For the committee unaccompanied
2. For the committee and trombone section in sectionals
3. For the music director with the orchestra in the hall for the probation period

[Roger Lewis]

may not be the one you actually do the job on. In the audition you are trying to play cleanly and with full sound with a trombone section. Once you are in the back of the WHOLE orchestra, you soon realize that you might need just a little more to balance the 8 basses next to you as well as the trombones and horns. Also, the characteristics of the hall come into play more. You audition either in a rehearsal room or center stage. The projection from the actual position on the stage that you will occupy may be quite a bit different from the other places you played to win the job.

Just an observation.

Roger

[Mark]

I really don't like the original question's implication that the tuba won the audition. I think the more appropriate question is: "What tubas are the winning tuba players using at auditions?".

[windshieldbug]

I really don't like the original question's implication that the tuba won the audition. I think the more appropriate question is: "What tubas are the winning tuba players using at auditions?".

Is that like asking: "What excerpts are the winning tuba players being asked at auditions?".

[Alex F]

I seem to recall someone mentioning that they won a Tanglewood audition on a Cerveny Piggy? I think Roger Lewis might remember who that was.

[finnbogi]

It would be interesting to know WHO of the living wage orchestra tuba players DOES NOT use a 6/4 of some kind for most of their playing. Can anyone name one?

Paul Hümpel.

[RyanSchultz]

Didn't Ron Bishop use a 3/4 Rudy for a lot of his playing in Cleveland?

[JustinLerma]

Ron Bishop actually won the job on two CC tubas, but one was REALLY small.

[Arkietuba]

I think that the really good tuba players are what's winning auditions.

Okay, on a serious note...in my experience it doesn't matter what you play as long as you sound good on it. I've made first chair at All-State on a horn that was made around WW II. There was absolutely no finish left on it, 3 valves but one of the springs was bent and rubbed against the side of the casing, had too many dents to count, recording bell and had leaks...but I made the best sound I could on it and got first chair. Also, I've seen professional level players pick up any horn good/bad and get a beautiful sound out of it. I agree that the instrument could help but it doesn't make you a good player. I recently aquired Ed Owen's horn (made by Sam Gnagey) and it fits me perfectly...great, fat sound, good low register and high register pops right out. I does help me to sound better in the sense that it's fuller than the small, standard model horns I have used before.

[finnbogi]

It would be interesting to know WHO of the living wage orchestra tuba players DOES NOT use a 6/4 of some kind for most of their playing. Can anyone name one?

Paul Hümpel.

Oh no, not that easy... Name what he uses, too!

A regular size F tuba, I think it is a Gronitz, but I could be wrong.

In fact, German tuba players generally use F tubas except for parts that explicitly ask for a Kontrabaßtuba, in which case they use a B flat tuba.

[Roger Lewis]

Boston auditions. A prominent West coast player advanced to the finals in the Boston Symphony audition, but was told that his PT6P did not put out enough sound. Another truly great player was there as well on his Hirsbrunner 5/4. There are times when you need a bigger horn to satisfy the committee.

Just an observation.

Roger

[ZNC Dandy]

It would be interesting to know WHO of the living wage orchestra tuba players DOES NOT use a 6/4 of some kind for most of their playing. Can anyone name one?

Mike Thornton in the Cincinnati Symphony. Plays an Alexander 163. Its not what I would call a 6/4 tuba. Also finnbogi is right about the European players. Look at the sound guys like Walter Hilgers, Markus Hotzel and Paul Humpel crank out of the F tuba. Its also really impressive to hear the sound that can come out of one of those little Viennese F tubas. Not to mention the British players like Chris McShane or Patrick Harrild.

[JB]

It would be interesting to know WHO of the living wage orchestra tuba players DOES NOT use a 6/4 of some kind for most of their playing. Can anyone name one?

Perhaps someone living closer to Montreal can confirm this is (or is not) still the case, but Dennis Miller used a 5/4 Hirsbrunner for a long time with the MSO/OSM.

[Steve Marcus]

Does anybody play a PT-7? It would be hard to describe that horn as anything but a 6/4.