Re: simple answers


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Rick Denney on November 05, 2003 at 15:37:06:

In Reply to: simple answers posted by flame tinder on November 04, 2003 at 00:46:22:

I recall hearing a tone just as you describe in an audition recording that someone sent me a while back. It was the one weak point in that tape, as I recall mentioning to the fellow who sent it to me--the tone quality was not consistent across the crescendo and decrescendo.

Considering that all other aspects of the tape seemed flawless to me, and considering that the fellow who sent me the tape is a working pro with real credentials, I have to think that this one aspect must be the most difficult thing to achieve, even for top pros.

When I dink around with excerpts, and when I play them in my band (we do lots of challenging transcriptions), I worry most about the technical requirements of complex passages. That's what makes me an amateur, I think. The weakest part of my playing is not those technical passages. The weakest part is the dynamic control. What makes dynamic control? Breath control. And with better breath control, those technical passages would probably be easier for me, too.

It's the same with violinists, as I'm sure Mary Ann will attest. The amateurs of my own skill level on violin worry about their left hand, while the real pros work on what their right hand is doing. I see the graceful movements of pro string players with their bow hand, and compare that to the amateurs I used to play with, and it becomes the key difference between them (other than intonation, heh, heh--but that was built into Joe's "test").

And for those who misunderstood, I don't think Joe suggested this should be on an audition. It seems to me he suggested that this is a self-test designed to allow us to assess our own breath control. He also suggested that those who are the very best worry about just such aspects of their playing, and are working on improvements while we are writing about them.

I don't need to conduct the test for myself. I already know what results I would get: p-f-pp, with tone (and pitch) falling apart towards the end. If I tried to get louder, I'd run out of air for sure. And if I tried to start out softer, I'd fluff too many entries. A softer ending would result in a loss of pitch control. And that would be on that first G, heh, heh. But then I'm not sitting at home wondering why I didn't advance at the NY audition, and I do my best within the context of my life.

As far as Joe's motivation for starting this thread, it is not arm-chair quarterbacking, I don't think. I have a feeling that his perceptions are based on his own self-analysis based on his own experience.

On the subject of Alan Baer, it would appear to me that his winning three auditions in a row would suggest a flaw in the theory that audition committees are making choices based on flavors or on arbitrary subjectivity. What is the probability that the audition committees in Fort Worth, Washington, and New York would all want the same flavor? It seems to me that these three groups vary quite dramatically in their sound and musical approach, and I don't think I could pick three more varied groups to test the theory. Whatever Mr. Baer has seems to be what these varied committees seek, and either his style is universal or incredibly versatile, or style isn't as important as we think.

I'm sure that some of the auditionees left the audition feeling as though they played their very best, but that it wasn't good enough to compete at that level. And there may be some who left feeling that they played the excerpts flawlessly and exactly as they should be played, and can't understand why they didn't progress. And I'm sure there are those who just didn't do their best. I suspect there are more in the first category than the second, and not as many in the third as one might think. Personally, I'd rather be in the first category. In that category, the musical concepts may be sound but the skill is not, and skill can be improved. In the second cateogory, the musical standards need upgrading, and that may require something unobtainable. I feel only sympathy for those in the third group. Joe's post was for those in the first category. But everyone who is not Alan Baer is in one of those categories, it seems to me.

Rick "who auditions all the time, just not in music" Denney




Follow Ups: