This weekend was my first experience sitting on an audition committee. Well, I suppose committee is the wrong word. It was really just me and another cellist, an acquaintance of mine who also studies with Vardi. We were asked to judge for the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra auditions for Concert orchestra, or the 3rd level orchestra (of 4). Of course, it was easier to judge for than most auditions, as there were anywhere from 8-12 seats open, so we figured the top 10 of the 20 were likely to get in. The hard part was that I had only a rough idea of the playing level of people who were going to be auditioning, so the early going was much more difficult, trying to gauge what would be appropriate standards to use. I think in the end we compiled as accurate a ranking sheet as we could, or at least I hope so.
It was certainly very eye-opening, being on the "other side". The auditions were not screened, but still, missed notes and incorrect rhythms really stood out prominently. And actually, had this been a "real" audition with one seat available, picking two or three finalists would have been a piece of cake. It was just a rather poignant reminder about how important it is to really master the basics for an orchestra audition, because when you get down to it, that's really what comes naturally for committees to listen for. I mean of course that's what we've been told from the first day of orchestral rep classes, but still, judging auditions really showed me firsthand.