<p>I've emailed Hartt already, but maybe someone can give me a response while I wait for them to respond (hopefully sometime tomorrow); Are the non-performance music majors (composition) held to the same performance standards in auditions as performance majors? Theres no information on the site about this, just that non-performance majors have to be good enough to be in ensembles (however the requirements for auditions are the same on horn for nonperformance and performance majors). This has me worried because, to be honest, I'm not the most amazing instrumentalist and I will more than likely have a less than stellar audition. I play piano, but only recently started getting private lessons, and french horn (which I've never taken private lessons in, just played in high school ensemeble).<br>
I'm hesitating in submitting my application because I'm not sure which I want to audition on; there are many more talented pianists out there (I am not terrible, but I'm no star) who have had years of private study and I don't know what bar I will need to measure up to even though I'm not a performance major. I'm slightly weaker in horn and having to have 8 pieces prepared vs. only 3 on piano is a bit, however there would be less competition on horn.
So in restating: Are the non-performance music majors (composition) held to the same performance standards in auditions as performance majors?</p>
<p>Ben, tough question and I don’t know the answer. My son is an '07 Hartt viola performance grad. Two of his buddies were composition majors. My son described one as an “amazing” pianist; the other was “exceptional”. The caliber of the piano performance students I personally saw was very high. Perfectionist son also never had any issues with the horns he played with.</p>
<p>Try pming or emailing aLfR3dd, who was a comp major admit from the '08 cycle (and indicated he would be attending Hartt). I know he had doubts about passing his piano audition, and he got in. Perhaps he might shed some direct insight.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>Also, as far has having to have five orchestral excerpts from standard repertoire prepared…would buying a compilation book containing such excerpts be good enough? Or should I purchase copies of the individual pieces?</p>
<p>A compilation book containing excerpts should be good enough. The books have the length and type of excerpts that the auditioning committee will want to hear. </p>
<p>It is much more difficult to purchase individual orchestral parts and musicians do so rarely–there is rarely a need for it and college auditions are not the place where the entire part is needed.</p>
<p>^^^^^^</p>
<p>I want to nuance the second statement above re musicians buying individual orchestra parts for important auditions or those excerpts that pop up on every audition list. The excerpt books (published by International, etc) do have the occasional error. Not good… </p>
<p>Also for important auditions, the entire orchestral part should be reviewed (studied) - insures that the students understands the excerpt in full context of the entire work and, not infrequently, a candidate is asked for a “surprise” section in addition to the excerpt requirement listed. (Violinists - Don Juan - learn rehearsal R through S - not just the 1st page usually requested!!) </p>
<p>Individual parts can be obtained directly from publishers such as Kalmus and also available on CD-ROM - Orchestral Musician Library. Once students are in college, many music libraries will make copies of parts available. String players, also take advantage of any resources to obtain standard bowings and fingerings. </p>
<p>Many musicians have full files of orchestral parts for personal use or reference- sometimes in duplicate with different bowings and fingerings that change depending on the conductor/concert master preference!</p>
<p>I second fiddlestix, as a non-musician parent I would constantly berate my son during freshman year about purchasing full orchestral scores, rather than just the excerpts or specific part. His explanation of I need them, didn’t cut it. When he took the time to explain the need to fully understand the part within the full context of the piece did my light bulb come on and it all made perfect sense.</p>
<p>I’m convinced it is a good part of what has made him an outstanding musician.</p>
<p>I would agree with violadad that musicians frequently consult full scores when preparing an orchestral excerpt. Owning them makes such consultation much easier. </p>
<p>More important than score study, though, would be extensive listening to the entire work from which the excerpt is taken. All too frequently, good players at auditions sound as if they have no idea about the work from which their excerpts are taken (tempos that are sooo wrong, bad articulations, stylistically clueless and offensive). </p>
<p>While a decent teacher should be able to correct such gross flaws, a few hours of listening can make the learning of the excerpts much more efficient. Often prior to auditions teachers focus on the concerto and other solo rep and just don’t have time to adequately prepare the excerpts. Be certain to get a few recordings of the works from which the excerpts are taken and listen to them until they are second nature. </p>
<p>Those judging auditions know how the excerpts should sound because the excerpts are all from very common repertoire. It is very difficult for them to look/hear past a performance which ignores standard interpretations no matter how beautiful the tone, how accurate the intonation, and how phenomenal the technical prowess. You can get away with a lot more individual creativity in some solo repertoire; excerpts are not the place to display your unique and idiosyncratic interpretations.</p>
<p>I’ll add a further nuance to what I wrote earlier: almost all college and community orchestra auditions supply excerpt parts (often online). For an audition to a professional orchestra, you should have your own parts (and as fiddlestix mentions, string players should start collecting the standard parts with various bowings and fingerings). The collecting of parts usually involves keeping the ones you are given for auditions, using the library, and keeping the ones you study with your teachers more than actual purchase. I am not sure of the legality of some of the copying that goes on: even for works in the public domain (which includes most of the standard excerpt repertoire), the publisher owns the rights to their imprints.</p>