Auditions
By Rob Franzblau
This is probably going to surprise you: each member of the Rhode Island Wind Ensemble must audition every year.
RIWE has a policy that every current member auditions at the beginning of every season for chair placement, but there’s an important distinction: their membership is not at stake. Once you’re a member of RIWE, you remain a member as long as you wish. New players are a different story: they audition for membership and may be offered a permanent position or placed on our substitute list.
This is a pretty unusual policy for a non-paying volunteer ensemble. Most community bands accept anyone who’s interested in playing, often with no audition required. Even among community ensembles that do audition new members, current members generally do not audition every year.
RIWE’s policy closely mirrors that of MetWinds in suburban Boston. In fact, I’m pretty sure it came directly from that group, because I served as assistant conductor there in the early 2000s, before being considered for RIWE’s vacant conductor position in 2009. (I’m pretty sure I suggested this audition policy during my interview, and in spite of that, they hired me.)
It was a time of transition at MetWinds (then called the Metropolitan Wind Symphony). Their conductor resigned after the first year of my three-year stint there, and I was the one responsible for hearing all those current-member auditions in the fall. It just seemed like such a good idea.
For one thing, an annual audition promotes seriousness of purpose and helps maintain high musical standards. (Nothing like an audition to get you practicing.) But there’s another, simpler reason: as a conductor, it’s really useful to know who is sitting in front of you.
That bit of advice came to me years ago from John Paynter, my master’s degree conducting teacher at Northwestern. At the time, he was struggling with NU’s system of blind auditions. Players auditioned for a panel that did not include the conductors, were ranked anonymously, and were then assigned by rank to specific ensembles each term. Very cold, professional vibe.
It bothered Paynter that he never got to hear the players himself and get to know them through their auditions. Whenever possible, he admonished us—and he mostly spoke in admonishments—that conductors should hear their players audition in person.
We did offer Zoom appointments for RIWE auditions this year. But despite more than six years of widespread use and constant tinkering, Zoom audio remains remarkably suspicious of musical instruments. Unless you get the settings just right, its noise-suppression algorithms hear a clarinet or trombone and apparently conclude, “Well, we certainly don’t want that,” and suppress the sound after about one second.
Anyway, the point—the one I’m finally getting to—is this:
The people who come in (or Zoom in) to audition are giving a part of themselves to be assessed by someone else.
That’s a huge gift. Especially when that part of yourself is a musical performance, played alone, with no accompaniment and no place to hide. Every audition I ever heard or played—and every RIWE audition I hear—is done in total, disinterested silence. You play. Someone listens.
There’s something very humbling about sitting for eight hours and listening to the members of your band do that. So when I thank someone as they gather their instrument and belongings and leave the room, it’s much more than a polite gesture. It’s my way of acknowledging the gift—and the act of giving it.
I doubt many of the people auditioning think about it that way – auditioning kinda sucks for most people. It certainly did for me sometimes. (That hung-over college audition will be another story….) My memories of playing auditions are decades old, but many of them fall into the same category as memories of undergraduate recitals: dry mouth, sweaty and unsteady hands, failing embouchure muscles, and scattered concentration. I’m sure those feelings are familiar to almost everyone who has ever auditioned.
Last week I heard so many fantastic auditions that it’s hard to describe. Really, really great playing. I don’t think I’ve ever heard this level of musicianship across RIWE before, and I’m super excited to begin our season. But I also heard some very nervous people trying desperately to play as well as they had played at home, and coming up short—at least in their own eyes.
To them I can only say: Thank you even more.
Having been in that place myself so many times, it’s hard for me to judge someone harshly who is having a difficult audition. The playing still tells me something. But so does the effort. So does the preparation. So does walking into the room, setting up the instrument, taking a breath, and playing when you know someone is listening to every note.
However the audition goes, the gift is the same. And this year, that gift also revealed something pretty exciting about the musicians who will be sitting in front of me every Thursday night. Here’s just a sampling of the experience represented by the people who auditioned for RIWE this year, both new and returning. I think you’ll agree there’s a good vibe happening here.
Musicians selected for Rhode Island All-State, Maine All-State, All-New England, All-Eastern, Southern New England Honors Band, and Providence College Festival Band
Bachelor’s and graduate-level music study at New England Conservatory, Stetson University, Brown University, Penn State, University of Georgia, WPI, San Francisco State University, and URI, including degrees in performance, jazz performance, music education, and general music.
Performances with the Fall River Symphony, American Modern Opera Company, Southern Winds, Warwick Symphony Orchestra, Chaminade Orchestra, Providence Medical Orchestra, The American Band, Lafayette Band, All American Band, East Bay Summer Wind Ensemble, and North Attleboro Community Band
Principal and lead players with the New England Conservatory Big Band and Jazz Composers’ Workshop Orchestra, Stetson University Wind Ensemble and Symphony, and WPI Concert Band
Featured concerto soloists with the Brown University Orchestra and Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra
Not bad for a group of people who do this out of love, not for money. I’m very optimistic about the coming season – it is an incredible honor to lead such a fine ensemble of individuals. And to every one of them who sat down and played for me last week: thank you.