004: Audition advice for our younger selves

Everything would have been so easy if we’d just known then what we know now! In this episode, we revisit what auditioning was like back when we started, and what’s changed for us as we’ve both taken, and judged, so many orchestra auditions.

Nathan likes to compare auditions to blind dates: you’ve only got a minute to show what kind of player you are, and all the details you’ve worked so hard to refine need to add up to a beguiling package.

Akiko talks about how it’s all about playing to your strengths while deftly concealing your weaknesses. Some of those weaknesses may be with you all the time, while others may only show up under pressure. You have to be savvy enough to know what’s coming when the spotlight’s on you.

We discuss what immediately signals to us that someone’s a great player, or not-so-great. Then we each finish with an audition blunder from our early days. Nathan’s involves the cadenza to the Brahms violin concerto, while Akiko’s has her playing for a friend the night before the big day.