# For professional orchestra members



## Aurelian (Sep 9, 2011)

If there any professional orchestra members here, I have some questions. I am not asking you to answer all of them if you do not want to:

1. The technical term for a pickup measure is "anacrusis". Do you ever hear that term on the job?

2. The second movement of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony has a part with simultaneous 12/8 and 4/4 time signatures. How difficult are polymetric passages for the orchestra as a whole?

3. I read that up to ten auditions at ten different orchestras are needed to be hired. How many did you have?

4. For your audition, did you mostly prepare _Ein Heldenleben_?


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## EdwardBast (Nov 25, 2013)

Since no professionals seem inclined to answer I'll have a go at a couple of them.

1. Most folks say pickup. 

2. That example isn't polymetric, and neither is the other obvious one, the mixture of 4/4 and 12/8 in the first movement of Tchaikovsky's Fourth. The case you cite is just for convenience of notation, to obviate the need for a series of quadruplets in 12/8. Sixteenths in 4/4 is simpler. In the Fourth Symphony the trumpets in 4/4 quote the opening theme of the movement and it would have been stupid to make the players read a new tortured version with nested tuplets just so that they could also play in 12/8. Once again, 4/4 makes for convenient notation. In both cases the pulse is the same for all parts and the passages pose no particular difficulties. 

4. This is a joke, right? Each orchestral player is expected to know a number of the more difficult passages for their instrument required in performing the standard repertoire. Auditions generally include playing selections from among these passages, excerpts from a solo concerto, and sight-reading.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I was a free lance musician, a horn player, and I auditioned for such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic but did not get the job . It often does take many auditions before you win an audition .


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I've only heard anacrusis in theory class, maybe.

Hemiola for an orchestra as a whole is not bad. As long as the conductor doesn't get confused and keeps the unifying beat steady. The players depend on him/her to be on the ball when it comes to rhythm, so they can do their job. That segment you're talking about isn't hard, I've played worse rhythmic oddities like beat-displacement canons. 

I've never taken a professional audition, however, I've done plenty of auditions to other things such as competitions, schools, and festivals, and yes, it's a long process. I did a "mock audition" competition once, where I did a complete orchestra audition set (was about 14 orchestral excerpts back to back) minus any solo work that's usually required. You just have to keep going, because something will probably open up in the long run, but not until you do quite a few, as well as _grow _from each one. It's not a waste of time either, because even if you don't win, you gain valuable experience, and you learn how to be your own critic too.

As a flutist, I've learned excerpts from _Ein Heldenleben_, however, there are many other orchestral works that are even better tests of a flutist's skill. Daphnis et Chloe, Firebird, various works by Brahms, Beethoven and Mendelssohn, and occasionally Prokofiev. _Till Eulenspiegel_ is actually more common to be tested on for flutists.


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