Great Expectations
According to statistics gathered by many professional orchestras, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to win a position in a professional American orchestra. In order to provide as broad a view as possible on this subject, we’ve assembled eight panelists representing a wide range of contact points along the road to preparing for, winning, and maintaining a position in a professional American orchestra.
Throughout the week, they’ll be engaged in a lively discussion centered on the subject of the expectations vs. the reality of that process. Additionally, we invite you to participate by sharing your experiences and observations through posting comments to any particular contribution or by submitting a general comment.
To get things started off, we established our discussion parameters by asking all of our panelists to address the following points in their opening remarks from their distinct points of view:
1. Which issues give/gave you the greatest concern as you enter(ed) the audition circuit?
2. What do/did you expect a professional job to be like and if applicable, how accurate were those expectations?
3. Do you think the professional environment within orchestra musicians as it exists today is much different than 5/10/20 years ago?
4. Do/did you feel your academic training adequately prepared you for the realities of orchestral life?
Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by the panelists during the Polyphonic.org Negotiations VPD are those of the respective contributors and do not necessarily represent the opinion or position of any organization or association. Neither Polyphonic.org nor the VPD moderator has edited any of the panelist’s contributions. Any change which may appear in panelist’s contributions throughout the course of this VPD is at the request of the respective panelist.
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