Interview Series: Heather Yarmel on Orchestral Auditions

Hi everyone. I hope you all had a great holiday season! It’s another new year, and another new interview for you all. This time I spoke with the lovely and talented Heather Yarmel, an Eastman grad and principal flutist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. She was kind enough to share her experiences with professional orchestral auditions and performance. I found her advice to be  interesting, insightful, and all-encompassing, and I’m sure you will as well.
SEK: Before you won your orchestra position, what did you do to develop yourself professionally? What other jobs did you do?
HY: My studies at Eastman and Rice helped me prepare tremendously.  My teachers Bonita Boyd and Leone Buyse, both with brilliant careers, helped me shape and pursue my goals.  At the Shepherd School at Rice, where I was one of many graduate students eagerly taking auditions, we formed a group that held mock auditions regularly.  We called it PASS, which stood for Practice Auditioning at Shepherd School.  In the mock auditions, we would take turns playing an “audition” and sitting behind a screen while writing comments.  At both Eastman and Rice, my studios offered official mock auditions, but somehow these student-run shows seemed to help the most.
I also gained a lot of orchestral experience at summer festivals.  I attended Chautauqua Institution, National Repertory Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, and Tanglewood Music Center.  Tanglewood was particularly useful because of the mentor-like relationship the fellows had with members of the Boston Symphony.  We could sign up to sit onstage during BSO rehearsals, and the BSO members regularly gave us masterclasses in orchestral excerpts and career development.
I won my position with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra a year after graduating from Rice with my Master’s Degree. During that year out of school, I did what I could to continue refining my skills in audition preparation and orchestral playing: I took seven orchestral auditions, subbed with professional orchestras (including three weeks with the Houston Symphony), took lessons occasionally with former teachers and mentors, and prepared for and won the Rochester Flute Association’s Emerging Artist Competition.  I also worked part-time at Target.
SEK: How did you find out about audition opportunities?
HY: I use the American Federation of Musicians’ (join your local union!) publication “International Musician”, as well as the website <www.musicalchairs.info> to see job postings.
SEK: What did you do to prepare for auditions?
HY: First of all, I’m continuing to take auditions to advance my career.  In the weeks leading up to an audition, I practice the excerpts, paying special attention to any pieces that are new to me.  I also record myself and try to listen objectively during play back, as if I were on the audition committee.  I also find it useful to play for a few different people, like colleagues or former teachers, but I don’t do this too much in the last week before the audition; it’s important for me to feel convinced about my musical ideas, and last minute changes can lead to poorly executed phrases.
I also try to keep my health in excellent shape; I eat a vegan diet, get as much sleep as I need, and take a brisk walk every day.  When I’m traveling for auditions, I try to keep a routine that’s as familiar as possible to me.
SEK: What is being a new member of an orchestra like? What challenges have you faced? Was playing in a orchestra as you expected? What has particularly struck or surprised you?
HY: Even though I had a lot of prior experience playing in orchestras at schools and at summer festivals, playing in a professional orchestra is quite different.  First of all, the work load is much heavier and the pace, much quicker.  The LPO usually spends only three to four rehearsals on each Classics program, and one rehearsal on each Pops or Education program.  This is in contrast to school orchestra programs, where you might get ten or more rehearsals.  In my first year, I simply hadn’t played a lot of the musical works that the other members had performed hundreds of times. Nevertheless I needed to communicate that I had a good understanding of the piece at the first rehearsal; I had to make it seem as though I had played the piece before.  It hasn’t been too difficult to do this now that there are abundant videos on youtube, downloadable mp3s, and HD streaming concerts by orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic (I’m a subscriber to Berlin’s online digital concert hall, and this is always the first place I search for a recording).  If a piece is particularly tricky, I play along with the recording as this gives me a different sense than simply listening and following along with my part.  In the LPO, sometimes we play several different programs in the same week.  Early preparation is the key to tackling these difficult tasks.  In a way, I use the same set of skills that I developed when studying for academic classes; early, consistent studying is much more rewarding than cramming at the last minute.
Holding a principal position comes with its own set of challenges.  Musically speaking, I have to lead my section and blend in with the other voices of the woodwind family; I have to know when to fit into the texture and when to let my sound stand out.  Along with the other principal winds, I have to make decisions about articulations and dynamics, and then clearly communicate these decisions to my section.  In addition, I have to make assignments for each program for my section and come across as a fair, equitable leader.  This is difficult to do as a newcomer, especially since my roles as principal flutist in school and summer festival orchestras really only meant playing the first flute part (we rotated between parts for each piece), and never necessitated this last set of skills.
One of the most striking things has been sitting on the other side of the screen during auditions.  I now realize how forgiving the audition committee can be of tiny mistakes that I used to think would make or break the audition (i.e. missed partials, split notes).  One or two of these mistakes is not really that big of a deal.  The committee will be interested as long as the candidate plays with a consistently good quality of sound, steady rhythm, and solid intonation.  The only cause for concern is if the candidate makes the same type of mistake over and over again, as this would represent an issue in the candidate’s technique.  I’ve noticed that the things that impress the committee the most are dynamics that are true to the page and phrasing that is musically captivating.
SEK: How has being in an orchestra affected your other professional activities? Do you supplement your orchestral work with other musical or nonmusical gigs?
HY: Performing with a full-time orchestra forms the base of my professional career, but I do supplement the work I do in the LPO with teaching and other musical gigs.  Having an orchestral position opens up doors to a lot of other work within a community.  Most members of the LPO have teaching positions and regular gigs in the community.  I teach high school students at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts and I also have an adjunct faculty position at Xavier University of Louisiana.
SEK: Do you have any advice for young musicians seeking an orchestral position?
HY: Stay organized, set goals, and prioritize your practicing based on those goals.  Undoubtedly, you need to be able to play the excerpts extremely well and be able to effortlessly switch between different styles and moods to win an audition, but that’s not enough.  The committee members are also listening for a sound that blends with their section’s unique sound.  Don’t get discouraged if you play really well and don’t advance.  There are so many factors that go into auditions that will be out of your control.  The candidate who wins the audition may not be the best musician or even the best fit for that job, but just the person who happened to impress the committee the most on that day.  The two things you can control are your own preparation and the number of auditions you take.  If you’re to the point where you have good control of your technique and musical phrasing, go play as many auditions as you can.
Even if you win an audition, that won’t be the last time you’ll be formally reviewed by members of the orchestra.  After you’ve started playing the job, be sure to find out about the tenure process for that specific orchestra, and seek out feedback from the people on your tenure-review committee.  Besides giving you a sense of how well you’re doing, this gesture shows the committee members that you respect their opinions and that you’re always looking for ways to improve.